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THE  LIBRARY 

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THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 
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PROLOGUE. 


It  is  but  justly  due  the  advance  subscribers  of  "A  History  of 
Bethlehem"  that  a  foreword  on  the  part  of  the  Committee  to  which 
had  been  entrusted  the  preparation  of  this,  the  crowning  feature  of 
the  Sesqui-Centennial  celebration  of  the  founding  of  the  town,  should 
partake  of  at  least  an  apologetic  flavor. 

The  passing  of  a  full  decade  before  the  fulfillment  of  the  task  was 
•due,  in  part,  to  the  long-continued  illness  of  Prof.  Edwin  G.  Klose, 
who  had  assumed  the  greater  part  of  the  many  details  involved  in 
the  projection  of  the  Volume  and  who,  almost  to  the  day  of  his 
death,  had  cherished  the  hope  that  returning  health  would  enable 
him  to  contribute  to  its  pages  the  main  part  of  the  work.  His  regret- 
table demise,  occurring  before  he  was  able  even  to  pen  a  chapter 
thereof,  led  to  the  devolvement  of  the  task  upon  the  Rt.  Rev.  J. 
Mortimer  Levering,  then  one  of  the  pastors  of  the  Moravian  Church 
at  Bethlehem,  custodian  of  the  Archives  at  this  place,  and  signally 
qualified  to  bring  the  work  to  a  successful  issue. 

Although  given  occasional  respite  from  his  pastoral  duties,  oft 
recurring  periods  of  ill  health  and  bodily  suffering  disabled  him  from 
persistent  application  to  this  work,  requiring  as  it  did  a  close  study 
of  manuscript  material,  rendered  trying  and  laborious  alike  by  its 
diflfuseness  and  by  its  frequent  approach  to  illegibility. 

The  result  of  his  labors  embodied  in  these  pages,  the  Committee 
beheves,  will  be  found  by  the  reader  to  fully  compensate  for  the 
delay.  Indeed  the  delay  has  made  possible  what  could  otherwise  not 
have  been  accomplished,  viz.,  an  authoritative  history  based  on  origi- 
nal documents  and  manuscript  sources. 

He  has  treated  the  history  of  the  town  without  any  undue  attempt 
at  conciseness,  yet,  in  the  carrying  out  of  his  work,  he  stops  short  of 
fatiguing  elaboration ;  he  maintains,  moreover,  the  dignity  commen- 
surate with  the  high  aims  had  in  view  by  the  first  settlers  of  Bethle- 
hem, so  that  they  only  will  be  disappointed  who  may  look  for  a  collec- 
tion of  amusing  tales  recounting  the  eccentricities  or  failings  of  some 
of  the  worthies  of  a  centurv  and  more  ago.     On  the  other  hand,  the 


JI703594 


IV  PROLOGUE. 

student  of  history  will  find  in  this  monograph  an  important  contri- 
bution to  the  secular  and  religious  history  of  our  country. 

The  many  illustrations  with  which  the  volume  is  embellished  are, 
in  a  great  number  of  instances,  reproductions  of  rare  prints,  manu- 
scripts and  drawings  and  materially  enhance  the  value  of  the  book. 

Abraham  S.  Schropp, 
Charles  H.  Eggert, 
Henry  T.  Clauder, 
Joseph  A.  Rice, 
Robert  Rau, 
J.  Samuel  Krause, 
William  V.   Knauss, 
J.  Taylor  Hamilton, 
Harvey  W.  Kessler. 
Bethlehem,  Pa.,  June  25th,  1903. 


PREFACE. 

Bethlehem,  being  a  town  with  a  past  far  from  common-place,  has 
been  much  and  variously  written  about  from  its  beginning  to  the 
present  time. 

Correct  historical  and  descriptive  information  has  never  been 
entirely  lacking,  and  has  increased  in  recent  years,  but  more 
numerous  have  been  the  published  accounts  which  have  propagated 
erroneous  ideas,  hard  to  eradicate,  in  regard  to  former  institutions 
and  usages  of  the  place  and  to  the  Church  that  founded  it.  These 
have  been  lauded  and  traduced,  idealized  and  caricatured  according 
to  the  knowledge  or  fancy,  animus  or  object  of  different  writers,  and 
usually  the  most  unreal  elements  of  these  diversified  views  have  the 
firmest  hold  on  the  popular  mind. 

Many  persons  yet  derive  all  their  notions  of  Bethlehem  from 
fantastic  portrayals  of  "Moravian  customs,"  for  the  entertainment 
of  newspaper  readers,  by  imaginative  correspondents  who  continue 
to  devise  variations  of  the  theme  and  occasionally  to  freshen  it  with 
newly-invented  features.  Such  stock  terms  as  strange  people, 
quaint  community,  interesting  brotherhood,  which  even  in  olden 
times  expressed  conceptions  largely  fanciful  and  are  as  little  appli- 
cable to  the  Moravian  Church  now  as  to  other  churches  of  Bethle- 
hem, had  become  tiresome  before  the  place  ceased,  half  a  century 
ago,  to  be  what  it  is  still  often  styled  in  print,  a  Moravian  town. 

Since  the  modern  examination  of  Moravian  archives  in  Pennsyl- 
vania and  the  writing  of  history  from  these  sources  began  about 
fifty  years  ago,  the  publications  of  the  Moravian  Historical  Society, 
with  many  other  books  and  pamphlets,  contain  much  matter  about 
Bethlehem,  but  scattered  through  more  general  history  or  given  in 
disconnected  treatment  of  specialties.  Very  little  of  it  extends  beyond 
the  first  fifty  years,  much  of  it  ser\^es  rather  a  mere  antiquarian  curi- 
osity or  reminiscent  fancy,  and  some  has  been  superseded  by  maturer 
work  resulting  from  a  more  thorough  study  of  records. 

Meanwhile,  nothing  that  can  be  called  a  history  of  Bethlehem 
has  appeared. 

The  volume  of  miscellany  from  historical  documents,  official  state- 
ments, tourists'  descriptions  and  village  tales,  called  "Bethlehem  and 


VI  PREFACE. 

the  Moravians,"  publislied  in  1873,  ^y  Jo^^"  Hill  Alartin,  "entirely  for 
amusement,"  is  not  a  connected  history  and  remains  without  the 
corrections  which  would  doubtless  have  been  made  in  a  second 
edition. 

The  Rev.  William  C.  Reichel  was  engaged  in  1876,  at  "A  Memorial 
Volume  of  the  Bethlehems  by  way  of  a  Centennial  Record,"  adver- 
tised to  be  issued  by  August  15,  of  that  year,  but  his  lamented  death 
in  October  left  the  task  unaccomplished.  His  notes  were  subse- 
quently utilized  in  a  variety  of  ways — a  few  of  them  in  a  history  of 
Northampton  County,  compiled  in  1877,  for  which  Bishop  Edmund 
de  Schweinitz  furnished  a  section  on  early  Bethlehem  in  addition  tO' 
what  the  compilation  contains  in  other  parts. 

The  desire  for  a  more  complete  history  of  the  town,  which,  in  1892, 
revived  the  project  of  a  Memorial  Volume,  will  perhaps  be  met  to 
a  fair  degree  by  the  present  work,  completed  after  a  long  delay  and 
under  peculiar  difficulties.  It  having  eventually  taken  the  form  of 
a  history  from  one  hand  instead  of  a  collection  of  monographs,  as 
at  one  time  proposed,  the  absence  of  fuller  specializing  under  that 
plan  is  possibly  compensated  for  by  the  advantage  of  a  more  closely- 
woven,  consecutive  body  of  matter. 

Only  first  sources  have  been  used  in  what  pertains  to  Moravian 
affairs  in  America  and  to  all  Bethlehem  events  prior  to  the  middle  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  After  that,  so  far  as  possible,  only  those 
written  and  printed  statements  have  been  followed  which,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  could  be  relied  upon. 

While  entire  absence  of  errors  is  not  presumed,  many  obscurities, 
inaccuracies  and  contradictions  in  extant  history  have  been  corrected. 

The  length  of  the  chapters,  embracing  epochs  and  periods,  may 
seem  to  bury  many  details  of  interest  in  the  mass,  but  it  is  beUeved 
that  the  careful  indexing  of  subjects  and  names  separately,  which  has 
been  prepared  by  an  assistant,  will  make  amends  for  this. 

The  writer  ventures  the  hope  that  the  work  may,  on  the  whole, 
not  be  disappointing  to  those  who  have  been  awaiting  it. 

J.  M.  Levering. 
January,  1903. 


PRINCIPAL  SOURCES. 


[The  manuscripts — all  originals  or  authentic  contemporaneous  copies,  and  mostly 
German— are  named,  not  by  exact  titles,  but  in  a  general,  somewhat  explanatory 
way,  and,  for  brevity,  in  classified  groups.  Printed  works  are  likewise  briefly  men- 
tioned and  an  asterisk  marks  those  in  which  the  matter  used  consists  of  published 
original  documents  havmg  all  the  authority  of  first  sources  for  ordinary  purposes.] 

MANUSCRIPTS. 

Diaries. — General  Moravian  diary  of  Bethlehem,  1742-1900;  diaries  of  Single 
Brethren's  House,  1744-1814,  and  Sisters'  House,  1748-1844;  George  Neisser's 
notes,  Georgia  and  Pennsylvania,  1734-1742;  J.  P.  Meurer's  journal  en  route  with 
Sea  Congregation  and  later,  1742-1744;  Neisser  and  Hoepfner's  journals.  Second 
Sea  Congregation,  1743 ;  Henry  Miller's  memoranda,  1742-1745;  journals,  Beth- 
lehem itinerants  among  Indians  and  settlers,  1742-1762. 

Official  Minutes. — General  Moravian  Executive  Board  in  Pennsylvania 
under  successive  titles — after  1782  Provincial  Helpers'  and  General  Helpers'  Con- 
ference and  after  1855  Provincial  Elders' Conference — 1744-1857;  Bethlehem 
Boards  of  Elders,  Stewards,  Supervisors  {Au/seher),  etc..  School  Boards  and  Con- 
gregation Councils,  1742-1851  (Elders  and  Parochial  School  Directors  to  1892); 
early  records,  District  School  (incomplete)  and  sundry  extracts  and  reports,  Public 
Schools,  1 836-1 872. 

Synodical  Records. — Pennsylvania  Synods,  first  union,  and  after  1748  ex- 
clusively Moravian,  1742-183 5  ;  General  Synods,  Moravian  Church  (Europe),  1736- 
1836. 

Personal  Records. — Autobiographies— Peter  Boehler,  Martin  Mack,  John 
Boehner,  and  other  pioneers — and  numerous  memoirs  filed  in  archives  and  entered 
in  register,  Moravian  Church. 

Correspondence.  —  Bethlehem  ofificials  with  European  General  Moravian 
Board,  1742-1857;  and  with  civil  and  military  authorities  of  Pennsylvania,  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  and  Nation,  more  than  a  century. 

Miscellaneous.  —  Lists  of  Moravian  Immigrants,  1 735-1 800;  historical 
reminiscences  at  laying  of  corner-stone,  Nazareth  Hall,  by  Peter  Boehler;  account 
of  Revolutionary  times  by  John  Ettwein  ;  sundry  statements,  petitions  and  appeals 
during  Revolution  ;  history,  Moravian  property  and  finances,  by  Lewis  David  de 
Schweinitz;  legal  opinions,  advice  and  instructions,  Lewis  Weiss,  Benjamin  Chew, 
Horace  Binney,  and  others ;  maps,  drafts,  surveys  abstracts  of  title,  deeds  and 
other  conveyances;  sundry  account  books,  1744-1851,  of  general  management, 
schools  and  industries ;  annual  reviews  and  statistics,  1742-1892. 


via  PRINCIPAL    SOURCES. 

PRINTED    WORKS. 

Principal  writers,  from  1771  (Cranz)  to  1895,  on  the  Unitas  Fratrum  —  general 
history  and  special  subjects. 

*Buedingsche  Sammlungen  (Buedingen  Collections),  issued  1742-1744. 

*Authentische  Relation,  etc.,  account  of  the  First  Pennsylvania  Synod  with  various 
related  documents,  1742. 

*Zinzendorf's  Peri  Eautou  or  Naturelle  Reflexiones,  1746. 

*Acta  Fratrum  Unitatis  in  Anglia,  1749. 

^Spangenberg's  Declaration  ueber  Beschuldigungen.  Darlegung  richtiger  Ant- 
worten  and  Apologetische  Schluss-Schrift,  1751. 

Spangenberg's  Life  of  Zinzendorf,  1772. 

Risler's  Life  of  Spangenberg,  1794. 

*Autobiographies,  Bishop  Spangenberg,  Nicholas  Garrison,  John  Christopher 
Pyrlaeus,  Frederick  William  von  Marschall,  John  Heckewelder,  and  others  m 
Nachrichten  aus  der  Bruedergemeine. 

Benham's  Memoirs  of  James  Hutton,  1856. 

♦Pennsylvania  Archives  and  Colonial  Records. 

■•'■Hazard's  Annals  of  Pennsylvania  and  Register. 

*Occasional  items  in  the  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography. 

Local  newspaper  files  in  Bethlehem  Archives:  Die  Biene,  1 846-1 848;  The 
Moravian,  1856-1892  ;  The  Bethlehem  Advocate  and  the  Lehigh  Valley  Times, 
between  1858  and  1861  ;  The  Bethlehem  Times,  1 874-1 892. 

*Official  publications  of  institutions  and  corporations  of  Bethlehem  and  South 
Bethlehem. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Introduction.  —  The  Pennsylvania   Experiment  —  Seventeenth   Century   Con- 
ditions—  Persecution  —  Early   Settlements,    Dutch,  Swedish,  English  —  Penn's 
Province  —  Religious  Turmoil  —  Moravian  Pioneers  —  Praised  and  Defamed  — 
Their  Gospel  of  Peace, Pages  i-6 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Unitas  Fratrum  or  Moravian  Church,  1457-1735. 
Origin  and  Name — Hussite  Parties  —  Brethren  found  Association  —  Are  Op- 
pressed —  Principles  and  Organization  —  Episcopate  —  Developed  System  — 
Affinities  —  Persecution  —  Education  —  Hymnology  —  Bible  Translation  — 
Confessions  of  Faith  —  Utter  Suppression —  Friendship  of  England — Come- 
nius —  American  Prospects  —  Resuscitation  —  Christian  David  and  Zinzendorf  — 
Moravians  to  Saxony  —  Herrnhut  —  Plans  of  Zinzendorf — Clerical  Assaults  — 
Zinzendorf  reads  Comenius  —  Deputation  to  England  —  Adjustment  to  State 
Church  —  Missionaries  to  the  Heathen  —  American  Settlement  Planned  — 
Jablonsky  transfers  Episcopate  —  David  Nitschmann  founds  Church  in 
America, Pages  7-30 

CHAPTER    III. 
From  Herrnhut  to  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware,  1735-1740. 

American  Plans  —  Georgia  and  Pennsylvania  —  First  Moravians  —  Skippack 
Union  —  Attempt  in  South  Carolina  —  Georgia  Abandoned  —  Moravians  with 
Whitefield  to  Pennsylvania  —  Christopher  Wiegner,  Henry  Antes  —  Whitefield's 
Nazareth  Plan  —  Employs  Moravians  —  Arrival  in  the  Forks  —  Region  Described 
—  Scotch-Irish  Settlements  —  William  Allen  —  Indian  Complications  —  Walking 
Purchase — Moravians  commence  Nazareth  House—  Disagreement  with  White- 
field —  Nathaniel  Irish  offers  them  Land  on  the  Lehigh  —  Bishop  David  Nitsch- 
mann and  Company  arrive  —  First  Christmas  at  Nazareth  —  Site  Selected  on 
the  Lehigh  —  First  Tree  Felled  —  The  Spring  at  the  Monocacy,  .      Pages  31-58 

CHAPTER   IV. 
The  Settlement  Founded  and  Named,  1741. 

Missionary  Beginnings  —  Indians  of  Welagameka  —  Captain  John  and  Christian 
Froehlich  —  Allen  Tract  on  the  Lehigh  finally  Selected  —  Building  Operations 
Commenced  —  Land  Purchased  for  Moravians  by  Antes  —  First  House  Built  — 
Journeys  and  Visitors  —  Pioneers  remove  to  Allen  Tract  —  A  Busy  Summer  — 
First  Preaching  and  Communion  —  Lovefeasts  and  Prayer-days  —  The  Com- 
munity House  —  Sectarians  and  Fanatics  visit  the  Forks  —  George  Neisser's 
Records  —  Count  Zinzendorf  arrives  in  America  —  Screeds  and  Pasquinades  — 
Zinzendorf  at  Philadelphia  —  Visits  Henry  Antes  —  Evangelical  Alliance 
Planned  —  Reaches  the  Forks  —  A  Memorable  Christmas  Eve  —  The  Name 
Bethlehem Pages  59-79 


X  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    V. 
Connecting  Events  and  the  Sea  Congregation,  1742. 

Zinzendorf's  Tour  through  the  Country  —  Sects  Encountered  —  He  settles  in 
Philadelphia — Plans  for  Pennsylvania  —  Confusion  and  Strife  —  He  distin- 
guishes Religions  and  Sects  —  His  Scheme  Elucidated  —  His  Conception  of  the 
Moravian  Church  —  His  Ecclesiastical  Status  —  Entanglements  of  Rank  — 
Insult  and  Calumny  —  Proposes  to  renounce  Rank  and  Title  —  Preaches  for 
Lutherans  in  Philadelphia  —  Crusade  of  Rev.  John  Philip  Boehm  —  Pyrlaeus 
Mobbed  —  The  Bechtel  Catechism  —  The  Hirten  Lieder  —  Antes  calls  Con- 
ference of  Religions  —  The  Seven  Conferences  Treated  —  Zinzendorf  as  Moder- 
ator —  Excited  Opposition  —  His  Course  Misrepresented  —  Use  of  the  Lot 
Explained  —  First  Moravian  School  in  Germantown  —  The  "  Sea  Congregation" 
arrives  —  Attracts  Attention  at  Philadelphia  —  Joins  Pennsylvania  Synod  — 
Names  of  Colony  with  Notes Pages  80-126 

CHAPTER   VL 
From  the  Organization  to  the  Return  of  Spangenberg,  1742-1744. 
The  Colony  reaches  Bethlehem  —  Community  House  Chapel  Dedicated  —  Con- 
gregation Organized  —  The  Sabbath  Question  Discussed  —  First  Arrangements 

—  Officials  and  Functionaries  —  Pharmacy  and  Dispensary  —  Postal  Arrange- 
ments —  Organization  of  Labor  —  The  Prayer  Bands  —  A  Typical  Sunday  — 
First  Interment  in  Cemetery  —  Baptism  of  Indians  Described  —  Community 
House  Enlarged  —  First  Decorative  Art  —  First  Hospital  and  Tavern  —  Plans 
for  the  Barony  of  Nazareth  —  Boarding  Schools  Planned  —  Bethlehem  People 
Misunderstood  by  Neighbors  —  Zinzendorf 's  Tours  in  the  Indian  Country  — 
Second  Christmas  at  Bethlehem  —  Zinzendorf 's  Departure  —  Ad  Interim  Ar- 
rangements —  First  Grist-mill  and  Ferry  —  Whitefield  House  Finished  —  The- 
Demented  Hardie  —  School  of   Indian  Languages  —  Nazareth   Colony  arrives 

—  Early  Musical  Instruments  —  Musicians  Organized  —  Single  Men's  House 
Built  —  Missionaries  Oppressed  in  New  York  —  Spangenberg  returns  to  Beth- 
lehem   Pages  127-177 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Economy  During  Spangenberg's  First  Term,  1745-1748. 

Spangenberg's  General  Plan  —  The  Economy  —  Popular  Misapprehensions  — 
Detailed  Organization  —  Henry  Antes  Superintendent  of  Externals  —  Organized 
Labor  —  System  of  Accounts  —  Labor  Made  Pleasant —  Idyllic  Scenes —  Mur- 
murers  —  The  Herrnhaag  Extravagances  —  Zinzendorf 's  Connection  There- 
with —  The  Climax  —  Herrnhaag  Abandoned  —  Fanaticism  slightly  afTects- 
Bethlehem  —  Success  of  Co-operative  Union  —  Crown  Inn  Built  —  First  Semi- 
nary—  Industries  Developed —  Indian  Converts  from  New  York  build  Friedens- 
huetten  —  Small-pox  Scourge  —  Missionary  Society  Formed  —  Mills  Built  — 
Brethren's  House  Built  —  The  Irene  Built  and  Launched  —  Local  Improvements 

—  Culture,  Medicinal  Herbs  —  Polyglot  Song  Service  —  Collegium  Musicum  — 
Notes  on  Various  Schools  —  First  School  South  Side  of  River  —  The  Old  Man's 
Place  —  Henry  Antes  Justice  of  the  Peace  —  Complications  with  Neighbors  — 
Bethlehem  Township  Formed  —  Legal  Status  of  Moravians  —  Acts  of  Parlia- 


CONTENTS.  XI 

ment  1747  and  1749  —  Bishop  de  Watteville  comes  to  Bethlehem  —  Official 
Changes  Made  —  Spangenberg  retires,  ....  Pages  178-229 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
The  Course  of  Things  to  the  Indian  Raid,  1749-1755. 

De  Watteville's  Labors  and  Journeys  —  Schools  Reorganized  —  John  Nitsch- 
mann  supersedes  Spangenberg  —  Greenlanders  at  Bethlehem  —  The  Jones 
Farm  —  English  Cloth-weavers  come  to  Bethlehem  —  David  Brainerd  and  his 
Indians  —  Gilbert  Tennent  denounces  Moravians  —  Unique  Service  at  Bethle- 
hem —  Greenlanders,  Arawacks,  Indians,  Negroes  —  Gnadenhuetten  Indians  — 
Teedyuscung  —  Meniolagomeka  —  John  Nitschmann's  Administration  Object 
tionable  —  Antes  leaves  Bethlehem  —  Nitschmann's  Arbitrary  Course  —  Presen- 
Old  Chapel  Built  —  Sister's  House  Enlarged  —  Grist-mill  Rebuilt  —  New  Phar- 
macy—  Store  in  Horsfield  House  —  Indian  House  at  Monocacy —  The  Nazareth 
Road  —  John  Nitschmann  Recalled  to  Europe  —  Spangenberg  returns  to 
Bethlehem  —  Easton  Founded  —  William  Parsons  —  Northampton  County 
Erected  —  Moravian  Properties  Secured  —  Individual  Proprietor  and  Adminis- 
trator —  Financial  Crisis  in  Europe—  Nazareth  Hall  Built  —  The  Family  House 

—  Proposed  New  Bethlehem  Tavern  —  The  Little  Irene  —  The  Bethlehem 
Water-works  —  Silk  Worms  —  General  Economy  Reorganized  —  Death  of  Henry 
Antes,  Daniel  Brodhead  and  James  Burnside  —  Approaching  Indian 
Troubles Pages  230-296 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Bethlehem  During  the  Indian  Uprising,  1755-1756. 

Braddock's  Defeat  Announced  at  Bethlehem  —  Moravians  Accused  of  Furnish- 
ing Arms  and  Ammunition  to  Indians  —  Teedyuscung  tries  to  allure  Moravian 
Indians  —  Frederick  Post  alone  in  Wyoming  —  Wild  Stories  Circulated  —  Be- 
ginning of  Violence  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania  —  First  Refugees  to  Bethlehem  — 
Moravian  Settlements  in  Danger  —  Massacre  at  Gnadenhuetten  on  the  Mahoning 

—  This  vindicates  Moravian  Missionaries  —  Bethlehem  becomes  a  City  of 
Refuge  —  Spangenberg  urges  Building  Fort  at  Lehigh  Gap  —  Franklin  com- 
mands Frontier  Defences  —  Women  and  Children  Concentrated  at  Bethlehem 

—  Savages  plan  Attack  —  Dreaded  Christmas  safely  Passed  —  Impatience  of 
Franklin  and  Authorities  with  Panic  Stricken  Settlers  —  They  burden  Bethlehem 
heavily  —  Spangenberg  pleads  their  Cause  —  Assembly  objects  to  Expenses 
for  Keeping  Indians  at  Bethlehem  by  Order  of  Government  —  Bickerings  of 
Public  Men  jeopardize  Life  and  Property  —  Bounty  for  Scalps  Proclaimed  — 
Teedyuscung  Dreaded  at  Bethlehem, Pages  297-343 

CHAPTER  X. 
To  the  End  of  the  General  Economy,  1756-1762. 

Bethlehem  Escapes  —  Christian  Indians  of  much  Service  —  Great  Council  at 
Easton  —  Tranquility  Preserved  at  Bethlehem  —  Nazareth  Hall  Dedicated  — 
Peter  Boehler  returns  to  Bethlehem  —  Nain  Built  for  Christian  Indians  — 
Neighbors  object  —  Teedyuscung  Permitted  to  spend  Winter  at  Bethlehem  — 
Leaves  in  the  Spring  of  1758  —  His  Melancholy  End  —  Sun  Inn  Built  —  Post's 
Services  to  the  Government  —  Close  of  Indian  War  —  Church  Ship  Irene  Captured 


XU  CONTENTS. 

and  Sunk  —  Klemm  and  Tanneberger  Organ  Builders  —  Death  of  Father  Nitsch- 
mann  —  Plans  to  dissolve  General  Economy  —  School  Opened  in  Nazareth 
Hall  —  Founding  of  Wechquetank  —  Small-pox  —  Many  Visitors  —  Descriptions 
Recorded  —  A  New  Church  Ship,  The  Hope  —  Problems  Involved  in  Dissolu- 
tion of  General  Economy  —  The  Task  is  Consummated  —  Departure  of  Bishop 
Spangenberg  for  Europe Pages  344-385 

CHAPTER  XI. 
The  Decade  to  the  Second  Re-organization,  1762-1771. 

Personal  Changes  —  Post  and  Heckewelder  to  Ohio  —  Distinguished  Visitors  — 
Topography  in  1762  —  New  Water- works  —  Indian  Troubles  again  Brewing 

—  Demand  for  Removal  of  Indians  from  Nain  and  Wechquetank  —  Threats 
against  Bethlehem  —  Cowardly  Murder  of  Indians  by  Captain  Wetterhold's 
Militia  —  Retaliation  by  Savages  at  Stenton's  Tavern  —  The  Wounded  Captain 
dies  at  the  Crown  Inn  —  Bethlehem  again  Stockaded  for  Defence  —  Oil  Mill 
Burned  by  Incendiaries  —  First  Fire  Engine  in  America  Brought  to  Bethlehem 

—  Indians  of  Wechquetank  and  Nain  Removed  to  Philadelphia  —  Mob  and  Riot 
in  the  City  —  Designs  of  the  Paxton  Rangers  —  Indians  Brought  Back  to  Beth- 
lehem —  Klein's  Stage-wagon  to  Philadelphia  —  Beginning  of  Allentown  — 
Many  Visitors  —  Industrial  Progress  —  New  Oil  Mill  —  Widows'  House  Built 

—  Widow's  Society  Founded  —  Friedensthal  —  Brandmiller's  Printing-press  — 
Founding  of  Hope,  New  Jersey  —  Re-organization  of  Bethlehem  —  Financial 
Settlements, Pages  386-425 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Into  the  Depths  of  Revolutionary  Trouble,  1772-1778. 

The  New  Order  —  Industrial  Developments  —  Calumnies  about  Moravians  — 
Visitors  and  Tourists  —  Death  of  Bishop  David  Nitschmann  —  Inoculation  for 
Small-pox  Introduced — Political  Excitement  —  Standpoint  of  Moravians  Eluci- 
dated —  The  War  begins  —  First  Troops  pass  through  Bethlehem  —  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  —  Arms  Searched  for  —  Prayer  for  King  Omitted  in 
Litany  —  Brethren's  House  Taken  for  Hospital  —  Soldiers  Buried  West  of 
Monocacy  —  Threats  against  Bethlehem  —  A  Night  of  Peril  —  Moravians  Mis- 
construed —  Petty  Tyranny  of  County  L'eutenant  Wetzel  —  Prisoners  Quartered 
upon  Bethlehem  —  Military  Stores  arrive  —  Liberty  Bell  m  Bethlehem  —  Members 
of  Congress  from  Philadelphia—  Lafayette  at  the  Beckel  House  —  Congressional 
Order  of  Protection  —  Brethren's  House  again  a  Hospital  —  Invasion  of  Rabble 

—  Value  of  Trustworthy  Soldiers  —  Supplies  Furnished  by  Moravians  —  Malig- 
nant Fever  in  Crowded  Hospital  —  The  Dead  no  longer  Counted  —  Contagion 
spreads  in  the  Town  —  Riotous  Militia  —  Imposition  by  Minor  Officers  —  The 
Town  Relieved  —  Hospital  Closed,         .....  Pages  426-483 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Through  the  Revolution  to  Another  Re-organization,  1778-1785. 
Prominent  Men  in  Bethlehem  —  Tract  Against  "  Quakers  and  Bethlehemites  " — 
Count  Pulaski  at  Bethlehem  —  His  Famous   Banner  —  General   Riedesel  and 
Family  —  Brunswick    Troops  —  Exorbitant    Prices  —  Martha   Washington    in 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

Bethlehem  —  Refugees  from  Wyoming  —  Tradesmen  Harassed  by  County 
Lieutenant  and  Squires  —  Moravians  at  Emmaus  Arrested  —  Marched  Through 
Bethlehem  as  a  Spectacle  —  Such  Activity  Financially  Profitable  —  Allentown 
Squires  summon  all  the  Men  of  Bethlehem  —  Higher  Authorities  advise  that  it 
be  Ignored  —  Squires  threaten  Ettwein  —  Discussion  at  Bethlehem  on  the 
Test  Act  —  General  Washington's  Nephev^^  in  Bethlehem  —  Bishop  John  Fred- 
erick Reichel  arrives  —  Position  to  be  Taken  by  Moravian  Villages  —  Recogni- 
tion of  New  Government  —  Official  Changes  —  General  Washington  visits 
Bethlehem  —  More  Distinguished  Foreigners  —  The  Marquis  de  Chastelloux  — 
Captain  Paul  Jones  at  Bethlehem  —  Deals  with  Ruffians  at  Crown  Inn  —  Ruin 
of  Missions  in  Ohio  —  Slaughter  of  Christian  Indians  at  Gnadenhuetten  —  Death 
of  Bishop  Nathanael  Seidel  —  Dr.  Schoepf's  Description  of  Bethlehem  —  Thanks- 
giving Service  after  Treaty  of  Peace  —  Rehabilitation  of  Industries  —  Bishop 
de  Watteville  arrives  to  Re-organize  Work  —  Rigid  Exclusivism  Introduced  — 
Boarding-schools  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  Re-established,         Pages  484-535 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Two  Decades  Under  the  Close  Regime,  1786-1806. 

Spirit  of  the  Age  Felt  —  Combated  by  Stringent  Rules  —  Fiftieth  Anniversary 
of  Bethlehem  —  Official  Changes  Reviewed  —  Postmasters  and  Physicians  — 
The  Sun  Inn  and  Mail  Stage  —  First  Lehigh  Bridge  —  Ferry  and  Crown  Inn 
Abandoned  —  New  Store  —  New  Building  for  Boarding-school  —  Visitors  — 
John  Penn  the  Poet  —  Duke  de  la  Rochefoucauld  —  Society  for  Propagating 
the  Gospel  —  Correspondence  with  President  Washington  —  Indian  Qhiefs  at 
Bethlehem  —  Moravian  Ministers  preach  in  Surrounding  Country  —  Churches 
Dedicated  —  Political  Turbulence  —  The  Fries  Insurrection  —  Memorial  Ser- 
vices, Death  of  Washington  —  Proposition  to  build  a  Large  Church  —  Long 
Delay   and    Many    Plans  —  Building    Commenced  —  Laying   of    Corner-stone 

—  Original  Form  of  Church  Described  —  The  Organ  —  The  Church  Con- 
secrated,   Pages  536-582 

CHAPTER  XV.* 
The  Beginning  of  Modernizing  Movements,  1807-1825. 

Climax  of  Close  Regime — Moravian  Village  Culture— Music  — Decay  of  Old 
System— Hope,  New  Jersey,  Abandoned  —  Theological  Seminary  Founded  — 
Unfortunate  Controversies  —  Domineering  Paternalism  —  Organization  of  Single 
Men  declines  —  Death  of  Bishop  Loskiel  —  Official  Complications  —  Brethren's 
House  Abandoned  —  Converted  into  Boarding-school  —  Day-schools  Discussed 

—  School  Board  Organized —School  House  on  Cedar  Street  Built  — Contro- 
versy with  Administrator  on  Sale  of  Land  —  Clamor  for  Change  of  System  — 
Antiquated  Customs  Abolished  —  Sunday-school  Work  Begun  —  Women's 
Missionary  Society  —  Northampton  County  Bible  Society  —  Neighborhood 
Church  Dedications  —  External  Changes  —  Eagle  Hotel  —  Mercantile  Enter- 
prises—Industries Sold  —  Administrator  Cunow  Removed  from  Office  —  Suc- 
ceeded by  Lewis  David  de  Schweinitz  —  Land  Controversy  Settled  —  Close 
Regime  Broken Pages  583-639 

*  Erratum.     Two  chapters  of  manuscript  were  consolidated  without  changing  the  numbering  of  the  next 
three.    XVI-XVIII,  in  the  volume,  should  be  XV-XVII. 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   XVI. 
Transition  from  Church-Village  to  Borough,  1826-1845. 

Reconstruction  Planned  —  Marks  of  Progress  —  Coal  Industries  —  The  Canal  — 
Old  South  Bethlehem  —  Fourth  of  July,   1826  —  American  Colonization  Society 

—  Young  Men's  Missionary  Society  —  Home  Mission  Society — Financial  De- 
pression— Complications  with  Leases  —  Public  Schools  —  Bleck's  Academy  — 
Philharmonic  Society  —  Bethlehem  Bands — Village  Government  —  The  Water- 
works—  The  Fire  Department  —  Goepp's  Financial  Policy  —  Properties  Sold  — 
Associations  of  Sand  Island  —  Historic  Industries  —  Great  Freshet,  1841  —  Beth- 
lehem's Centennial  —  Financial  Crash  —  Abolition  of  Lease  System  —  Incor- 
poration of  Borough Pages  640-682 

CHAPTER   XVII. 
Three  Decades  of  Progress,  1846-1876. 

Ground-rents  and  Sales  —  Moravian  Church  Re-organization  —  Division  of 
Property  —  Changes  in  Church  Buildings — Nisky  Hill  Cemetery  —  Beginnings 
of  Other  Churches  in  Bethlehem  —  Other  Religious  Work  —  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  —  New  Parochial  School  Building  —  Van  Kirk's  Academy 

—  Schwartz's  Academy —  Public  Schools  and  Teachers  —  Music  and  Art  —  The 
Press  of  the  Bethlehems — Municipal  Improvements  —  Hotels — Island  —  Boats 

—  Piano  Factory  —  Brass  Works Pages  683-717 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Three  Decades  of  Progress,  Continued,  1846-1876. 

South  Side  Beginnings — Farms  Sold  —  The  Water  Cure  —  Fontainebleau  — 
The  Zinc  Works  —  Railroads  —  Iron  Industries  —  Proposed  Government 
Foundry  —  Bethlehem  Iron  Company — South  Bethlehem  Incorporated  —  Gas 
and  Water  Company  —  South  Bethlehem  Schools  —  Lehigh  University  —  Bishop- 
thorpe  —  St.  Luke's  Hospital  —  South  Bethlehem  Churches — New  Street  and 
Broad  Street  Bridges  —  Great  Freshet,  1862  —  Railroads,  North  Side  —  Banks 

—  Post-office —  The  Civil  War  —  First  Troops  from  Bethlehem  —  War-time  Ad- 
vertising—  Moravian  Woolen  Mills  —  Impressive  Scenes  —  Union  League  — 
Battle  of  Gettysburg—  Christian  Commission  —  Close  of  the  War  —  Decoration 
Day — Grand  Army  Post  —  National  Centennial,  .         .         .  Pages  718-754 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
A  Century  and  a  Half  Completed,  1877-1892. 

Features  of  New  Period — Small-pox  Epidemic  —  Borough  of  West  Bethlehem 

—  West  Side  Schools  and  Churches  —  Industrial  Progress  —  Silk  Mills  —  Electric 
Light  —  Street  Improvement—  New  Bridge  Projects  —  Electric  Cars—  Fire  and 
Water  Departments  —  New  School  Houses  —  New  Theological  Seminary  — 
Musical  Achievements  —  Anniversaries  — Comenius  Celebration  —  Columbus 
Celebration  —  Sesqui-Centennial  of  Bethlehem  —  Municipal  and  Ecclesiastical 
Preparations  —  Festival  Described  —  Zinzendorf  Bi-Centenary  —  Close  of  Nine- 
teenth Century Pages  755-776 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRA.TIONS. 


PAGE. 

THE  THREE  CHURCHES,  .  .  Frontispiece 
ANCIENT    SEAL    OF    THE    UNITAS 

FRATRUM, 5 

EPISCOPAL  SEAL,  1902,        ....  6 

COUNT  ZINZENDORF, 20 

DAVID  NITSCHMANN,  (Episc).  ,  .  30 
■CERTIFICATE  OF  SAVANNAH  LOTS.        .     33 

PETER    BOEHLER, 38 

THE  WHITEFIELD  HOUSE,  ....  53 
THE  FIRST  HOUSE  OF  BETHLEHEM,  60 

DAVID  NITSCHMANN,  (Sen.)  ...  64 
TITLE  PAGE  OF  TEXT  BOOK,  1767,  .  120 
PAGE  OF  BETHLEHEM  DIARY,  .        .        .134 

FRENCH   HORN, 172 

AUG.  G.  SPANGENBERG,  .  .  .  .178 
GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS,  ....  184 
GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS,        .        .        .        .190 

CROWN  INN  RELICS, 229 

ITINERARY  MAP  OF  PENNA.,  .  .  .236 
APOTHECARY'S  UTENSILS,  1752,  .  .  256 
INDIANS'  HOUSES  AND  BAPTISM,  .  .  258 
GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS,     ....      266 

THE  FAMILY  HOUSE, 284 

BETHLEHEM,  1750,  1755,       ....       290 

TROMBONE, 331 

PLOT  OF  1757, 344 

INDIANS'  SIGNATURES,  ,  ,  .  .346 
BETHLEHEM  LANDS,  1761,         .        .        .352 

BETHLEHEM,  1757, 358 

THE  SUN  INN, 360 

ZEISBERGER     PREACHING     TO     THE 

INDIANS, 368 

COMMUNION  SERVICE, 385 

PLAN  OF  BETHLEHEM,  1758,     .        .        .391 

FIRE   ENGINE, 400 

WIDOWS'  HOUSE  VIEWS,  ....      410 

BETHLEHEM,  1767,  1784, 430 

FIRST    HOUSE    AND    ADJOINING 

BUILDING  OF  1776, 443 

ORDER  OF  SAFE-GUARD, ....  466 
LETTER  FROM  GEN.  WASHINGTON,  .  478 
JOHN  ETTWEIN  VS.  COL.  CROPPER,  .  480 
LETTER  OF  HORATIO  GATES,   .        .        .491 

JOHN  ETTWEIN, 504 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON,        .        .        .         .518 


PACB. 

522 

.  550 

518 

564 
576 
580 

582 


GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS 

YOUNG  LADIES'  SEMINARY  OF  1790, 
LETTER  OF  GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  . 
BETHLEHEM,    1793,    1795, 
THE   MORAVIAN   CHURCH,  1806,     . 
GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS, 
BETHLEHEM,  1805,  1810,   .... 
MORAVIAN   COLLEGE    AND    THEOLOG- 
ICAL SEMINARY, 592 

BETHLEHEM,  1810 594 

GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS,  .  .  .  .598 
BETHLEHEM,  1830,  1848,       ....      628 

STAGE  LINE 530 

CALYPSO  ISLAND,  1832,        ....      632 

EAGLE  HOTEL 634 

BETHLEHEM, 640 

GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS,         .        .        .        .662 

CHARLES  D.  BISHOP, 666 

CALYPSO  ISLAND,  1850, 668 

MOUNTAIN  PATH  AND  THE  SPRING,  670 
MAIN  STREET,  1842,  .        .        .        .        .672 

GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS,     ....      674 

GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS 680 

BETHLEHEM,  1850,  1851,        .        .        .        .      682 

MONOCACY  VIEWS 684 

GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS,  ....  686 
BETHLEHEM,  1852,    .  ....  688 

GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS,     ....      694 

GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS 700 

SCHOOL  BUILDINGS, 704 

FIRST  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  HOUSE,         .        .  706 

BETHLEHEM  VIEWS, 708 

MAIN  STREET, 710 

GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS,  ....  714 
THE  SOUTH  SIDE,  1852,  1872,         .        .        .718 

GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS 720 

GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS 726 

GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS,     ....      728 

FRANCIS  WOLLE, 732 

THE  FRESHET  OF  1862,       .        .  .736 

GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS.         .        '  •  746 

EDM.  A.  DE  SCHWEINITZ,  .  .  .752 
TWO  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  BUILDINGS,  .  .  760 
TWO  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  BUILDINGS,  762 

GROUP  OF  PORTRAITS,        .        .        •        .764 


CHAPTER    I. 


Introduction. 

Pennsylvania  stood  foremost  among  the  primitive  commonwealths 
of  the  United  States  in  presenting  favorable  conditions  to  many  kinds 
of  particular  associations  and  undertakings.  Therefore  it  Aost 
readily  afforded  a  home  to  a  settlement  like  Bethlehem,  unique  in 
some  striking  features  but  in  its  essential  and  lasting  characteristics 
fully  at  one  with  the  best  elements  of  the  Province. 

It  is  proposed  to  treat  of  the  origin,  founding  and  growth  of  this 
settlement  viewed  not  in  its  isolation  but  in  its  connections,  ante- 
cedent and  contemporary.  Accordingly  the  effort  may  properly  be 
introduced  by  a  cursory  survey  of  the  situation  previously  developed 
in  the  Province. 

Cosmopolitan  ideas,  broad  tolerance  and  philanthropy  entered 
conspicuously  into  the  large  plans  on  which  the  Province  was  founded, 
and  the  severe  tests  to  which  the  hosts  attracted  by  the  proffered 
liberty  subjected  them  worked  out  problems  of  vital  importance. 
Discordant  and  rival  elements  abused  the  privileges  and  so  tried  the 
ideal  scheme  that  for  a  time  its  failure  seemed  inevitable,  but  the 
people  thus  brought  together  learned  finally  that  they  could  affiliate 
and  produced  a  result  that  fulfilled  the  drearns  and  vindicated  the 
faith  of  the  projectors.  This,  in  brief,  was  the  process  of  the  colonial 
period  of  Pennsylvania  to  which  so  many  races  and  languages,  so 
many  social  and  religious  factors,  such  a  variety  of  special  designs  and 
movements  contributed. 

In  the  bold  venture  to  invite  together  such  a  heterogeneous  mass, 
with  so  Httle  discrimination  or  restriction,  and  to  undertake  the  fusion 
of  this  mass  into  a  composite  citizenship  on  the  principle  that  the 
greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number  must  be  sought  in  all  things, 
Penn  with  his  commonwealth  anticipated  the  future  great  Republic. 
The  Pennsylvania  experiment  was  in  this  respect  the  first  lesson  in 
what  would  be  the  experiment  of  the  Nation. 

Its  plan  took  high  rank  among  the  products  of  advanced  thought 
in  that  age  in  which  the  modern  structures  of  Christian  civilization 


2  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

were  slowly  arising  out  of  the  chaotic  ruins  left  by  the  Thirty-years' 
War.  Nowhere  in  the  new  world  did  peoples  directly  involved  in 
those  protracted  religious  and  political  struggles  of  the  seventeenth 
century  figure  so  largely  as  in  the  region  entered  through  the  gate- 
way of  the  Delaware  River.  The  pioneers  of  its  earHest  settlements 
bore  the  flags  of  two  nations  which  were  prominent  during  those 
troublous  decades  as  advocates  of  humane  principles  and  as  friends 
of  the  helpless  and  the  down-trodden,  the  fugitive  and  the  exile. 

Holland,  the  first  to  colonize  on  the  shores  of  the  Delaware,  had 
a  keen  eye  to  material  gain  and  less  to  say,  in  proclamations,  charters 
and  advertisements,  than  some  other  nations,  about  propagating  the 
gospel,  but  was  beyond  any  other  the  refuge  of  persecuted  religion- 
ists chased  like  hunted  beasts  from  one  dominion  to  another;  and, 
having  suffered  so  grievously  herself,  turned  a  sympathizing  ear  to 
the  cry  of  the  bleeding  masses  over  whose  heads  the  chariots  of  war 
had  so  long  rolled  to  and  fro. 

There,  during  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  Puritans 
and  Quakers,  Mennonites,  Labadists  and  Tunkers  found  shelter 
and  received  help  to  cross  the  ocean.  Thither  fled  multitudes  from 
the  Rhine  Palatinate,  from  Silesia  and  the  North  German  country, 
together  with  impoverished  Waldenses  and  exiles  from  Bohemia  and 
Moravia,  bereft  of  everything  to  live  from  or  worth  living  for  at  home, 
and  glad  to  find  a  spot  where  even  bare  existence  was  possible. 

The  salt  of  the  land,  sturdy  yeomanry  from  the  desolate  fields,  in- 
telligent craftsmen  and  skilled  artisans  from  the  ruined  cities  and  the 
villages  sacked  and  burned,  nobles  of  ancient  name  reduced  to  beg- 
gary, learned  schoolmen,  philosophers  and  theologians  made  up 
those  expatriated  hosts  who  were  fed  and  clothed  in  the  Netherlands, 
where  the  conviction  that  all  men  were  created  equal  produced  the 
leading  effort  of  the  time  to  educate  the  masses,  accorded  to  men 
the  right  to  have  a  conscience,  permitted  them  to  think  and  express 
their  thoughts,  to  formulate  the  many-sided  truth  as  they  appre- 
hended it,  and  to  worship  God  in  the  manner  that  satisfied  their  minds 
and  hearts. 

How  numerously  these  mixed  multitudes,  who  caught  new  breath 
and  learned  to  hope  again  in  Holland,  entered  into  the  early  popula- 
tion of  Pennsylvania,  and  how  largely  by  the  help  of  Holland  they 
reached  this  country,  history  has  often  told.  The  settlement  to  be 
called  New  Amstel,  which  later  became  New  Castle  on  the  Dela- 
ware, elaborately  planned  by  the   Dutch  during  their  second  brief 


INTRODUCTION.  v  3 

occupation  of  the  region,  was  to  be  especially  an  asylum  for  such, 
and  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  expected  great  advantage  to 
the  colony  by  the  acquisition  of  settlers  like  these,  with  character 
which  could  neither  be  bought  nor  crushed. 

Sweden's  more  substantial  settlements  on  the  Delaware  originated 
in  the  plans  of  the  great  Gustavus  Adolphus,  who,  as  the  ultimate 
champion  of  the  Protestant  forces,  had  given  the  decisive  turn  to 
the  struggles  of  the  time.  He  not  only  thought  to  reap  material 
benefit  for  his  country  and  to  evangelize  the  heathen,  but  also  to 
of^er  a  place  of  refuge  beyond  the  sea  to  the  sufiferers  of  desolated 
regions  and  the  homeless  exiles  whose  tribulation  awakened  his  sym- 
pathy and  aroused  his  fiery  indignation.  His  plans  were  modified 
by  narrower  spirits  who  carried  them  into  execution  after  his  un- 
timely and  lamented  death,  and  rigid  confessionalism  curtailed  some- 
what the  terms  he  would  have  offered  to  men  of  different  creeds, 
yet  his  successors  colonized  with  other  aims  than  merely  the  gratifi- 
cation of  avarice  or  political  ambition.  They  helped  to  establish 
the  precedent  of  toleration  which  distinguished  the  future  Province. 
They  anticipated  the  principle  of  William  Penn,  that  the  land  must 
be  purchased  of  its  savage  possessors  or  at  least  acquired  with  their 
free  consent,  whatever  grant  or  patent  might  otherwise  be  held. 
They  also  made  the  first  attempt  to  evangelize  the  natives  of  the 
region  and  to  translate  Christian  Hterature  into  their  language. 

The  Dutch  and  the  Swedes  did,  it  is  true,  quarrel  in  unseemly  man- 
ner about  their  claims,  so  vague  and  contradictory  in  language,  and 
both  of  them  quarreled  with  the  English  who  several  times  tried  to 
get  foothold  on  this  middle  coast  before  the  time  and  the  man  ap- 
peared to  introduce  the  best  spirit  of  England,  yet  from  the  first, 
more  largely  than  elsewhere.  Christian  motives  and  philanthropic 
impulses  bore  a  part  to  be  perpetuated  in  the  first  constitution  of 
the  "state  prayer-founded"  in  which  at  last  "the  sectary  yielded  to 
the  citizen  and  peaceful  dwelt  the  many-creeded  men." 

When  finally  the  nation  mightier  than  Holland  or  Sweden  acquired 
the  whole  country  drained  by  the  Delaware  and  its  tributaries  and 
the  power  of  Great  Britain  inspired  confidence  in  the  new  order,  the 
oppressed,  the  impoverished  and  the  down-trodden,  little  benefited 
by  the  reconstructions  thus  far  effected  in  their  countries  and  believ- 
ing that  the  statements  and  offers  of  the  noble-minded  Proprietary 
could  be  trusted,  began  to  come  in  by  thousands;  and  the  long- 
mooted  idea  of  a  new,  free  state  in  which  sufferers  for  conscience' 


4  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

sake,  strtigglers  in  the  cause  of  liberty  and  enterprising  home-seekers 
might  find  the  desire  of  their  hearts,  began  to  be  reahzed. 

Then  it  came  to  pass  that  the  scheme  of  peace  with  freedom  at 
first  produced  a  spectacle  of  turmoil.  The  population  increased  in 
number  and  diversity  beyond  the  provisions  for  ordering  and  unify- 
ing it.  Many  who  had  never  known  what  freedom  was  were  not 
capable  of  using  it  peaceably.  There  came  troublesome  agitators, 
reckless  adventurers  and  worthless  vagabonds  who  could  not  be  kept 
out.  These  exerted  a  pernicious  influence  among  the  masses  who 
had  been  accustomed  to  look  upon  all  authority  in  state  or  church 
as  tyranny  to  be  submitted  to  only  under  sullen  protest  if  too  strong 
to  be  violently  resisted,  and  consequently  regarded  all  efiforts  to 
establish  order  as  but  so  many  acts  of  oppression. 

The  conflicts  of  the  generations  before  them  having  been  mainly 
conflicts  with  ecclesiastical  tyranny,  these  people  for  the  most  part 
held  the  inherited  idea  that  religious  liberty  was  the  greatest  boon 
to  be  sought.  Therefore  the  confusion  and  strife  which  marked  the 
early  periods  of  the  Pennsylvania  experiment  prevailed  most  con- 
spicuously in  the  domain  of  religion.  Bigotry  and  intolerance  were 
intensified  among  the  adherents  of  the  dominant  confessions.  A 
morbid  propensity  to  follow  pretending  prophets,  to  indulge  in  mys- 
tical vagaries,  to  embrace  startling  novelties  of  doctrine,  to  become 
fanatical  in  specialties  and  to  multiply  conventicles  was  developed 
among  those  who  turned  away  from  the  old  church-establishments 
or  were  forced  out  of  them  by  repressive  measures.  The  atmosphere 
of  the  age  had  bred  an  epidemic  of  religious  extravagancies  which 
continued  far  into  the  eighteenth  century.  The  multitude  of  sects 
goaded  by  persecution  ran  to  extremes  in  the  defence  and  promulga- 
tion of  their  distinctive  tenets  and  many  became  the  persecutors  of 
each  other  where  they  could.  No  religious  body  that  strove  for 
something  more  than  mere  theoretical  orthodoxy  or  outward  con- 
formity to  church-order  escaped  entirely  the  infection  of  fanaticism. 

All  this,  when  transplanted  out  of  the  repressing  conditions  of  the 
old  world  into  the  new  Province  of  Pennsylvania,  where  all  persua- 
sions could  assert  themselves,  produced  a  religious  babel.  At  the 
same  time  many  who  associated  estabhshed  churches  with  the  old 
tyranny  from  which  they  had  fled,  while  they  were  repelled  by  the 
wrangling  of  sects  and  separatists,  discarded  all  religion  and  became 
practically  atheists. 


INTRODUCTION'. 


5 


At  the  most  confused  and  uncertain  stage,  when  those  who  had 
no  faith  in  the  Pennsylvania  plan  called  the  Province  bedlam  and 
predicted  the  triumph  of  anarchy,  the  men  who  founded  Bethlehem 
appeared  upon  the  scene  to  seek  a  place  in  this  region  of  great  oppor- 
tunities and  to  undertake  their  part  in  helping  to  work  out  the  prob- 
lem of  its  future.  They  came  with  a  definite  purpose  which  was  in 
accord  with  the  highest  aspirations  of  its  best  people.  Persons  of 
several  nationahties  were  among  them,  but  no  colonists  in  the  coun- 
try were  more  closely  bound  together.  Their  organization  was  com- 
paratively new,  but  they  had  back  of  them  a  history  recalled  by  the 
name^  they  bore  which  had  its  beginning  before  America  was  discov- 
ered; the  history  of  a  rehgious  body  which  Holland,  Sweden  and 
England  had  known  as  a  disrupted  church  in  exile  for  more  than 
a  hundred  years.  None  had  suffered  more  terribly  in  the  Thirty- 
years'  War  than  the  spiritual  fore-fathers  of  these  men.  No  banner 
carried  through  the  conflicts  of  the  previous  three  hundred  years  was 
more  pierced  and  rent  than  was  their  historic  banner  with  legend 
and  device^  calling  them  to  follow  the  Lamb  whose  sacrifice  for 
humanity  was  destined  to  result  in  mighty  conquests  by  love. 


Ancient  Seal  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum. 

Now  these  colonists  came  bearing  it  into  the  new  world  to  proclaim 
true  liberty  with  true  brotherhood  under  the  dominion  of  the  con- 
quering Lamb.  All  their  undertakings  were  subordinate  to  this 
central  purpose.     Their  position  was  not  readily  understood.     Men 

1  From  the  first  they  were  most  commonly  called  "the  Moravians"  by  English  speaking 
people  in  the  American  colonies. 

2  The  episcopal  seal  of  the  Church  has  upon  it  a  shield  with  the  figure  of  a  lamb  carrying 
a  cross  from  which  is  suspended  a  banner  of  victory,  and  around  the  shield  is  the  motto: 

Vitit  Agnus  noster,  Eunt  sequatmir,  i.e.,  Our  Lamb  hath  conquered,  Him  let  us  follow. 


6  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

differed  widely  in  their  attitude  towards  them,  for  both  good  report 
and  evil  report  had  preceded  them  across  the  ocean,  and  they  were 
soon  the  most  highly  praised  and  the  most  bitterly  denounced  people 
in  the  Province. 

The  material  benefits  which  their  settlement  brought  to  the  region 
were  speedily  recognized  by  those  in  authority.  In  a  short  time 
their  name  carried  with  it  high  credit  in  business  circles.  Their 
educational  efforts  won  for  them  the  respect  of  the  most  intelligent 
persons  and  their  missionary  activity  excited  the  interest  of  the 
philanthropic,  while  many  sick  of  sectarian  strife  were  attracted  by 
the  preaching  of  their  itinerants  who  avoided  polemics. 

On  the  other  hand  a  variety  of  misrepresentations  and  calumnies 
circulated  in  print  by  prejudiced  and  unscrupulous  ecclesiastics  in 
Europe  found  eager  agents  for  their  propagation  in  Pennsylvania, 
where  the  conditions  that  existed  so  greatly  favored  such  work. 
One  decried  them  as  wild  visionaries  and  dangerous  fanatics. 
Another  hurled  denunciations  at  them  as  disseminators  of  grievous 
heresies.  Another  agitated  the  passage  of  laws  against  them  as 
Papists  in  disguise.  They  paid  little  heed  to  these  things,  for  their 
spiritual  ancestors  had  encountered  fiercer  onslaughts  than  these. 

In  the  Indian's  wigwam,  in  the  settler's  cabin,  in  the  hut  of  the 
despised  negro,  among  churchmen,  sectarians  and  separatists  of 
every  nationality,  creed  and  name,  in  the  town  and  the  forest,  where- 
ever  they  found  people  who  would  listen,  these  men  of  Bethlehem 
preached  the  one  gospel  of  the  cross,  advocated  union  of  heart  around 
this  standard,  with  cessation  of  controversy  on  non-essential  dif- 
ferences, and  sought  to  ally  the  well-meaning  of  all  parties  in  efforts 
for  the  common  good.  The  period  of  their  arrival  and  first  attempts 
constituted  an  epoch  in  the  religious  life  of  the  Province. 

Who  were  these  people  and  whence  came  they?  What  were  their 
antecedents  and  associations?  Correct  knowledge  in  reference  to 
these  questions  is  necessary  in  order  to  understand  the  history  of 
Bethlehem. 


The  Episcopal  Seal,  l?i02. 


CHAPTER     II. 


The  Unitas  Fratrum  or  Moravian  Church. 
A.D.  1457-1735. 

The  founders  of  Bethlehem  represented  a  Church  variously  known 
as  the  Brethren's  Church,  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  the  Bohemian  and 
Moravian  Brethren,  the  Church  of  the  United  Brethren  and  the 
Moravian  Church.^  It  arose  in  the  fifteenth  century  in  the  twin 
countries  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  lying  mountain-encircled  in  the 
heart  of  Europe,  small  in  area  but  long  the  theatre  of  great  events. 

For  more  than  seven  hundred  years  their  history  had  been  one  of 
successive  struggles  for  freedom  and  for  the  preservation  of  their 
primitive  Christianity  in  character  and  form. 

What  their  first  evangeHsts,  Cyrill  and  ^lethodius  of  the  Greek 
Church  gave  them  in  the  ninth  century ;  what  Rome  deprived  them 
of  in  the  eleventh  century,  the  Bohemian  Reformation  came  so  near 
restoring  at  the  opening  of  the  fifteenth  century  that  the  Papal 
authorities  resorted  to  the  desperate  measure  of  burning  the  intrepid 
leader  John  Hus  at  the  stake  July  6,  141 5,  to  intimidate  the  uprising 
hosts.     The  subsequent  contentions  were  partly  political,  partly  re- 


I  The  original  Bohemian  name  was  Jednota  Bratrska.  The  word  Jednota  means  associ- 
ation of  any  kind.  It  was  chosen  instead  of  Cirkev  (church)  in  deference  to  the  National 
Church,  as  Unitas  was  later  used  as  a  Latin  equivalent  of  Jednota  —  both  meaning  what  is 
meant  by  Church  in  the  restricted  sense,  as  applied  to  single  church  divisions  or  denomina- 
tions in  America.  Unitas  passed  into  German  as  UiiitaeL  YiG.x\c^  Jednota  Bratrska  ■=.  Unitas 
Fratriitii= Brufder  Unitaet^ Brethren'' s  Unity,  but  all  meaning  simply  Brethren's  Church  in 
the  sense  just  stated.  In  the  l8th  century  the  Latin  title  was  revived  in  negotiations  with 
England,  with  its  meaning  construed  to  denote  union  ideas,  in  view  from  the  first,  leading  to 
its  selection  with  this  especially  in  mind.  This  has  been  shown  to  be  unhi>torical  and  has 
been  officially  abandoned;  the  General  Synod,  since  1889,  having  ceased  to  set  forth  a 
sharp  difference  between  the  terms  Brethren's  Church  and  Brethren's  Unity.  The  German 
branch  of  the  Church  calls  its  corporate  whole  a  Unitaet  instead  of  a  Kirche  (church)  for 
reasons  deemed  important,  but  where  no  State  Church  exists  there  is  no  occasion  to  affect 
this  oddity.  Church  of  the  United  Brethren  is  the  English  title  adopted  in  the  iSth  century 
when  the  superfluous  word  "united"  was  thought  necessary  to  adequately  render  Unitas 
Fratrum.     Its  retention  in  legal  titles  and  some  Church  formularies  is  unfortunate  in  the 

7 


8  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

ligious.  The  I'our  Articles  of  Prague  (1421)  which  declared  for 
unhindered  worship  and  preaching  in  the  vernacular ;  the  communion 
cup  to  the  laiety ;  secular  power  taken  from  the  clergy ;  discipline 
impartially  maintained  among  all  ranks  and  classes,  became  the 
general  platform  of  the  Hussite  patriots.     Two  main  parties  arose. 


United  States,  because  of  confusion  with  a  quite  different  modern  denomination,  the 
United  Brethren  in  Christ.  There  being  also  other  claimants  for  even  the  simple  and 
correct  name  Brethren's  Church,  and  the  title  Unitas  Fratrum  being  not  suited  for  popular 
use,  the  name  Moravian  Church,  gradually  adopted  in  England  and  America,  seems  to  be  a 
survival  of  the  fittest  among  English-speaking  people.  In  America  particularly,  where 
nearly  all  religious  bodies  trace  their  origin  to  some  foreign  country,  its  use  is  not  open  to 
the  same  objection  which  a  Saxon  or  Prussian  would  raise  against  calling  his  church  Die 
Maehrische  Kirche.  The  use  of  "Moravian"  in  America  to  denote  ecclesiastical  descent  is 
sustained  by  the  following  considerations  : 

1.  Such  a  geographical  or  ethnical  designation — Anglican,  Roman,  German,  Moravian,  Gal- 
ilean, etc.,  like  Judean,  Syrian,  Galatian,  Roman,  etc.,  in  the  primitive  Church — is  more  consis- 
tent with  the  idea  oione  Church  Universal  than  special  titles  which  either  recall  dissension,  strife 
and  schism,  or  obtrude  some  peculiarity  of  doctrine,  polity  or  ritual,  or  suggest  an  eccentric  con- 
venticle, or  were  formed  from  the  name  of  a  man,  or  were  first  mere  epithets  either  of  cant 
or  reproach. 

2.  The  "  hidden  seed "  of  the  suppressed  Unitas  Fratrum  in  Moravia  sprang  from  the 
residue  of  the  only  body  which  after  the  middle  of  the  17th  century  could  be  called  the 
Moravian  Church  in  the  sense  of  local  origin  and  character.  The  Utraquist  Church  of  the 
realm  was  in  decay,  never  to  be  revived.  The  Roman  hierarchy  was  an  invading  foreign 
power.  The  Protestant  bodies  under  limited  toleration  there  represented  confessions  and 
affiliations  of  neighboring  states  in  which  they  originated. 

3.  That  "hidden  seed"  of  Moravia  principally  furnished  the  nucleus  of  the  first  congre- 
gation with  which  the  modern  resuscitation  of  the  Church  began  in  Saxony.  Their  patron 
Count  Zinzendorf  continually  called  them  "  the  Moravians,"  the  Church  of  their  fathers 
"  the  Moravian  Church,"  and  five  of  their  chief  men  who  emigrated  together  to  seek  a  place 
where  they  might  reorganize  it,  "  the  five  Moravian  Churchmen." 

4.  Zinzendorf's  scheme  of  combining  elements  fostered  three  historic  cults  which  he 
called  Tropi  Padias  —  a  Lutheran,  a  Reformed  and  a  ''Moravian-Episcopal"  Tropus. 
Under  the  latter  he  classed  all  elements  in  the  make-up  of  the  modern  Church  derived  from 
the  ancient  Unitas. 

5.  The  episcopate  of  the  Church  preserved  from  extinction  in  the  17th  century  mainly 
through  the  efforts  of  Comenius,  the  most  distinguished  native  Moravian  of  his  time  and  the 
pre-eminent  Moravian  bishop  of  the  Unitas,  over  against  its  Bohemian  and  Polish  bishops, 
was  passed  on  by  his  grandson,  Jablonsky,  to  one  of  those  five  Moravian  Churchmen, 
David  Nitschmann,  the  first  bishop  of  the  Church  after  its  resuscitation,  its  first  bishop  in 
America  and  the  official  founder  of  its  first  American  settlement. 

6.  Emigrants  from  Moravia  figured  so  conspicuously  among  the  first  missionaries  and  first 
colonists  of  the  Church  in  America  that  immediately  the  name  Moravian  was  applied  by 
English-speaking  people  to  the  entire  body  of  the  Brethren. 

While  therefore  this  name  as  now  generally  applied  to  the  Renewed  Church  of  the 
Brethren  is  held  to  be  preferable  in  English,  the  various  designations  will  be  used  ad  libitum 
in  these  pages  as  convenience  or  suitableness  may  require. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH    TO    1 73  5.  g 

One  bore  the  names  Calixtines,  from  their  emblem  the  communion 
chalice,  and  Utraquists  from  the  phrase  sub  utraque  forma,  i.  e.  the 
communion  in  both  kinds.  The  other  was  known  as  the  Taborites 
from  the  name  of  their  chief  stronghold  in  the  Hussite  wars.  They 
were  the  most  uncompromising  radicals,  politically  and  ecclesiasti- 
cally. The  Utraquists,  more  disposed  to  negotiate  with  the  Papacy 
and  to  accommodate  discipline  to  circumstances,  embodied  the  uni- 
versity party  and  most  of  the  titled  classes.  They  became  the  domin- 
ant body,  strong  enough  at  the  Council  of  Basle  (1433)  to  gain 
temporary  concessions  from  the  diplomats  of  Rome  in  what  are 
known  as  the  Compactata  of  Basle,  and  in  sanctioning  the  ordina- 
tion, for  the  Waldenses,  of  two  new  priests,  Frederick  and  John,  sur- 
named  Nemez  and  Wlach — German  and  Walloon — and  their  con- 
secration as  bishops  in  1434,  as  a  stroke  of  policy  to  enlist  the 
Utraquists  and  their  proteges  against  the  Taborites  and  for  other 
interests  then  deemed  more  important.  The  Taborites  rejected  the 
Compactata,  again  resorted  to  arms,  with  now  the  Utraquists  also 
against  them,  and  met  with  an  overwhelming  defeat  (1434)  which 
led  to  their  disintegration  and  put  the  Utraquists  in  control  to  de- 
velop a  national  church. 

Besides  the  Orphans,  the  most  extreme  faction  of  the  Taborite 
party,  and  numerous  smaller  sects,  there  existed  certain  circles  of 
quiet,  godly  men  within  the  Utraquist  and  Taborite  parties  who 
held  aloof  from  issues  between  the  two,  declined  to  engage  in  war- 
fare and  fostered  Apostolic  teaching,  discipline  and  fellowship. 
These  constituted  the  most  genuine  followers  of  Hus  and  furnished 
the  seed  of  the  Brethren's  Church.  From  their  central  nucleus  in 
Prague  a  colony  under  the  leadership  of  Gregory,  a  nephew  of  Roky- 
cana,  Utraquist  Archbishop  elect  of  Prague,  located,  early  in  the  year 
1457,  near  the  village  of  Kunwald  on  the  domain  of  Lititz  in  the 
north-eastern  part  of  Bohemia,  the  property  of  George  Podiebrad 
who  the  next  year  became  King  of  Bohemia  and  who,  like  Rokycana, 
was  at  that  time  in  sympathy  with  them.  There  they  formed  an 
association — tradition  says  on  March  i — based  upon  the  Scriptures 
and  the  Articles  of  Prague  and  directed  by  twenty-eight  Elders,  three 
of  them  priests  and  the  rest  laymen  of  various  stations — schoolmen, 
artisans,  noblemen  and  peasants.  For  a  while  they  seem  to  have 
spoken  of  themselves  as  "Brethren  of  the  Law  of  Christ ;"  adverting 
to  an  utterance  of  John  Hus,  to  signify  their  scriptural  foundation 
and  the  nature  of  their  union.     Otherwise  their  name   during  the 


lO  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

first  years  was  simply  "the  Brethren."  They  did  not  propose  to 
found  an  independent  church,  but  merely  to  foster  Apostolic  teaching 
and  fellowship  as  a  society  within  the  National  Church,  doing  what 
good  they  might  to  their  surroundings,  receiving  the  sacrament  from 
reputable  priests  of  the  neighborhood,  and  pastoral  care  from  those 
who  had  joined  them,  notably  Michael  of  Bradac,  called  Bradacius, 
an  aged  priest  of  Senftenberg,  their  first  minister. 

Their  increase  was  rapid.  Four  years  later  they  had  several 
thousand  members  and  affiliated  groups  began  to  form  at  other  points 
both  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia.  The  infectious  influence  of  various 
erratic  sects  upon  this  mixed  multitude  soon  made  it  necessary  to 
define  some  principles  more  clearly  and  to  adopt  further  regulations. 
The  determination  to  search  the  Scriptures  for  authority  in  all 
things,  to  obey  the  law  of  Christ  in  life  and  fellowship  and  to  avoid 
political  entanglements  was  reafifirmed.  Controversies  on  the  Eu- 
charist having  invaded  the  Society,  the  position  was  taken  that  the 
sacrament  should  be  received  in  faith,  accepting  the  words  of  Christ 
without  formulated  definition,  rejecting  only  the  doctrine  of  trans- 
substantiation.  This  principle  laid  down  in  1459  ^^'^s  maintained 
permanently  and  is  the  position  of  the  Church  now.  Watchful 
enemies  aided  by  renegades  soon  found  occasion  in  these  things  to 
accuse  them  before  the  authorities.  The  King  and  Rokycana,  both 
fearing  the  growing  numbers  of  the  Brethren  and  desiring  to  keep 
peace  with  Rome  in  the  pursuit  of  their  own  ambitions,  were  readily 
influenced  against  them.  Persecution  ensued  and  the  main  body  of 
them  retired  into  the  mountains  of  Reichenau  where  they  worshiped 
and  held  synods  in  the  open  air.  In  1464  they  took  further  steps  in 
the  hour  of  trial  to  strengthen  their  bond.  They  adopted  a  more 
elaborate  code  of  statutes  remarkable  for  their  enhghtened  evan- 
gelical character  in  such  times  as  those,  for  their  calm,  heroic  tone 
and  for  their  exalted  charity.  They  constitute  the  earliest  formal 
declaration  of  the  Brethren  preserved  to  posterity  and  yet  extant  in 
translations. 

In  1467  they  took  the  next  step  to  which  the  logic  of  events  directed 
them  as  indispensable  to  maintain  their  organization  and  pursue  its 
high  aims.  This  was  the  establishment  of  their  own  ministry  through 
the  good  offices  of  the  Waldenses  with  whom  they  had  opened  com- 
munication on  the  subject.  After  weighing  the  matter  well  in  all 
its  bearings  and  with  much  prayer,  they  submitted  the  main  question 
to  the  drawing  of  a  lot  in  which  they  believed,  like  the  Apostles, 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH    TO    1 735-  II 

that  Divine  guidance  would  be  given,  and  the  result  was  affirmative. 
Nine  worthy  candidates  were  elected.  Then  they  again  resorted  to 
the  lot  and  three  of  these  were  drawn.  First  the  priests  who  were 
present,  Michael  Bradacius  and  the  rest — an  aged  Waldensian  taking 
the  lead — set  them  apart  by  the  laying  on  of  hands  after  the  entire 
synod  of  about  sixty  men  had  pledged  them  cordial  recognition. 
Then  Michael  with  the  Waldensian  priest  and  another  who  had  re- 
nounced allegiance  to  Rome  and  joined  them,  were  sent  to  Stephen, 
an  aged  bishop  of  the  Waldenses  of  Moravia,  who  with  another  of 
their  bishops*  yet  living  claimed  a  genuine  episcopate  in  their  own 
ancient  line  which,  however,  Utraquist  documents  refer  to  as  derived 
through  the  procedure  at  Basle  in  1434.  Stephen  was  asked  to  confer 
the  episcopate  upon  them  that  they  might  have  a  ministry  which 
would  be  recognized  as  valid  amid  all  the  circumstances  that  might 
arise  in  time  to  come.  He  complied  by  consecrating  Michael  who 
was  a  regular  priest  of  Roman  ordination  and  had  been  identified 
with  the  Brethren  from  the  beginning.  Michael,  upon  his  return, 
ordained  the  three  chosen  men  to  the  ministry.  They  were  Matthias 
of  Kunwald.  Thomas  of  Prelouc  and  Elias  of  "Chrenovic.  Then  he 
consecrated  Matthias  the  first  bishop,  the  others  being  subsequently 
also  consecrated.-    An  Executive  Council  of  twelve  men,  presbyters 

I 

»  For  the  information  of  those  readers  who  are  interested  in  the  subject  of  Moravian 
Orders  it  may  be  stated  that  this  brief  sketch  rests  on  the  most  reliable  sources  now  extant. 
The  episcopate  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  and  back  of  it  that  of  the  Waldenses  have  been  made 
to  appear  doubtful  by  the  reproduction  of  Romanist  and  Utraquist  documents  tending  to 
belittle  the  origin  and  discredit  the  statements  of  the  Brethren.  It  is  characteristic  of  the 
kind  of  ecclesiastics  who  permitted  the  propagation  of  the  Waldensian  episcopate  as  a  con- 
cession to  the  Nationalist  parties  (1433-34)  that  they  should  suppress  recorded  reference  to 
the  fact  and  file  documents  misrepresenting  or  distorting  it  —  as  characteristic  as  was  the 
burning  of  the  Waldensian  Bishop  Stephen  at  the  stake  in  1469  for  having  transferred  the 
episcopate  to  the  Brethren  that  they  might  become  a  distinct  Church.  Tliat  Utraquist 
sources  are  not  trustworthy  in  this  matter  follows  logically  from  their  attitude  and  measures 
over  against  the  Brethren  during  that  and  the  following  decade.  That  the  Utraquist  prelate, 
Rokycana,  allied  himself  with  the  Papal  party  in  opening  a  fierce  persecution  of  the 
Brethren  and  the  Waldenses,  when  the  transactions  of  1467  became  known,  indicates  that 
he  and  the  representatives  of  Rome  took  the  episcopate  involved  and  the  act  of  tr.insfer  at 
their  full  value. 

When  hypercritical  and  captious  inquiries,  unfairly  pressed,  call  for  an  amount  of  docu- 
mentary evidence  which  is  not  to  be  expected,  the  vicissitudes  through  which  the  historical 
sources  of  the  Church  have  passed  must  be  remembered.  During  the  earliest  period  the 
Brethren  recorded  and  published  little  about  their  doings  for  obvious  reasons.  Subsequently 
documents  in  abundance  were  collected  but  they,  like  the  Church  itself,  were  pursued  relent- 


12  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

and  laymen,  was  associated  with  Matthias  as  President,  and  thus 
the  Jcdnota  Bratrska  or  Unitas  Fratrum  assumed  the  position  of 
a  distinct  Church  to  which  both  NationaUsts  and  Papists  drove  it 
by  the  measures  adopted  to  terrify  and  scatter  its  members. 

In  the  system  which  grew  out  of  these  beginnings,  and  was  well 
established  before  the  year  1500,  the  native  genius  of  the  Church 
asserted  itself,  free  from  the  clogs  which  would  have  attended  a 
move  to  reconstruct  an  existing  national  establishment,  or  a  process 
organically  connected  with  the  Papal  system.  It  had  much  of  the 
character  of  an  original  institution  developing  from  the  germ  and 
directed  according  to  primitive  Christian  models.  First  was  the 
Congregation  as  the  unit — a  voluntary  association  of  like-minded  be- 
lievers bound  by  a  brotherly  agreement  and  governed  by  an  elected 
eldership.  Then,  with  increase  of  such  groups,  arose  the  Synod  as 
the  unit  of  power,  legislating  by  delegated  authority.  This  was  not 
altered  by  the  introduction  of  the  episcopate.  The  Synod  com- 
mitted executive  authority  and  administration  to  the  Council,  which 
again  was  elective  and  representative ;  for  while  the  episcopacy  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  it — first  one  bishop  alone,  later  several — the 
presbytery  and  the  laiety  had  a  voice  in  it,  with  the  central  principle 
of  conferential  government  and  collegiate  administration  established. 

lessly  by  the  spirit  of  destruction.  The  first  archives  at  Senftenberg  were  scattered  and  in 
part  destroyed  before  1500.  Those  then  collected  at  Leitomischl  were  consumed  by  fire  in 
1546.  When  the  Counter-Reformation  opened  in  1621  special  attention  was  devoted  to  the 
destruction  of  the  remaining  and  added  literature  of  the  Brethren,  the  valuable  library  of 
Comenius,  e.g.  being  burned  in  the  public  square.  Again  at  the  fall  of  Lissa  in  1656  his 
second  library  and  the  documents  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  once  more  gathered  with  much 
effort,  suffered  another  ordeal  of  fire  and  pillage.  Those  rescued  were  conveyed  from  place 
to  place,  scattered  and  to  a  great  extent  eventually  lost.  Those  embraced  in  thirteen 
volumes  of  the  so-called  Lissa  Folios  —  now  the  most  valuable  collection  known  —  did  not 
come  back  into  possession  of  the  Church  until  1838,  when  an  examination  of  them  served 
to  correct  current  inaccuracies  and  furnish  anew  much  forgotten  information.  No  one,  unless 
predisposed  to  make  out  a  case  against  the  validity  of  the  episcopate  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum, 
will  seriously  base  conclusions  on  detracting  extraneous  sources  as  more  credible  than  the  few 
ancient  records  of  the  Brethren  which  have  survived  the  pitiless  devastations  of  the  centu- 
ries. The  most  that  can  be  made  of  adverse  sources  by  a  historian  worthy  of  attention  is 
presen'.ed  by  Dr.  Jaroslav  GoU  in  his  Quellen  and  Untersiichungen  zur  Geschickte  der 
Boehinischen  Bi'ueder^  Prague,  1878,  and  even  he,  although  a  Romanist,  does  not  assume  to 
have  finally  disposed  of  the  matter.  Extensive  treatment  of  the  subject,  with  citation  and  dis- 
cussion of  sources,  may  be  found  in  the  History  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum^  by  Bishop  Edmund 
de  Schweinitz,  S.T.D.,  Bethlehem,  1878.  See  also  the  Moravian  Manual,  Bethlehem,  1901, 
for  a  succinct  narrative  and  a  complete  list  of  bishops  from  Matthias  in  1467  to  the  last 
consecrated  in  1901. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH    TO    I735.  1 3 

This  principle,  with  the  authority  of  the  Synod  supreme,  served 
as  a  standing  check  on  what  seemed  undue  power  committed  to 
the  bishop  who  was  President.  Later  the  lay  element  and  eventually 
also  the  presbytery  disappeared  from  the  Council  and  it  became  en- 
tirely episcopal.  This  was  not  due  however  to  a  deliberate  change 
of  principle  but  resulted  from  the  stress  of  perilous  times  when  con- 
centration of  authority  was  desirable;  when  masterful  personal  lead- 
ership was  of  more  value  than  any  kind  of  governmental  machinery ; 
when  born  leaders  naturally  found  their  way  into  the  episcopacy. 

Elementary  conceptions  entered  into  the  system  from  first-  to  last, 
which  gave  it  aiBnity  to  widely  divergent  Protestant  types  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  It  anticipated  Luther  in  emphasizing  the  priest- 
hood of  individual  believers,  Zwingli  in  maintaining  the  rights  of 
the  congregation  over  against  hierarchy,  and  Calvin  in  restoring  eld- 
ership in  church  government,  while,  like  the  Church  of  England,  it 
did  not,  in  repudiating  the  Papacy,  discard  the  historic  episcopate 
and  adopt  parity  of  the  clergy.  These  relationships  appeared  later 
in  the  intercourse  of  the  Brethren  with  the  leaders  of  the  Reformation 
and,  together  with  their  doctrinal  position,  made  possible  their 
alliance  with  Lutheran  and  Calvinistic  Protestants  in  the  Consensus 
of  Sendomir  in  1570  and  the  joint  Bohemian  Confession  of  1575, 
while  prior  to  that,  in  1548,  when  because  of  the  alleged  connection 
of  some  of  their  nobles  with  the  Smalcald  League  a  general  perse- 
cution came  upon  them  which  led  to  the  founding  of  the  Polish  branch 
of  the  Church,  their  position  secured  for  those  of  them  who  fled  to 
England  a  cordial  reception  as  a  distinct  party  among  the  "foreign 
Protestants"  cared  for  in  London  by  command  of  the  young  King 
Edward  VL 

The  complete  constitution  of  the  Church  in  its  maturity,  as  last 
revised  and  adopted  in  1616,  shortly  before  its  most  disastrous  crisis, 
was  first  published  in  print  in  1632-33  in  Bohemian,  German  and 
Latin ;  its  title,  best  known  in  Latin,  being  Ratio  Disciplinac  Ordin- 
isqiic  ccclcsiastici  in  Unitate  Fratruin  Bohcmorum.  There  will  be  oc- 
casion to  refer  to  it  again. 

It  would  exceed  the  purpose  and  limit  of  this  sketch  to  trace  events 
in  chronological  order,  even  very  briefly,  from  the  important  year 
1467  to  the  disruption  of  the  Church  which  terminated  the  ancient 
period  of  its  organized  existence  soon  after  the  opening  of  the  Thirty- 
vears'  War. 


14  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Its  history  during-  that  century  and  a  half  is  most  conspicuously 
one  of  persecution  renewed  again  and  again  with  a  relentless  deter- 
mination that  has  few  parallels  in  the  records  of  religious  intoler- 
ance and  political  tyranny.  The  Brethren,  more  than  any  other 
people  of  the  realm,  were  hated  and  dreaded  by  those  who  ruled  by 
these  means,  because  they  fearlessly  advocated  truth  and  right, 
spread  the  teachings  of  the  gospel,  educated  the  masses  to  think 
for  themselves,  which  was  dangerous  to  corrupt  domination  in  church 
and  state ;  because  they  were  more  firmly  and  intelligently  united 
than  any  other  party,  standing  upon  their  own  distinct  basis  and 
wielding  an  influence  among  titled  families,  scholars,  burghers  and 
peasants  which  neither  Utraquists  nor  Papists  could  enlist  for  any 
joint  or  rival  purpose.  Therefore  they  were  the  perpetual  object 
of  jealous  antipathy  from  both  sides,  and  usually  each  could  count 
upon  the  other  to  support,  or  at  least  to  not  obstruct  the  edicts 
which  again  and  again  were  promulgated  against  them.  When  these 
measures  were  designed  to  not  merely  harass  the  Brethren,  but  even 
to  open  a  general  campaign  of  complete  suppression,  as  was  the 
case  with  the  famous  Edict  of  St.  James  in  1508  and  its  renewal  in 
1547,  all  the  barbarities  so  common  in  that  rude  age,  where  tyranny 
and  fanaticism  resorted  to  force,  were  inflicted  upon  them.  Languish- 
ing in  loathsome  dungeons,  freezing  and  starving  in  the  forests 
and  mountain  fastnesses,  enduring  every  species  of  torture  which 
refined  cruelty  could  invent,  undaunted  by  the  executioner's  torch  or 
steel ;  or  leaving  possessions  and  comforts  behind  to  go  penniless  by 
multitudes  into  dreary  exile,  their  heroic  witnesses  added  a  long 
array  to  "the  noble  army  of  martyrs"  who  "obtained  a  good  report 
through  faith."  There  were  of  course  those  who  in  such  extremities 
faltered  and  renounced  that  for  which  others  laid  down  their  lives, 
but,  in  general,  the  steadfast  loyalty  of  the  Brethren  to  their  Church 
was  as  impressive  as  their  resolute  adherence  to  the  Scriptures  as 
their  standard.  Its  origin,  system,  methods,  worship  and  attitude 
towards  all  issues  of  the  time  embodied  the  best  ideals  of  the  nation 
and  made  it  in  a  peculiar  sense  the  people's  church,  to  which  they 
clung  with  the  characteristic  tenacity  of  their  race.  In  the  baronial 
castle  and  in  the  peasant's  cottage  the  true  heart  of  the  people 
spoke  in  its  confessions  and  its  hymns.  Its  power  of  endurance 
carried  it  safely  through  one  after  another  internal  crisis  also,  in 
ridding  itself  of  eccentric  factions  which  threatened  to  pervert  its 
course,   extricating  itself  from   narrow   trammels   when  it   outgrew 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH    TO    I735.  1 5 

them  and  gradually  casting  off  old  errors  as  it  advanced  in  scriptural 
knowledge.  Its  speedy  recuperation  after  periods  of  persecution  and 
its  rapid  growth  during  the  intervals  of  peace  were  phenomenal. 
When  the  German  Reformation  began  in  1517  the  Unitas  Fratrum 
had  nearly  two  hundred  thousand  members  and  about  four  hundred 
places  of  worship.  Its  parish  schools  were  educating  its  peasantry 
to  a  standard  far  above  that  of  their  surroundings  and  its  seats  of 
higher  learning  were  sought  out  by  many  nobles  outside  of  its  pale. 
It  had  two  Theological  Seminaries  in  Moravia  and  one  in  Bohemia 
in  the  sixteenth  century  and  one  was  founded  later  in  Poland.  The 
Brethren  led  the  literary  activity  of  the  realm,  owning  and  operating 
three  of  the  five  printing-presses  in  Bohemia  prior  to  1520,  and 
during  the  first  decade  of  that  century  issuing  vastly  more  printed 
matter  than  appeared  from  all  other  sources  in  that  country.  The 
fondness  of  the  people  for  music  was  gratified  and  utilized  from 
the  beginning  by  the  cultivation  of  congregational  singing.  The  first 
collection  of  hymns  was  printed  by  the  Unitas  Fratrum  in  1501,  as 
the  latest  investigations  have  proved  by  the  discovery  of  a  copy 
yet  in  existence.  Successive  revisions  and  improvements  were  made, 
and  soon  after  the  middle  of  the  century  there  were  complete 
hymnals  in  Bohemian,  German  and  Polish,  mature  in  plan  and  rich 
in  matter ;  the  principal  editions  having  the  notes  of  the  tunes  printed 
with  the  hymns.  The  greatest  literary  production  of  the  Church 
was  its  Bohemian  version  of  the  Bible,  the  task  of  eight  of  its  learned 
men  laboring  fifteen  years.  The  translation  was,  hke  that  of  the 
New  Testament  alone  in  1564,  made  from  the  Hebrew  and  Greek 
text  instead  of  the  Latin  vulgate  as  in  the  case  of  other  Bohemian 
versions,  and  it  was  published  complete  at  Kralic  in  Moravia  in 
1593.  Both  in  its  value  as  the  Holy  Word  given  the  people  in  their 
own  tongue  and  as  a  noble  classic  of  the  national  language  it  was 
for  Bohemia  and  Moravia  what  Luther's  Bible  was  for  Germany. 

The  importance  to  which  the  Unitas  Fratrum  had  risen  in  the 
sixteenth  century  is  not  generally  recognized.  It  is  overshadowed 
in  the  retrospect  by  the  magnitude  of  the  movements  in  Germany  in 
that  century.  Besides  this,  the  people  and  language  of  the  land 
of  Hus  could  not  participate  in  the  modern  Protestant  developments 
after  the  issues  of  the  Thirty-years'  War  were  settled,  because  at 
the  beginning  of  it  the  country  was  ruined  by  the  Romish  reactionary 
crusade  which  there  did  its  worst,  and  the  Church  which  most  truly 
embodied  the  native  evangelical  spirit  was  crushed.     German  Pro- 


1 6  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

testant  writers  of  church  history  have  usuahy  drawn  rather  too  sharp 
a  dividing  Hne  between  the  old  darkness  and  the  new  light  for  all 
Western  Europe  at  the  beginning  of  the  German  Reformation,  while 
the  leading  modern  Bohemian  historians  who  patriotically  bring  out 
the  grand  things  of  their  country  which  were  buried  under  the 
cataclysm  of  the  seventeenth  century  and,  with  a  fair  degree  of 
appreciation,  give  the  Church  of  the  Brethren  the  prominence  it 
deserves  as  the  embodiment  of  noble  ideals  heroically  pursued,  do 
not  usually  write  from  the  standpoint  of  Protestants  and  therefore 
do  not  take  pains  to  point  out  particularly  those  things  in  its  teach- 
ing and  activity  in  which  the  standards  of  Protestantism  were  antici- 
pated by  "Reformers  before  the  Reformation." 

With  all  they  had  attained  through  their  diligent  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  they  were  willing,  like  all  honest  searchers  for  the  truth, 
to  learn  from  any  who  had  a  clearer  insight  into  Apostolic  teaching 
in  any  point.  The  influence  of  Luther,  with  whom  they  first  en- 
tered into  communication  in  1522,  is  evident  in  their  progress  in 
formulating  evangelical  doctrines  after  that  time.  They  acknow- 
ledged his  eminence  as  a  restorer  of  sound  theology,  while  he 
praised  their  superiority  in  maintaining  scriptural  discipline  and  fos- 
tering vital  godliness.  He  wrote  a  preface  to  one  of  their  con- 
fessions and  published  it  at  Wittenberg  in  1533,  as  an  evidence  of 
what  remained  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia  from  the  holy  seed  sown 
by  Hus  more  than  a  century  before.  Some  of  their  numerous 
declarations,  apologies  and  confessions  were  called  forth  by  the 
frequent  necessity  of  giving  an  account  of  themselves  to  friend  or 
foe ;  others  were  intended  to  supersede  previous  ones  as  the  fruit 
of  deeper  study  in  Divine  things.  Their  last  comprehensive  con- 
fession, presenting  their  system  of  doctrine  in  its  final  maturity,  ap- 
peared in  1573,  two  years  before  the  joint  confession  of  the  three 
evangelical  parties  of  Bohemia  already  referred  to.  The  latest  edition 
of  it  was  published  in  161 2  when  the  Church  was  at  last  enjoying 
triumphant  liberty,  but  at  the  same  time  was  approaching  its  great 
catastrophe. 

In  1609  the  persistent  efforts  of  the  Evangelical  parties  in  Bohemia 
and  Moravia  finally  secured  an  imperial  charter  of  religious  liberty, 
and  the  Brethren's  Church  reached  the  summit  of  outward  as- 
cendency. Although  the  influential  nobles  in  its  connection,  with  the 
adherents  of  the  other  Protestant  confessions,  used  the  advantage 
thus  gained  to  strengthen  their  position  in  the  state  and  make  the 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH    TO    1/35.  17 

victory  permanent  if  possible,  subtile  forces  were  at  work  to  produce 
an  irresistible  reaction  and  the  Romish  Counter-Reformation  was 
taking  shape  right  in  the  years  of  exultant  triumph.  The  song  of 
the  people  entered  the  ear  of  a  cruel  fanatic  in  whose  hand  the  coun- 
try's future  lay,  the  Archduke  Ferdinand  of  Styria,  who  had  promised 
his  Jesuit  preceptor  to  make  the  complete  re-establishment  of  Papal 
dominion  in  Bohemia  and  Aloravia  his  great  work.  The  political 
conditions  which  were  leading  the  states  of  Western  Europe  into 
three  decades  of  conflict  and  chaos  soon  gave  him  his  opportunity. 
In  1617  he  became  King  of  Bohemia.  Futile  efforts  of  the  evan- 
gelical parties  to  avert  the  doom  which  this  foretokened,  strengthened 
his  purpose. 

Two  years  later  this  sworn  enemy  of  all  liberty  ascended  the  throne 
of  the  empire  as  Ferdinand  the  Second,  and  it  soon  appeared  how 
ruthlessly  he  proposed  to  execute  his  plans.  In  the  battle  of  the 
White  Mountain,  November  8,  1620,  the  Protestant  forces  were 
utterly  routed  and  then  he  commenced  his  work  of  desolation.  The 
bishops  and  ministers  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  were  put  under  an  edict 
of  banishment,  its  churches  and  schools  were  forcibly  closed  and  all 
its  property  was  confiscated.  The  Calvinistic  ministers  were  similarly 
dealt  with  and  ere  long  those  of  the  Lutheran  confession  also.  A 
year  later  torture  and  cruel  death  began  to  be  inflicted  upon  those 
who  dared  to  remain,  and  many  of  their  people  shared  their  fate. 
June  2-1,  1 62 1,  twenty-seven  Bohemian  patriots,  most  of  them  dis- 
tinguished noblemen  and  many  of  them  members  of  the  Unitas,  were 
beheaded  in  Prague.  That  day  is  known  in  Bohemian  history  as 
"the  day  of  blood."  During  the  years  1624  to  1626  special  emissaries 
traversed  the  land  proclaiming  the  ultimatum,  exile  or  death  for  all 
who  would  not  renounce  evangelical  faith  and  church  connection. 
Thousands  left  their  homes  and  fled  to  Protestant  countries.  Mean- 
while other  agents  were  engaged  in  the  systematic  destruction  of 
evangelical  literature,  that  of  the  Brethren  being  particularly  sought 
for.  One  person  is  said  to  have  boasted  that  he  had  burned  over 
sixty  thousand  volumes.  To  all  of  these  measures  were  added  cun- 
ningly devised  schemes  to  impoverish  the  country,  bankrupting  the 
rich  and  starving  the  poor  in  order  to  reduce  the  people  to  sub- 
mission. Finally  in  1627  the  charter  of  1609  was  formally  revoked 
and  imperial  edicts  were  issued  which  made  every  non-Romanist 
practically  an  outlaw.  This  was  followed  in  1628  by  a  general  exodus 
of  the  best  people  in  the  country.  Some  villages  were  almost  dc- 
3 


l8  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

populated.  More  than  thirty-six  thousand  families  went  into  exile. 
The  success  of  this  insane  and  barbarous  crusade  smothered,  even 
if  it  could  not  extinguish,  evangelical  religion  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia.  The  organized  existence  of  the  Brethren's  Church  in  those 
countries  was  at  an  end  and  the  Anti-Reformer  was  satisfied.  Other 
evangelical  parties  had  their  strongholds  in  other  lands.  Viewed  as 
organizations,  they  were  merely  driven  out  of  the  country  and  back 
home.  The  Brethren's  Church  was  crushed  in  its  own  home  where 
it  originated  and  developed  as  an  element  of  the  nationality.  It 
was  an  exile  and  a  stranger  in  other  countries  and  had  no  home 
in  the  day  of  affliction.  This  difference  explains  the  cruel  ignoring 
of  the  Brethren  by  other  evangelical  parties  in  the  terms  they  made 
in  the  Peace  of  Westphalia,  which  ended  the  Thirty-years'  War  in 
1648.  Their  Church  was  looked  upon  as  a  practically  extinct  Church 
which  the  Protestant  powers  did  not  feel  moved  to  consider  in  the 
hour  of  triumph.  No  princes  represented  it,  and  considerations  of 
state  policy  weighed  more  than  the  law  of  Christ. 

Disruption  and  dispersion  did  not,  however,  mean  extinction. 
Large  numbers  who  remained  in  the  home  lands  of  the  Church  con- 
tinued to  cherish  its  faith  and  traditions  and  to  meet  in  secret,  par- 
ticularly in  Moravia,  where  there  seemed  to  be  more  opportunity  to 
do  so,  and  these  came  to  be  called  "the  hidden  seed"  of  the  Church. 
Those  who  went  into  exile  found  their  way  in  part  to  the  Polish 
congregations  of  the  Church.  Others  rallied  and  held  together  so  far 
as  possible  in  other  regions.  The  chief  center  of  the  Brethren  was 
now  Lissa  in  Poland.  This  place  was  sacked  and  burned  in  1656. 
Then  many  who  had  gathered  there  joined  the  smaller  groups  dis- 
persed in  other  parts  of  Poland,  or  in  Silesia  and  Hungary,  while 
numbers  of  them  followed  former  refugees  to  Holland  and  England. 
The  bishops  continued  to  exercise  oversight  and  provide  pastoral 
care  as  far  as  possible,  through  visits  and  correspondence,  and  to 
secure  material  help  for  their  destitute  people  from  sympathizing 
friends ;  synods  and  conferences  were  held  from  time  to  time,  adopt- 
ing such  measures  as  the  circumstances  permitted  to  strengthen  the 
things  that  remained ;  the  constitution  and  order  of  the  Church  em- 
bodied in  the  Ratio  Disciplinae  and  printed  in  1633,  as  already  stated, 
were  treasured  in  the  hope  of  restoration ;  the  episcopal  succession 
was  carefully  preserved  to  be  a  living  link  across  the  period  of  dis- 
ruption representing  the  historic  identity  of  the  Church.  Several 
centers   of   administration   were   temporarily   established   at   points 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH    TO    I735.  I9 

where  the  Brethren  were  permitted  to  congregate  as  a  distinct  body, 
and  even  Lissa  once  more  became  such  a  seat  for  a  while ;  but  the 
prevailing  conditions  during  the  last  three  decades  of  the  century  ren- 
dered irresistible  the  gradual  absorption  of  the  scattered  remnants 
by  other  bodies,  mainly  the  Reformed  Church  of  the  realm,  of  which 
ultimately  even  the  men  in  whose  persons  the  episcopate  of  the 
Unitas  Fratrum  was  perpetuated  were  legally  recognized  ministers. 
The  native  language  of  the  exiles  was  maintained  in  public  services 
at  some  places  until  1700,  when  it  w^as  entirely  displaced  by  German. 
Up  to  171 5  about  fifteen  parishes  seem  to  have  remained  and  when 
the  actual  resuscitation  of  the  Church  took  place  in  the  following 
decade  in  Saxony,  these  did  not  enter  into  organic  connection  with  it. 
What  survives  to  recall  their  existence  is  to  be  found  in  a  group  of 
so-called  Unitdtsgemeinden  in  the  Province  of  Posen,  whose  episco- 
pate, preserved  unbroken  until  1841,  was  in  1844  and  again  in  1858 
and  1883  restored  by  bishops  of  the  Moravian  Church. 

During  the  period  from  the  end  of  the  Thirty-years'  War  until  well 
into  the  second  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  representatives 
of  the  suppressed  Church  maintained  frequent  and  cordial  com- 
munication with  the  Church  of  England  and  particularly  with  the 
University  authorities  at  Oxford  where  considerable  sums  of  money 
were  raised  for  the  impoverished  Brethren,  scholarships  were  founded 
for  their  students,  degrees  were  conferred  upon  certain  of  their 
bishops,  plans  of  ecclesiastical  union  were  discussed,  and  arrange- 
ments existed  for  the  pastoral  care  of  Bohemian  and  Moravian 
families  who  had  fled  to  that  country. 

During  the  period  from  the  beginning  of  the  Counter-Reformation 
until  far  beyond  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  one  dis- 
tinguished man  stands  pre-eminently  associated  with  the  hard  for- 
tunes of  the  Brethren  and  with  the  effort  to  prevent  the  extinction 
of  their  Church.  This  man  was  John  Amos  Comenius,  the  last  of 
the  old  Bohemian-Moravian  line  of  its  bishops,  consecrated  to  the 
episcopacy  as  an  exile,  but  when  the  hope  of  a  speedy  restoration  of 
the  'Church  in  its  native  land  was  yet  cherished.  Ever  mourning  for 
the  prostrate  palaces  of  Zion  and  for  his  bleeding  country,  he  has 
been  called  "the  Jeremiah  of  the  Brethren's  Church."  He  is  far 
better  know^n  to  the  world  in  other  spheres  in  which  he  is  given  rank 
as  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  his  age.  In  Sweden,  Holland  and 
England  his  fame  as  a  philosopher,  and  particularly  as  a  reformer  of 
educational    principles    and    methods,    was    spread   abroad    and    his 


20  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM.    PENNSYLVANIA. 

presence  was  coveted  in  all  of  these  countries.  Even  from  across  the 
ocean  he  received  an  invitation  to  come  to  America  and  assume  the 
presidency  of  Harvard  College,  and  the  learned  Cotton  Mather  refers 
regretfully  to  the  fact  that  the  attempt  failed  and  "that  incomparable 
Moravian  became  not  an  American."  When  in  1892  the  three 
hundredth  anniversary  of  his  birth  was  celebrated  by  so  many  educa- 
tional institutions  and  learned  societies  in  Europe  and  America,  and 
the  great  service  he  rendered  the  world  as  a  pioneer  of  modern 
pedagogic  science  was  extolled,  few  gave  a  thought  to  what  he  did 
as  a  Moravian  Bishop  to  preserve  the  Church  of  his  fathers  from 
oblivion.  In  Holland,  where  he  ended  his  days,  and  in  England,  in 
the  midst  of  ceaseless  literary  toil,  harassed  in  mind  and  heart  by  the 
bewildering  unrest  and  buffeting  tumults  of  the  times,  his  tongue  and 
pen  were  ever  pleading  the  interests  of  his  exiled  brethren  and  of 
other  fugitives  in  distress,  such  as  the  Waldenses,  so  often  confused 
in  history  with  the  Bohemian  and  Moravian  Brethren.  The  Amer- 
ican colonies  were  inviting  people  like  these,  and  especially  was  the 
Dutch  West  India  Company,  of  which  a  wealthy  literary  patron  of 
Comenius  at  Amsterdam  seems  to  have  been  a  member,  offering 
them  inducements.  Reference  in  old  documents  of  this  corporation 
to  the  desirability  of  having  Bohemian  exiles  and  Waldenses  as 
settlers  on  the  Delaware  River  suggests  association  with  the  plans 
of  Comenius  to  find  places  of  refuge  for  his  homeless  countrymen. 
Some  such  did  come  to  the  Dutch  settlements  on  the  Delaware  in 
that  "pre-pennian"  period,  but  whether  any  of  them  belonged  to  the 
"hidden  seed"  or  the  migrating  membership  of  the  Brethren's 
Church  has  not  been  ascertained.  There  is  strong  reason  also  to 
believe  that  Comenius  met  the  first  Quakers  who  appeared  in  Holland 
and  who  there  instituted  those  connections  with  the  oppressed  and 
unsettled  masses  which  later  led  to  further  extensive  emigrations  to 
the  new  world.  More  than  half  a  century,  however,  elapsed  after 
his  death  in  Holland  in  1671,  before  the  first  men  who  represented 
not  only  his  national,  but  also  his  ecclesiastical  connections,  are 
positively  known  to  have  come  to  Pennsylvania ;  and  they  did  not 
come  as  straggling  fugitives,  but  as  messengers  sent  from  a  new 
church  home  to  seek,  not  a  refuge  from  bloody  persecution,  but  a 
field  of  Christian  activity. 

Fifty  years  after  the  death  of  the  aged  Bishop  his  hope  was 
fufilled  in  events  as  insignificant  in  appearance,  as  were  those  original 
movements  of  the  Brethren  at  Kunwald  in  1457.     Not  from  Poland, 


:  -T-^SSaiBSSBISesSSflliB 


22  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

years  afterwards — which  add  even  a  romantic  aspect  to  the  destiny 
that  Hnked  their  fortunes  to  those  of  the  Moravian  Church. 

Some  weeks  after  Zinzendorf  made  this  promise  two  brothers, 
Augustine  and  Jacob  Neisser,  of  Sehlen,  Moravia,  with  their  house- 
holds, ten  persons  in  all,  who  had  quietly  left  their  homes  at  night, 
suddenly  arrived  in  Upper  Lusatia  under  Christian  David's  leadership 
and  after  securing  reluctant  permission  to  locate — Zinzendorf  being 
in  Dresden  at  the  time — they  commenced,  on  June  17,  1722,  to  fell 
timber  for  a  house  at  a  site  selected  by  the  Count's  steward  on  the 
Berthelsdorf  manor.  Out  of  this  beginning  arose  the  village  of 
Herrnhut,  so  intimately  associated  with  the  history  of  the  Church. 
Many  followed  them  from  Moravia  in  the  course  of  the  next  few 
years,  some  of  them  men  of  position  and  substance  who  sacrificed 
property  and  comfort  for  religion's  sake.  Others  came  from  Bohemia 
and  finally  unsettled  and  seeking  souls  from  various  German  neigh- 
borhoods began  to  join  the  colony,  so  that  representatives  of  the  sev- 
eral Protestant  confessions,  individuals  who  had  forsaken  Romish 
connection,  enthusiasts  and  separatists  with  various  special  tenets  en- 
tered into  the  population  and  took  advantage  of  the  generous  indul- 
gence and  the  comprehensive  but  as  yet  immature  plans  of  the  young 
lord  of  the  manor,  to  assert  themselves  rather  aggressively.  When 
the  corner-stone  of  the  building  in  which  the  first  of  the  proposed 
establishments  in  pursuance  of  the  Count's  projects  was  to  be  opened, 
and  which  became  the  first  place  of  worship,  was  laid  on  May  12, 
1724,  five  Moravians  who  more  distinctly  represented  traditions  and 
family  associations  of  the  Brethren's  Church  and  had  a  more  definite 
purpose  in  view  in  connection  with  the  thought  of  its  possible  reor- 
ganization than  previous  refugees,  arrived  at  Herrnhut.  Zinzendorf 
later  called  them  by  way  of  pre-eminence  "the  five  Moravian  Church- 
men." Three  of  them  bore  the  name  David  Nitschmann.  The  other 
two  were  John  Toeltschig  and  Melchior  Zeisberger. 

It  was  after  his  interview  with  these  men  that  Zinzendorf  began  to 
recognize  a  problem  in  the  desire  of  the  Moravians.  Grave  questions 
were  involved  in  the  further  reception  of  refugees  from  those  neigh- 
borhoods, for  drastic  measures  in  the  spirit  of  the  old  persecution  were 
being  adopted  to  check  the  movement,  but  were  rather  increasing  it. 
To  permit  them  to  organize  on  the  basis  of  church  principles  and 
regulations  which  were  associated  with  another  nationality;  which 
no  longer  had  official  recognition  anywhere  beyond  the  fact  that  they 
were  personally  represented  by  two  ecclesiastics  who  were  perpetuat- 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH    TO    I735.  2$ 

ing  the  episcopate  of  the  old  Church  while  laboring  under  the  author- 
ity of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Prussia  and  Poland;  which  further- 
more were  historically  quite  distinct  from  those  of  the  established 
Church  of  Saxony,  which  was  Lutheran,  would  produce  very  serious 
complications.  Personally  Zinzendorf  was  a  Lutheran,  not  only  nom- 
inally but  by  decided  preference,  while  those  of  the  Moravians  whose 
theological  conceptions — somewhat  undefined  at  the  time — revealed 
any  bias  on  the  points  of  difference,  seemed  to  lean  rather  towards 
the  Reformed  standards.  Others  who  found  their  way  to  Herrnhut 
disclaimed  adhesion  to  either  of  the  leading  confessions,  and  con- 
fused the  situation  the  more  by  obtruding  sectarian  or  separatistic 
specialties.  In  the  consideration  of  this  problem,  with  his  disposition 
to  combine  rather  than  differentiate  divergent  elements,  to  seek  a 
principle  and  method  of  holding  different  persuasions  to  the  central 
points  of  agreement,  with  a  safe  measure  of  liberty  in  points  of 
divergence  so  long  as  nothing  essential  was  compromised,  the  rudi- 
ments of  a  scheme  began  to  take  form  in  his  mind  which  in  subse- 
quent years  he  sought  to  develop  systematically ;  viz.,  that  of  accom- 
modating the  several  confessional  affiliations  and  church  cults  under 
a  plan  which  would  admit  of  their  being  conserved  and  allowed  to 
predominate  in  certain  main  elements  according  to  the  traditions 
of  different  localities  or  bodies  of  people  brought  into  the  general 
connection,  while  all  constituted  one  household  of  brethren  bound 
by  those  articles  of  doctrine,  constitution,  discipline  and  ritual  which 
were  central  and  accepted  by  all.  This  scheme  eventually  found 
shape  in  what  he  called  Tropi  Paedias,  resting  on  conceptions  which 
the  prevaiHng  spirit  of  his  age  could  not  appreciate  or  sympathize 
with,  but  which  would  command  more  intelligent  respect  at  the 
present  time.  These  conceptions  entered  into  his  plans  and  methods 
to  such  an  extent  that  herein  the  key  must  be  sought  to  interpret 
much  that  has  been  misapprehended  as  confused  and  inconsistent 
in  his  efforts  among  rigid  confessionists  of  different  schools  and 
among  all  manner  of  sectarians.  They  must  be  kept  in  mind  in  order 
to  intelligently  follow  his  course  among  the  variety  of  religionists  in 
Pennsylvania  some  years  later.  They  even  account  for  some  char- 
acteristics of  the  modern  Moravian  Church  in  its  doctrinal  position, 
its  poHty,  discipHne  and  ritual,  and  its  attitude  towards  other  religious 
bodies;  for  rudiments  in  all  of  these  particulars  lay  in  this  scheme 
as  well  as  in  the  ancient  system  of  the  Church,  while  others  are  to 
be  found  in  the  process  of  adaptation  to  its  peculiar  situation  within 


24  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA 

the  pale  of  a  state  church  with  a  doctrinal  confession  and  other 
requirements  established  by  law. 

Various  considerations  directed  Zinzendorf's  efiforts  to  regulate 
the  crude  sitviation  at  Herrnhut.  Paramount  was  the  spiritual  good 
of  the  individuals  and  essential  to  this  was  agreement  to  simple 
evangelical  fundamentals  in  theory  and  practice  to  overcome  both 
sectarian  vagaries  and  confessional  disputations.  Then  also  the  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  limitations  had  to  be  regarded  in  the  work  of  foun- 
dation-laying, and  a  proper  understanding  of  their  relations  to  him  as 
lord  of  the  manor  and  to  his  parish  minister  at  Berthelsdorf  had  to 
be  established  among  the  people,  while  dissension  and  dissatisfaction 
threatened  the  dissolution  of  the  colony. 

The  occurrences  of  the  year  1727  constituted  an  epoch.  After 
much  earnest,  personal  work,  in  which  he  was  aided  by  a  few  of  the 
most  steadfast  and  godly  men,  the  Count  succeeded  in  bringing  about 
harmony  of  spirit  and  agreement  to  principles  in  so  far  that  on  May 
12  of  that  year  unanimous  written  assent  was  given  to  a  body  of 
articles  called  "Statiita  Fraterna,  or  Brotherly  Agreement  of  the 
Brethren  from  Bohemia  and  Moravia  and  sundry  other  Brethren  at 
Herrnhut  to  walk  according  to  Apostolic  Rule." 

Twelve  elders  were  chosen  to  have  spiritual  oversight  and  four  of 
these  were  selected  by  lot  as  chief  elders.  A  variety  of  other  offices 
completed  this  first  organization  which  in  the  main  was  notably  simi- 
lar to  that  originally  formed  in  1457.  A  season  of  deep  spiritual 
experience  and  fervent  concord  ensued,  and  at  the  first  celebration 
of  the  Holy  Communion  after  all  this,  in  the  parish  church  of  Ber- 
thelsdorf on  August  13  of  that  year,  such  an  overpowering  sense  of 
the  Divine  presence  sealed  the  whole  that  the  day  came  to  be  spoken 
of  as  "the  spiritual  birthday  of  the  Renewed  Church."  A  strong 
impulse  to  evangelistic  activity  was  awakened,  the  influence  of  which 
soon  began  to  be  felt  in  many  neighborhoods.  The  itinerants  were 
warmly  encouraged  by  many  pastors  of  the  State  Church,  some  the- 
ological professors  and  some  pious  noblemen,  while  nearly  every- 
where the  common  people  heard  them  gladly. 

But  strong  currents  set  in  against  Herrnhut  from  various  quarters. 
The  visits  of  the  zealous  Moravians  to  their  native  villages  and  other 
places  where  like  conditions  prevailed  provoked  more  violent 
measures  to  suppress  their  activity.  In  1729  two  of  the  Nitschmanns 
— one  of  those  "five  churchmen"  and  one  of  the  Herrnhut  elders — 
who  were  on  such  a  tour,  died  in  prison.     In  Germany  certain  of  the 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH    TO    I735.  25 

unfriendly  class  among  the  Protestant  clergy  who  long  before  Herrn- 
hut  was  founded  had  been  making  Zinzendorf  a  target  for  censorious 
flings  and  were  predisposed  to  find  fault  on  general  principles  with 
anything  he  might  say  or  do,  opened  a  campaign  of  detraction  from 
the  pulpit,  from  the  cathedra  and  through  the  press,  which  met  the 
approval  of  some  officials  at  the  court  of  Dresden,  and  notwith- 
standing the  failure  of  a  royal  commission  in  1732  to  find  anything 
amiss  in  the  new  settlement,  secured  the  banishment  of  the  Count 
from  Saxony  four  years  later.  Unfortunate  tendencies  which  de- 
veloped at  a  subsequent  period  of  the  Church  and  gave  some  real 
occasion  for  censure  will  be  referred  to  in  another  chapter. 

The  beginning  of  these  hostile  agitations  made  the  question  how 
to  dispose  of  the  wishes  of  the  Moravians  quite  perplexing.  Their 
zeal  and  fearlessness  as  evangelists  increased  Zinzendorf's  regard 
for  them  and  his  desire  to  utilize  their  services  in  pursuing  his  ever 
broadening  plans  of  activity.  Already  in  1727  while  pondering  the 
thought  of  undertaking  missionary  work  among  the  heathen  which 
had  been  in  his  mind  from  his  boyhood,  the  idea  was  broached  of 
founding  a  settlement  in  Pennsylvania  to  which  the  Moravians  might 
emigrate  if  not  permitted  to  remain  in  Saxony,  and  from  which  they 
might  go  out  into  the  wilderness  and  preach  the  gospel  to  the 
Indians. 

In  the  Summer  of  that  same  memorable  year,  1727,  a  book  n'^v^r 
yet  examined  by  the  Count  came  into  his  hands  which  moved  him 
profoundly  and  had  a  distinct  influence  on  his  plans  in  reference  to 
these  people.  It  was  the  old  Ratio  Disciplinae  of  the  Brethren  re- 
vised and  republished  by  Comenius  in  1660,  with  a  succinct  history 
of  his  much-loved  Church,  then  completely  overthrown,  and  dedicated 
in  sad  and  tender  language  to  the  Church  of  England,  along  with  a 
lengthy  exhortation  to  that  Church — Paraenesis  Ecclcsiae  Bohemicae 
■ad  Anglicanam  de  Bono  Unitatis  et  Ordinis — in  which  he  fondly  sets 
forth  and  commends  features  which  he  deems  of  universal  value  in 
the  ecclesiastical  traditions  of  the  Brethren.  The  impression  this 
work  made  upon  Zinzendorf  can  best  be  stated  in  the  words  of  a 
letter  which  he  wrote  eleven  years  later.  He  says :  'T  could  not  long 
read  the  pitiful  lamentation  of  the  aged  Comenius,  when  he  thought 
that  the  Church  of  the  Brethren  had  come  to  an  end  and  he  was 
locking  its  door ;  I  could  not  look  the  second  time  at  his  sorrowful 
prayer,  turn  thou  us  unto  thee,  O  Lord,  and  we  shall  be  turned,  renew 
our  davs  as  of  old,  before  the  resolution  was  formed — I  shall  help 


26  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

to  do  this  SO  far  as  lies  in  my  power,  even  if  my  estate,  my  honor  and 
my  Hfe  are  sacrificed,  and  thus  as  long  as  I  live,  and,  so  far  as  I 
can  provide  for  it,  after  my  death,  this  little  congregation  of  the 
Lord  shall  be  preserved  for  Him  until  He  comes." 

The  following  year,  1728,  two  of  those  "five  Moravian  Churchmen," 
the  eldest  of  the  three  David  Nitschmanns,  subsequently  the  Bishop, 
and  JohnToeltschig,  together  with  another  Moravian,  Wenzel  Neisser, 
were  sent  to  England  to  give  desired  information  about  Herrnhut. 
Their  visit  opened  the  way  to  a  series  of  steps  which  led  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Brethren's  Church  in  that  country  also,  and  were  of 
importance  to  subsequent  undertakings  in  America.  In  like  manner 
Zinzendorf  gradually  instituted  far-reaching  connections  with  princes, 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  and  faculties  of  seats  of  learning 
in  various  other  quarters  through  personal  visits  and  correspondence 
and  through  such  deputations  as  that  to  England.  Thus  a  degree 
of  attention  was  attracted  to  the  new  enterprise  in  high  circles  as  well 
as  among  the  masses  which  would  not  have  been  awakened  without 
a  leader  so  conspicuous  in  rank  and  position,  of  such  versatile  genius 
and  impressive  personality,  so  ardent  and  enthusiastic  in  the  pursuit 
of  his  objects.  The  leading  Moravians  and  several  other  men  who  had 
cast  in  their  lot  with  them  were  moreover  men  of  strong  character, 
of  uncommon  natural  ability  and  of  dauntless  spirit.  These  qualities 
on  the  part  of  the  deputies  from  Herrnhut,  together  with  the  inter- 
esting traditions  and  aspirations  which  they  represented,  also  did 
much  to  bring  the  place  to  the  notice  of  men  both  great  and  lowly 
to  an  extent  which  would  not  have  been  the  case  if  its  people,  with 
all  their  fervent  piety,  had  been  of  quiescent  and  pliable  character, 
disposed  to  simply  settle  down  as  an  element  of  the  Lutheran  parish 
of  Berthelsdorf,  and  nothing  more,  enjoying  the  privileges  this  gave 
them. 

After  Zinzendorf's  first  determination  to  do  what  he  could  to 
further  the  attainment  of  their  wishes — even  interfering  in  their  behalf, 
supported  by  an  encouraging  message  from  one  hundred  and  two 
masters  and  students  at  Jena,  when,  in  his  absence,  a  strong  effort 
was  made  to  induce  them  to  abandon  their  purpose  and  become 
simply  a  Lutheran  congregation — he,  himself,  counting  all  the  possible 
costs  of  further  steps  in  the  face  of  the  growing  opposition,  once 
more  strongly  presented  to  them  the  favorable  arguments  on  this 
side,  and  the  hazards  to  themselves  and  to  the  cause  of  evangelical 
peace  which  might  be  incurred  in  the  further  pursuit  of  their  purpose. 


THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH  TO  I735.  27 

They  remained  firm  however  and  declared  that  if  the  introduction 
of  their  ancient  system  and  the  establishment  of  a  distinct  Church  of 
the  Brethren  was  not  possible  at  Herrnhut,  they  would  turn  their 
footsteps  elsewhere  to  seek  another  location.  They  were  willing 
to  assent  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  in  which  they 
had  been  instructed  by  Pastor  Rothe  of  Berthelsdorf,  and  by  the 
Count  himself,  for  they  had  no  reason  or  desire  to  be  schismatics 
doctrinally,  but  the  church-order  of  their  fathers  they  insisted  on  hav- 
ing, so  far  as  this  was  feasible.^    This  point  was  settled  at  a  general 


3  This  position  —  cardinal  in  the  later  structure  of  the  Church  and  its  adjustment  to  the 
German  and  English  State  Churches,  and  accounting  for  some  features  of  its  early  attempts 
in  Pennsylvania,  much  obscured  and  distorted  by  writers  following  misleading  sources  or 
biased  in  their  own  attitude — had  been  taken  already  in  1729  in  a  so-called  Notariats 
Instrument,  executed  with  the  signatures  of  eighty-three  men  of  Herrnhut  before  the  proper 
civil  officer,  as  the  basis  of  regulations  at  that  time,  and  became  more  articulate  after  1731 
It  was  simply  conformity  in  doctrinal  statement  and  singularity  in  church-order.  No  attempt 
was  ever  made  to  introduce  a  former  doctrinal  confession  of  the  Brethren  or  a  new  one  for 
either  effort  would  have  been  as  futile  as  undesirable.  The  dominant  Augsburg  Confession 
was  accepted  and  acknowledged  as  setting  forth  the  fundamental  doctrines  held.  In  church- 
order  a  distinct  system  was  built  on  the  old  Moravian  foundation  with  the  old  Moravian 
episcopal  ordination  inherited.  On  this  ground  the  Church  acquired  officially  recognized 
and  guaranteed  standing  in  Saxony  and  in  Prussian  territory  in  spite  of  persistent  efforts  in 
hostile  quarters  to  discredit  both  its  confessional  avowal  and  its  historic  descent.  Its  ulti- 
mate status  was  not  that  of  a  mere  tolerated  sect  or  a  mere  society  within  Lutheran  lines, 
but  that  of  an  adopted  and  ingrafted  distinct  Church  with  its  own  constituted  authorities 
independent  of  all  other  ecclesiastical  obligation  or  supervision,  and  its  formal  adhesion  to 
that  original,  common  Protestant  confession  of  the  realm  and  compliance  with  civil  require- 
ment, being  the  only  condition  of  its  franchises. 

The  favorable  findings  of  the  Royal  Saxon  Commission  of  1732  and  of  two  others  in  1736 
and  1737,  notwithstanding  the  harsh  measures  of  1736  against  Zinzendorf  personally,  issued 
in  an  edict  August  7,  1737,  conceding  for  the  time  being  the  position  taken  by  the  Brethren, 
"so  long  as  they  continued  in  the  doctrine  of  the  unaltered  confession  of  Augsburg." 
Twelve  years  later,  after  another  commission,  their  definite  recognition  as  such  adherents 
and  the  conclusive  establishment  by  the  State  of  their  position  of  conformity  in  doctiinal 
statement  and  singularity  in  church-order  took  place  in  the  publication  of  a  royal  mandate  of 
September  20,  1749,  which  decreed  that  "the  Protestant  Moravian  Brethren,  avowing  the 
unaltered  Augsburg  Confession  should  be  received  in  all  Saxony."  The  original  Prussian 
concession  on  the  same  basis  was  dated  December  25,  1742.  It  was  confirmed  in  1746, 
1763  and  1789.  The  validity  of  these  old  concessions  under  greatly  changed  conditions 
was  once  more  tested  and  settled  on  the  old  basis  September  26,  1898,  by  Supreme 
Court  decision  in   Prussia. 

In  England  the  inadequacy  of  an  act  of  Parliament  of  1747  to  protect  Moravian 
settlements  and  missions  in  English  territory,  and  misrepresentation  of  the  results  of  the 
Saxon  Commission  of  1749  led  to  a  request  for  a  similar  thorough  investigation  of  the 
Church ;  the  Augustana  being  again  presented  as  its  doctrinal  basis  and  its  independent 


28  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

meeting  on  January  7,  1731,  when,  after  a  full  discussion  of  the  ques- 
tion, it  was  permitted  to  turn  on  the  drawing  of  selected  texts  of 
Scripture,  one  to  be  taken  favorably,  the  other  adversely.  That 
which  was  to  decide  for  the  wishes  of  the  Moravians  was  drawn:  II. 
Thess.  2:15 — "Brethren  stand  fast  and  hold  the  traditions  which  ye 
have  been  taught." 

Several  months  after  this  decision,  which  settled  the  question 
whether  those  Moravians  would  cling  together  with  others  at  Herrn- 
hut  under  Zinzendorf's  leadership  and  laid  the  general  lines  on  which 
further  ecclesiastical  organization  and  development  of  activities 
should  proceed,  the  attendance  of  the  Count  at  the  coronation  of  the 
King  of  Denmark  brought  them  into  initial  touch  with  what  was  to 
be  their  pre-eminent  sphere  of  labor  and  was  to  bring  the  first  of 
them  across  the  ocean  to  America — evangelization  in  foreign  parts, 
the  propagation  of  the  gospel  among  the  heathen — an  undertaking 
which  had  appealed  to  the  hearts  of  some  in  that  notable  year  1727; 
which  had  been  the  dream  of  Zinzendorf's  boyhood ;  which  had  en- 
tered into  the  great  philanthropic  plans  of  Comenius  in  the  previous 
century  and  which  Luther,  two  hundred  years  before,  had  intimated 
to  the  harassed  and  unsettled  Brethren  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia  they 
might  as  suitable  men  take  up  as  their  mission. 

In  Copenhagen  Zinzendorf  and  one  of  those  "five  churchmen"  of 
1724  who  accompanied  him,  one  of  the  three  David  Nitschmanns, 
heard  a  negro  servant  from  the  Island  of  St.  Thomas  describe  the 
pitiful  state  of  the  slaves  there.  The  impression  they  received  from 
this  tale  of  woe  was  shared  by  all  the  people  of  Herrnhut  when  the 
negro  was  later  permitted  to  visit  the  place  and  tell  his  story.  Through 
this  incident  the  open  door  they  had  been  waiting  for  was  set  before 
them  and  on  August  21,  1732,  Leonhard  Dober  and  this  same  David 
Nitschmann  set  out  from  Herrnhut  for  St.  Thomas  to  begin  the  first 
Moravian  mission  to  the  heathen.  Again  by  way  of  Denmark  came 
the  second  opening  and  January  19,  1733,  Matthew  Stach,  Christian 


church-order  on  the  old  Moravian  foundation  with  its  old  episcopate  submitted  for  exami- 
nation. The  result  was  the  act  of  Parliament,  May  12,  1749,  which  gave  it  recognition, 
with  distinct  privileges  in  all  British  dominions,  as  "  an  ancient  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,"  and  declared  "their  doctrine  to  differ  in  no  essential  article  of  faith  from  that  of 
the  Church  of  England,  as  set  forth  in  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles."  This  doctrinal  position 
does  not  place  the  Moravian  Church  in  any  kind  of  organic  connection  with  the  Lutheran 
Church.  The  general  statements  of  that  old  confession  are  accepted  not  because  they  are 
Lutheran  but  because  they  are  Scriptural. 


THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH    TO    1/35.  29 

Stach  and  the  veteran  evangelist  Christian  David  started  for  Green- 
land. November  12,  1733,  fourteen  men  and  four  women  sailed  from 
Stettin  and  after  a  voyage  of  extraordinary  hardship  and  duration 
reached  the  Island  of  St.  Croix  to  found  a  missionary  colony.  Feb- 
ruary 24,  1734,  Andrew  Grassmann,  Daniel  Schneider  and  John 
Nitschmann  left  for  Lapland  and  at  the  same  time  Frederick  Boeh- 
nisch  and  John  Beck  set  out  for  Greenland  to  reinforce  that  work. 
November  21,  1734,  the  first  colony  destined  for  missionary  work 
among  the  North  American  Indians  started  for  Georgia.  During 
that  year  plans  were  also  formed  to  begin  work  among  the  negro 
slaves  in  the  Dutch  possessions  in  South  America,  and  the  next  year 
George  Piesch,  George  Berwig  and  Christian  von  Larisch  went  to 
Surinam  to  examine  the  situation  and  prospects. 

Now  the  need  of  supervision  and  of  ordained  men  in  these  fields 
had  to  be  considered.  Arrangements  which  had  existed  since  1727 
might  have  sufficed  yet  longer  for  the  six  hundred  people  of  Herrn- 
hut  and  their  itinerant  work  in  Germany  and  neighboring  states,  but 
the  destiny  now  opening  before  the  Brethren,  with  prospective  activ- 
ity in  many  and  distant  lands,  made  clear  the  necessity  of  the  next 
important  step  in  the  course  of  things.  Their  messengers  in  this 
wider  field  must  represent,  not  an  incomplete  make-shift  of  organiza- 
tion or  a  mere  society,  but  the  historic  Church  which  was  there  being 
resuscitated  not  only  in  spirit  but  also  in  a  definite  form  and  in  full 
function.  They  must  go  forth  with  the  ordination  of  its  bishops, 
representing  its  rightful  place  and  character  as  a  branch  of  the 
Church  of  God,  invested  with  its  authority,  so  that  all  they  do  may 
be  done  decently  and  in  order,  and  have  validity  in  the  eyes  of  men. 
This  further  element  of  legitimacy  to  constitute  the  men  of  Herrnhut 
fully  the  representatives  of  the  ancient  Brethren's  Church  of  Bohemia 
and  Moravia — its  episcopate,  was  waiting  in  the  hands  of  its  two 
bishops  yet  surviving.  They  were  Daniel  Ernst  Jablonsky,  D.D., 
Court  Preacher  to  the  King  of  Prussia,  Counselor  of  the  Consistory 
of  the  realm  and  President  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Ber- 
Un ;  and  Christian  Sitkovius,  Superintendent  of  the  United  Churches 
of  Poland  at  Lissa.  Dr.  Jablonsky,  who  was  a  grandson  of  the  illus- 
trious Comenius,  had,  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
taken  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  evangelical  union  efforts  instituted 
by  the  King  of  Prussia,  with  the  Sendomir  union  of  1570  between 
the  Brethren,  the  Lutherans  and  the  Reformed  as  a  historic  prece- 
dent and  his  own  status  as  a  bishop  of  the  Brethren's  Church,  then 


30  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

without  organized  form,  laboring  under  Reformed  Church  auspices, 
and  that  of  his  episcopal  colleague  Sitkovius,  superintending  the  con- 
gregations in  which  the  last  Polish  parishes  of  the  Brethren  had  been 
merged  into  those  of  the  estabUshed  Reformed  Church,  constituting 
a  natural  standpoint  from  which  to  make  such  efforts.  He  had  under 
the  King's  commission  conducted  the  negotiations  with  the  Anglican 
Church  for  the  establishment  of  an  alliance  in  which  the  episcopate 
of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  representing  historic  relations  to  the  several 
parties,  might  be  used  to  establish  an  episcopal  government  with 
which  that  of  England  would  fraternize  and  under  which  the  two 
Protestant  bodies  of  Prussia  might  unite.  Nothing  came  of  this,  but 
now  he  was  destined  to  use  the  historic  trust  he  held  in  another  way. 
He  rejoiced  to  hear  of  what  had  taken  place  at  Herrnhut  and  of  what 
the  men  from  Moravia  were  striving  to  accomplish,  and  he,  as  well 
as  his  aged  colleague  Sitkovius,  were  at  once  ready,  when  the  proper 
occasion  came,  to  transfer  the  ancient  episcopate  to  the  new  organi- 
zation. So  it  came  to  pass  that  David  Nitschmann,  one  of  the  "five 
Moravian  churchmen"  referred  to  above,  one  of  the  first  elders  at 
Herrnhut,  one  of  the  first  deputies  to  England  and  one  of  the  first 
two  missionaries  to  the  heathen,  having  returned  from  St.  Thomas, 
was  chosen  as  the  best  qualified  and  most  worthy  man  among  the 
Moravians  and  sent  to  Berlin  where,  after  due  examination.  Bishop 
Jablonsky,  with  the  written  concurrence  of  Bishop  Sitkovius,  who 
was  unable  to  attend  in  person,  consecrated  him  a  Bishop  of  the 
Brethren's  Church  on  March  13,  1735.  They  subsequently  furnished 
him  with  a  certificate  of  consecration,  conferring  authority  upon  him 
to  ordain  presbyters  and  deacons  after  the  manner  of  the  Brethren, 
to  make  episcopal  visits  and  to  perform  all  of  the  functions  which 
belong  to  the  office  of  a  bishop.  With  this  added  to  what  had  gone 
before,  the  resuscitated  Church  was  fully  equipped  to  go  forward  with 
its  evangelistic  work. 

This  is  the  Church  to  which  the  first  inhabitants  of  Bethlehem  be- 
longed and  this,  its  first  bishop  after  its  renewal  and  the  first  who 
crossed  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  performed  episcopal  acts  in  the 
American  colonies,  was  the  official  founder  of  Bethlehem,  a  place 
remarkable  in  the  fact  that  for  the  space  of  one  hundred  years  its 
municipal  and  ecclesiastical  government  were  identical,  the  town  and 
the  congregation  being  one. 


.m^^ 


DAVID    NITSCHMANN    (EpiSC.) 


PIONEER    MOVEMENTS    TO    I74O. 


33 


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CERTIFICATE    OF   OWNERSHIP    OF    LOTS    IN    GEORGIA. 


34  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

When  the  Trustees  of  Georgia  heard  that  the  Schwenkfeldian  emi- 
grants had  turned  their  course  to  Pennsylvania,  they  proposed  that  a 
Moravian  colony  be  sent  to  the  new  province.  The  suggestion  was 
adopted  because  it  opened  a  prospect  for  undertaking  missionary 
work  among  the  Indians.  Twenty  men  volunteered  to  go  and  on 
November  27,  1734,  nine  of  them  set  out  for  England.-  After  a 
tedious  and  very  trying  journey  they  reached  London,  January  15, 
1735.  There  they  were  met  by  the  man  who  was  to  be  their  leader 
to  Georgia  and  had  preceded  them  to  England  to  consult  with  the 
Trustees  and  make  preparations  for  the  voyage.  This  man,  who  will 
be  mentioned  frequently  in  these  pages,  was  the  Rev.  Augustus 
Gottlieb  Spangenberg,  M.A.,  a  learned  young  Lutheran  divine  who 
in  1733  had  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  Brethren  at  Herrnhut.  He  was 
a  noble  representative  of  the  mild  and  liberal  type  of  pietism  then 
flourishing  at  the  LTniversity  of  Jena,  where  he  had  studied  and  then 
lectured  as  a  professor.  From  Jena  he  had  gone  to  Halle  as  pro- 
fessor and  superintendent  of  school-work  in  the  famous  orphanage. 
Disagreement  with  the  authorities  of  that  university  in  consequence 
of  his  zealous,  and  at  times  incautious  efforts,  beyond  the  limits  there 
approved,  to  cultivate  fraternal  relations  and  union  in  essentials 
among  earnest  men  of  different  theological  views,  even  proscribed 
heretics  and  separatists,  had  led  to  his  summary  dismissal  by  a  royal 
decree  secured  against  him  by  those  who  antagonized  his  views  and 
feared  his  influence.  This  indignity,  suffered  in  1733,  gave  him  to 
the  Moravian  Church.  He  became  Count  Zinzendorf's  most  valuable 
coadjutor  and  his  successor  in  pre-eminent  leadership.  He,  above  all 
others,  was  influential  in  the  establishment  of  Moravian  work  in 
America,  and  next  to  Zinzendorf  is  most  prominently  associated  with 
the  history  of  the  Church  in  the  eighteenth  century  both  in  Europe 
and  America. 

He  sailed  with  his  little  colony  from  Gravesend,  February  6,  1735, 
on  the  ship  TJic  Tico  Brothers,  Captain  Thompson,  and  landed  at 


genberg  constituted  what  they  called  a  Hausgemeinc.  At  least  five  religious  persuasions 
were  represented  in  this  union.  Some  of  thes;  men  later  joined  the  Moravian  Church. 
Several  others,  who  withdiew  from  all  fellowship  as  separatists,  became  its  enemies  and 
traducers.     Wiegner's  farm  lay  two  miles  south  of  the  present  Kulpsville. 

2  They  were  Anton  Seiffert,  John  Toeltschig,  Gotthard  Demuth,  Michael  Ilaberland, 
George  Ilaberland,  Frederick  Riedel,  Peter  Rose,  George  Waschke  and  Gottfried  Ilaberecht 
— all  but  the  last  from  Moravia  and  near-by  parts  of  Bohemia,  and  two,  Seiffert  and  Ilabe- 
recht, later  with  the  Pennsylvania  corps. 


PIONEER    MOVEMENTS    TO    1 74O.  35 

Savannah,  March  22.  Two  tracts  of  land  had  been  granted  them,  one 
within  the  laid-out  limits  of  the  town,  the  other  a  short  distance  up 
the  river.  On  the  latter  they  built  a  rude  hut,  cleared  several  acres 
and  planted  corn.  Then  they  proceeded  to  the  erection  of  a  sub- 
stantial house  in  the  town.  They  suffered  much  from  sickness  and 
in  September  one  of  them,  Frederick  Riedel,  died.  Spangenberg 
supervised  their  operations,  transacted  their  business  with  the  local 
authorities  and  tradesmen,  served  them  as  pastor  and  physician  and 
even  did  their  cooking  for  a  while  so  that  none  of  them  should  have 
to  leave  their  pressing  work  to  perform  this  lighter  duty. 

In  the  last  week  of  July,  1735,  Bishop  David  Nitschmann  started 
from  Herrnhut  for  England  with  the  second  American  colony  of  six- 
teen men  and  eight  women.^  They  sailed  from  Hamburg  for  England 
in  September,  embarked  at  London,  October  12,  in  the  ship  Simonds, 
Captain  Cornish ;  after  lying  off  the  Isle  of  Wight  until  December 
10,  put  out  to  sea  from  Cowes,  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Savannah 
River,  February  16  and  finally  landed  in  the  town,  February  20,  1736. 
With  them  came  to  Savannah  General  James  Oglethorpe,  Governor 
of  Georgia ;  the  Rev.  John  Wesley  and  his  brother  Charles,  the  Rev. 
Benjamin  Ingham,  Charles  Delamotte,  about  eighty  English  passen- 
gers, a  company  of  Salzburg  exiles  and  a  few  other  German  and  Swiss 
emigrants. 

During  the  long  voyage  a  warm  friendship  sprang  up  between  the 
English  clergymen  and  the  Moravian  Brethren,  particularly  between 
John  Wesley  and  Bishop  Nitschmann,  who  were  much  together  and 
used  the  opportunity  to  learn  each  other's  language.  At  Savannah 
Mr.  Wesley  lived  with  the  Moravians  until  the  parsonage  he  was  to 
occupy  was  vacated  by  his  predecessor,  and  during  those  weeks  the 
bond  was  strengthened.  He  was  impressed  by  the  evidence  of  an 
advanced  religious  experience  which  he  felt  that  he  had  not  yet  at- 

3  The  following  persons  comprised  this  second  colony :  John  Boehner,  Matthias  Boehnisch, 
Gottlieb  Demuth,  Jacob  Franck,  Christian  Adolph  von  Hermsdorf,  David  Jag,  John  Martin 
Mack,  John  Michael  Meyer,  Augustine  Neisser,  George  Neisser,  Henry  Rascher,  Matthias 
Seybold,  David  Tanneberger,  his  son  John  Tanneberger,  Andrew  Dober  and  Anna  his  wife, 
David  Zeisberger  and  Rosina  his  wife,  Regina  wife  of  Gotthard  Demuth,  Rosina  wife  of 
Gottfried  Haberecht,  Catherine  wife  of  Frederick  Riedel  who  had  died  the  previous  Sep- 
tember, Judith  wife  of  John  Toeltschig,  Anna  Waschke  mother  of  George  Waschke,  Juliana 
Jaeschke  later  married  to  Waschke.  Including  the  Bishop,  fifteen  of  these  colonists,  nine 
men  and  six  women  were  from  Moravia  and  Bohemia.  Twelve  of  them,  nine  men  and 
three  women,  of  which  number  ten  were  from  Moravia  and  Bohemia,  were  subsequently 
among  the  early  inhabitants  of  Bethlehem. 


36  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

tained,  and  the  secret  on  which  he  pondered  did  not  become  quite 
clear  to  him  until  after  his  return  to  England,  as  he  declared,  through 
his  intercourse  with  another  distinguished  leader  of  the  Brethren, 
the  Rev.  Peter  Boehler,  whose  name  is  intimately  associated  with 
that  of  the  Wesleys  in  the  religious  history  of  those  times. 

February  28  O.  S.,  March  10  N.  S.,  1736,  was  a  notable  day  at  that 
first  Moravian  settlement  in  America.  On  that  day  Bishop  Nitsch- 
mann  organized  the  colony  as  a  regular  congregation  on  the  plan 
of  that  at  Herrnhut,  ordained  Anton  Seiffert  to  the  ministry  and 
installed  him  in  charge  of  the  congregation,  and  at  the  same  time 
ordained  Spangenberg — regarded  by  virtue  of  his  Lutheran  ordina- 
tion as  in  deacon's  orders — a  presbyter  preparatory  to  his  departure 
for  Pennsylvania  to  engage  in  other  duties.* 

At  the  same  time  Nitschmann,  who  in  1732  had  gone  to  St.  Thomas 
with  Leonhard  Dober  and  founded  the  first  mission  of  the  Moravian 
Church  among  the  heathen,  inaugurated  its  first  missionary  effort 
among  the  North  American  Indians.  The  original  colonists  under 
Spangenberg  had  won  the  good  will  of  the  celebrated  Chief  Tomo 
Tschatschi  and  prepared  the  way  for  this  work.  When  the  colony 
of  1736  arrived  a  school  house  was  built  on  an  island  in  the  Savan- 
nah River,  about  five  miles  above  the  town,  on  which  there  was  an 
Indian  village,  and  to  which  they  gave  the  name  Irene.  There  on 
September  25,  1736,  a  school  was  opened  in  charge  of  Benjamin  Ing- 
ham, who  had  offered  his  services  for  a  season,  assisted  by  Peter 

4  The  date  of  this  first  ordination  service  by  a  Moravian  bishop  in  America  —  which  so 
deeply  impressed  Wesley,  as  he  relates  in  his  celebrated  Journal  —  as  compared  with  the 
records  of  the  Anglican  and  Roman  Churches,  is  noteworthy.  Until  after  the  Revolution, 
the  representatives  of  these  communions  in  the  English  colonies  remained  under  absentee 
episcopal  charge,  that  of  the  Bishop  of  London  and  that  of  the  Vicar  Apostolic  of  London 
respectively,  not  being  favored  with  the  presence  of  a  bishop  to  perform  official  acts  in  this 
country  prior  to  1784  and  1790  respectively ;  just  as  the  Roman  Catholics  of  the  Spanish 
and  French  settlements  were  yet  under  the  Suffragan  of  Santiago  de  Cuba  and  the  Bishop 
of  Quebec.  The  alleged  secret  consecration  of  the  Pennsylvania  clergymen  Welton  and 
Talbot  to  the  episcopacy  in  1722  by  the  English  Jacobite  Bishop  Ralph  Taylor  —  the 
evidence  of  which  is  taken  as  convincing  by  many  —  is  not  treated  as  an  established  fact  by 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  Dr.  Talbot  died  at  Burlington,  N.J.,  in  1727.  Dr.  Wel- 
ton— in  Philadelphia  1724-26 — died  at  Lisbon  in  1726.  Even  if  such  consecration  were  un- 
questioned, no  evidence  of  any  exercise  of  their  episcopate  has  been  found.  It  would  seem 
therefore  that  the  earliest  unquestionable  record  of  a  regular  ordination  performed  by  a 
bishop  of  the  Christian  Church  in  the  English  colonies  of  North  America  is  that  of  the 
ordination  of  Seiffert  at  Savannah  by  David  Nitschmann,  and  that  Nitschmann  was  the  first 
bishop  who  unquestionably  both  located  and  performed  episcopal  functions  in  these  colonies. 


PIONEER    MOVEMENTS    TO    1 74O.  37 

Rose  and  his  wife.^  Their  work  flourished  unexpectedly.  In  a  few 
months  many  boys  and  girls  learned  to  read  and  a  few  even  learned 
to  write.  They  committed  many  passages  of  Scripture  to  memory 
and  delighted  to  sing  hymns.  The  adult  Indians  observed  all  this 
with  wonder  and  admiration  and  their  interest  in  hearing  "the  great 
word"  stimulated  the  efforts  of  the  missionaries  to  acquire  the  lan- 
guage of  these  people  in  order  to  communicate  with  them  without 
an  interpreter. 

Spangenberg,  having  fulfilled  his  mission  in  Georgia,  started  for 
Pennsylvania,  March  15,  1736,  with  credentials  from  Bishop  Nitsch- 
mann  and  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Governor  Oglethorpe  to  Gov- 
ernor Thomas  Penn.  He  was  commissioned  to  look  after  the 
Schwenkfelders  in  whose  welfare  Zinzendorf  was  interested,  to  inves- 
tigate the  spiritual  condition  of  the  German  population  generally  and 
to  gather  information  about  the  Indians.  He  made  his  home  with 
George  Boehnisch  at  the  house  of  Christopher  Wiegner  and  entered 
enthusiastically  upon  his  new  duties.  Although  Count  Zinzendorf 
later  said  of  him  that  at  this  time  "he  w^as  yet  too  learned  to  be  an 
apostle,"  he  worked  as  a  common  laborer  on  Wiegner's  farm  in  order 
to  not  be  a  burden  to  any  one,  to  identify  himself  wath  the  rustic  popu- 
lation and  to  disarm  the  prejudice  of  those  sects  which  disliked 
schoolmen  and  gentry  and  laid  much  stress  on  extreme  plainness  in 
dress  and  habit  as  a  religious  distinction.  The  knowledge  he  acquired 
and  the  experiences  he  made  were  of  inestimable  value  to  him  in  his 
subsequent  career.  During  this  sojourn  in  Pennsylvania  he  became 
acquainted  with  Henry  Antes,  already  mentioned;  Conrad  Weiser, 
who  gave  him  much  information  about  the  Indians ;  John  Stephen 
Benezet,  the  Hugenot  merchant  of  Philadelphia ;  Christopher  Saur, 


s  This  first  Moravian  sister  who  engaged  in  missionary  work  among  the  Indians  was 
Catherine,  m.n,  Pudmensky,  widow  of  Frederick  Riedel,  married  to  Rose  at  Savannah. 
She  had  emigrated  from  Moravia  in  1725,  was  present  at  the  organization  of  Herrnhut  in 
1727  and  in  1742  was  among  the  eighty  people  who  entered  into  the  first  regular  organiza- 
tion at  Bethlehem.  Her  daughter,  Mary  Magdalen  Rose,  who  in  1763  became  the  wife  of 
the  Rev.  Paul  Peter  Bader,  was  the  first  Moravian  child  born  in  America.  Rose  died,  March 
12,  1740  at  Germantown,  Pa.  In  1742  the  widow  was  married  to  John  Michael  Huber, 
•who  in  1747  perished  at  sea  in  a  hurricane  on  his  way  to  the  West  Indies  as  a  missionary. 
She  was  one  of  the  original  occupants  of  the  Widows'  House  at  Bethlehem,  and  served 
many  years  as  a  Deaconess.  When  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  Bethlehem  was  celebrated  in 
1792,  she  was  one  of  eight  of  the  original  eighty  persons  yet  living,  and  the  only  one  who 
participated  in  the  festivities.  She  died  in  Bethlehem  in  1798,  in  the  ninety-fifth  year  of  her 
age.     There  is  an  oil  portrait  of  her  in  the  archives  of  the  Moravian  Church  at  Bethlehem. 


38  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

the  Germantown  printer ;  John  Bechtel,  the  pious  leader  of  the  Ger- 
man Reformed  people  of  Germantown,  as  well  as  with  all  of  the  Skip- 
pack  Brethren,  with  the  heads  of  the  Ephrata  Community  on  the 
Cocalico  Creek  and  of  other  religious  bodies,  and  with  prominent 
members  of  the  Society  of  Friends.  Bishop  Nitschmann  followed 
him  to  Pennsylvania  in  April,  1736,  and  together  they  traversed 
many  neighborhoods  and  visited  all  kinds  of  religionists.  Nitsch- 
mann sailed  for  Europe,  June  23,  1736,  and  Spangenberg,  deputed 
by  him,  visited  the  mission  on  the  Island  of  St.  Thomas,  sailing  from 
New  York  in  August  and  returning  to  Pennsylvania  near  the  end 
of  November.  During  his  visit  in  New  York  he  became  acquainted 
with  Abraham  Boemper  and  Thomas  Noble,  merchants,  and  other 
substantial  men  of  the  city ;  with  Timothy  Horsfleld,  of  Long  Island, 
and  Jacques  Cortelyou,  of  Staten  Island ;  and  on  his  return  from  the 
West  Indies,  with  Captain  Nicholas  Garrison,  also  of  Staten  Island, 
having  taken  passage  with  him  back  to  New  York.  These  men,  like 
most  of  the  worthy  Pennsylvanians  mentioned,  all  subsequently  ren- 
dered valuable  service  to  the  Moravian  colonies  and  missions ;  the 
majority  of  those  named  eventually  entering  into  full  connection  with 
the  Church. 

Meanwhile  troubles  had  commenced  which  four  years  later  brought 
the  promising  enterprise  in  Georgia  to  an  untimely  end  and  trans- 
ferred the  settled  work  of  the  Brethren  to  Pennsylvania.  War  broke 
out  between  the  English  and  the  Spaniards  of  Florida  Territory  and 
because  the  Moravians,  appealing  to  the  exemption  from  military  duty 
granted  them  by  the  Trustees,  declined  to  join  the  militia,  the  authori- 
ties at  Savannah  became  hostile  to  them,  and  the  populace,  unre- 
strained by  the  magistrates,  proceeded  to  annoy  them  in  all  kinds  of 
ways.  Spangenberg,  informed  of  these  things  by  George  Neisser, 
who  arrived  at  Wiegner's  with  a  letter  from  Toeltschig  in  February, 
1737,  wrote  to  the  Trustees  at  once  and  boarded  the  first  ship  he 
found  ready  to  sail  for  Savannah.  He  arrived  there  in  mid-summer 
and  tried  to  overcome  the  trouble.  In  response  to  his  letter,  the 
Trustees  renewed  the  exemption  of  the  Moravians  from  bearing  arms, 
merely  requiring  that  they  provide  two  substitutes,  one  to  represent 
each  of  their  tracts  of  land,  and  the  magistrates  at  Savannah  were 
reprimanded  for  violating  the  agreement.  Spangenberg  returned  to 
Pennsylvania  in  September,  1737,  and  was  occupied  as  before  vmtil 
August,  1739,  when  he  closed  the  first  period  of  his  activity  in  America 
and  sailed  for  Europe. 


PETER   BOEHLER 


PIONEER    MOVEMENTS    TO    1 74O.  4I 

season  in  Pennsylvania  at  this  time  was  the  successful  West  India 
missionary  Frederick  Martin,  later  Missionary  Bishop,  who  in  May 
took  passage  to  New  York  with  Captain  Nicholas  Garrison  to  seek 
rest  and  recuperation  after  much  toil  and  hardship,  hoping  also  to 
meet  Count  Zinzendorf  who  intended,  after  his  visit  to  the  Island 
of  St.  Thomas  in  1739,  to  proceed  to  Pennsylvania,  but  had  been 
compelled  to  change  his  plan.  Martin  was  waiting  in  New  York  for 
a  ship  back  to  the  West  Indies  when  Ranch  arrived  and  met  him 
on  the  dock.  Hagen  finding  the  settlement  at  Savannah  abandoned, 
associated  with  Whitefield's  converts,  worked  at  his  orphanage 
"Bethesda"  and  tried  to  be  of  spiritual  service  to  some  German 
families,  being  brought  meanwhile  to  the  point  of  death  by  fever.  A 
dispute  arose  between  him  and  Whitelield  on  the  doctrine  of  repro- 
bation which  the  latter  held  tenaciously  and  with  singular  uncharit- 
ableness  towards  those  who  disagreed  with  him.  The  German  mis- 
sionary, who  believed  that  all  could  be  saved  who  would,  was  ordered 
ofif  of  the  fiery  preacher's  premises,  and  his  converts  were  warned  to 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  man.  Some  were  disobedient,  however, 
and  continued  to  fraternize  with  Hagen  to  their  mutual  benefit  until 
he  left  for  Pennsylvania,  in  February,  1742. 

Besides  Johanna  Hummel  and  the  two  boys  already  mentioned,  ten 
other  persons  who  had  become  attached  to  the  Brethren  at  Savannah 
and  Purysburg  followed  them  to  Pennsylvania  in  the  course  of  the 
next  few  years.  They  were  Abraham  Bueninger  and  Anna  Catharine 
Kremper,  of  Purysburg,  and  John  Brownfield,  James  Burnside,  his 
daughter  Rebecca,  Henry  Ferdinand  Beck,  his  wife  Barbara,  their 
daughter  Maria  Christina  and  their  sons  Jonathan  and  David,  all  of 
Savannah.  In  the  acquisition  of  these  people,  the  most  of  whom 
became  eminently  useful  at  Bethlehem  and  in  Moravian  work  else- 
where, the  only  tangible  fruit  of  the  Georgia  undertaking  proved  to 
be  serviceable  in  connection  with  the  enterprises  in  Pennsylvania.^ 


7  Johanna  Hummel  was  married  to  the  missionary  John  Boehner  and  died  at  sea  in  1742 
on  the  way  to  St.  Thomas. 

Benjamin  Softimers  and  James  were  troublesome  lads.  The  former,  after  various  efforts 
with  him,  was  eventually  bound  out  to  Christopher  Naumann,  a  Schwenkfelder  of  Marburg 
in  Old  Goshenhoppen  in  1748.  James,  about  that  time,  was  figuring  in  the  quality  of  a  boy 
preacher  beyond  the  Blue  Mountains,  having  strayed  away  to  escape  watchful  oversight. 
There  is  no  mention  of  either  of  them  after  1750. 

Bueninger  came  to  Pennsylvania  with  Hagen  in  1742,  was  ordained.  1756,  labored  among 
Indians  and  white  settlers  and  in  the  West  Indies,  rendering  valuable  service.     I  le  w.is  a 


42  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Boehler  and  his  company  expected,  on  their  arrival  from  Georgia,  to 
find  Nitschmann  or  Spangenberg  in  Pennsylvania  with  instructions 
about  their  further  movements,  but  were  disappointed  and  passed 
the  first  weeks  in  great  perplexity. 

Those  who  had  preceded  them  to  the  Province  advised  them  to 
settle  at  Germantown  as  they  had  done  and  turn  attention  to  their 
own  interests,  but  they  considered  themselves  under  commission  to 
make  the  propagation  of  the  gospel  their  chief  pursuit  and  deemed 
it  their  duty  to  await  instructions.  They  passed  the  time  mainly  in 
Germantown,  partly  also  at  Christopher  Wiegner's  and  with  Henry 
Antes.  There  they  were  promised  by  Boehner  and  George  Neisser 
that  they  would  not  forsake  them,  but  would  likewise  remain  faithful. 
The  Demuths,  Tanneberger  and  several  others  who  had  found  tem- 
porary employment  also  signified  their  intention  to  remain  in  con- 
native  of  Buloch,  Canton  Zurich,  Switzerland,  and  died  in  1811  at  Salem,  Washington  Co., 
N.Y.,  in  his  91st  year.     His  descendants  of  New  York  spelled  the  name  Bininger. 

Brownfield^  a  native  of  Greenwich,  England,  was  raised  in  the  family  of  Gen.  Oglethorpe, 
accompanied  him  to  Georgia  as  secretary,  came  to  Bethlehem,  1745,  was  appointed  general 
accountant,  served  for  a  time  as  head  steward,  was  an  original  officer  and  a  few  years  secre- 
tary of  the  Society  for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel  organized,  1745,  was  ordained,  1749, 
itinerated  somewhat  among  English  settlers,  died  at  Bethlehem,  1752. 

Btirnside  from  County  Meath,  Leinster,  Ireland,  was  shop-keeper  and  accountant  for  the 
Trustees  at  Sarannah  and  then  manager  of  Whitefield's  orphanage.  After  the  death  of  his 
wife  at  Savannah  he  visited  Bethlehem,  1744,  became  a  resident  with  his  daughter  Rebecca, 
1745,  married  Mary  Wendover,  one  of  the  first  Moravian  converts  in  New  York  City,  ren- 
dered Bethlehem  much  service  in  business  affairs  and  public  relations,  labored  a  short  time 
as  an  itinerant  evangelist,  located  on  a  farm  just  north  of  Beth'ehem  on  the  Monocacy, 
where  he  died,  1755.  He  was  the  first  representative  of  Northampton  Co.  in  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Assembly  in  1752.  His  widow  contributed  the  first  ;!^5o  for  the  building  of  the 
Widows'  House  at  Bethlehem. 

Beck,\i\\.o  hailed  from  Pfluellingen  in  Wiirtemberg,  emigrated  to  Georgia,  1738,  joined 
Whitefield's  society  at  Savannah,  came  to  Bethlehem,  1745,  was  ordained,  1754,  labored  in 
various  country  charges  and  in  New  York  City  and  died  at  Bethlehem,  1783.  His  son 
David  died  while  laboring  as  a  missionary  on  the  Island  of  St.  Thomas. 

Anna  Catherine  Kretnper  (also  Krump  or  Kremp)  came  to  Bethlehem  with  Becks,  mar- 
ried Samuel  Mau,  served  faithfully  as  a  nurse  in  later  years  and  died  at  Bethlehem,  1798. 

The  following  resume  from  records  shows  to  what  extent  the  personnel  of  the  Georgia 
colony  entered  into  that  of  Bethlehem  and  what  became  of  the  rest.  It  also  clears  up  some 
confusion  and  error  in  sundry  printed  statements.  Leaving  out  of  the  count  Spangenberg, 
Nitschmann  and  Boehler — also  John  Francis  Regnier  who  went  from  Pennsylvania,  was 
there  1735-38,  later  missionary  in  Surinam,  then  after  his  return  to  Pennsylvania,  an  enemy 
of  the  Moravians— thirty-seven  persons  emigrated  from  Europe  to  Georgia.  Eight  died 
there:  173S,  Frederick  Riedel ;  1736,  Matthias  Boehnisch,  Jacob  Frank,  Henry  Rascher, 
Rosina  Haberecht ;    1737,  George  Haberland  and  the  boy  John  Michael  Schober,  all  at 


PIONEER    MOVEMENTS    TO    1 74O.  43 

nection  with  their  brethren  and  to  locate  with  them  if  they  colonized 
in  Pennsylvania. 

Before  any  word  from  Europe  reached  them  they  were,  without 
suspecting  it,  led  through  the  instrumentahty  of  George  Whitefield 
to  the  neighborhood  in  which  their  settlement  would  at  last  be 
founded.  During  the  voyage  from  Savannah,  Whitefield  determined, 
as  his  financial  agent  William  Seward  states  in  his  journal,  to  establish 
"a  Negro  school  in  Pennsylvania  where  he  proposed  to  take  up 
land  in  order  to  settle  a  town  for  the  reception  of  such  English  friends 
whose  heart  God  should  incline  to  come  and  settle  there."  On  board 
ship  the  evangelist  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  the  English  Society  for 
the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts :  "To  me  Pennsylvania 
seems  to  be  the  best  Province  in  America  for  such  an  undertaking. 
The  Negroes  meet  there  with  the  best  usage,  and  I  believe  many 
of  my  acquaintance  will  either  give  me  or  let  me  purchase  their  young 
slaves  at  a  very  easy  rate.     I  intend  taking  up  a  tract  of  land  far 

Savannah;  1739,  George  Schulius  at  Purysburg.  Six  returned  to  Europe:  1737,  von  Hermsdorf, 
Andrew  and  Anna  Dober;  1738,  John  Toeltschig;  1739,  Michael  Haberland  and  his  sister 
Judith,  wife  of  Toeltschig.  Twenty-three  came  to  Pennsylvania:  1737,  George  Neisser ; 
1738,  Gotthard  and  Regina  Demuth,  Gottlieb  Demuth,  Gottfried  Haberecht,  David  Jag, 
John  Michael  Meyer,  Augustin  Neisser,  David  Tanneberger,  John  Tanneberger,  George  and 
Juliana  Waschke  and  his  mother  Anna  Waschke  ;  1739,  Peter  and  Catherine  Rose,  their 
child  Mary  Magdalen  and  Matthias  Seybold ;  1740,  John  Boehner,  John  .Martin  Mack, 
Anton  Seiffert,  David  and  Rosina  Zeisberger  and  their  son  David;  1742,  John  Hagen. 
Ten  located  at  Germantown  :  Gotthard  and  Regina  Demuth,  Augustin  Neisser,  Peter  and 
Catherine  Rose  and  child,  George,  Juliana  and  Anna  Waschke.  Gottlieb  Demuth  went  to 
Matetsche,  Jag  to  Goshenhoppen,  Haberecht  to  Ephrata.  Eight  clung  together  with 
Boehler  and  were  the  nucleus  of  the  first  Moravian  settlement  in  Pennsylvania,  viz. : 
Boehner,  Mack,  George  Neisser,  Seiffert,  Seybold  and  the  Zeisbergers,  having  with  them 
Johanna  Hummel  and  the  boys  Sommers  and  James  from  Georgia. 

Five  of  those  who  settled  at  Germantown  subsequently  removed  to  Bethlehem  :  David 
and  John  Tanneberger,  Catherine  Rose  (widow  1740)  with  her  child,  Regina  Demuth 
(widowed,  1744,  at  Germantown,  married,  1745,  to  David  Tanneberger).  Haberecht  left 
Ephrata,  1  741,  and  rejoined  his  brethren  at  Bethlehem.  Gottlieb  Demuth  lived  in  Frederick 
Township  and  the  Saucon  Valley,  married  Eva  Gutsier,  lived  at  intervals  at  Bethlehem,  at 
Allemaengel  or  Lynn  and  settled  finally  at  Schoeneck  above  Nazareth.  Jag.  Meyer,  Aug- 
ustin Neisser  and  the  Waschkes  remained  where  they  settled  when  they  came  from  Georgia, 
never  rejoining  the  Church.     The  missionary  Hagen  died  at  Shamokin  in  1747. 

Thus  all  are  accounted  for.  Eight  died  in  Georgia,  two,  Rose  and  Gotthard  Demuth, 
died  at  Germantown  prior  to  1745.  Six  returned  to  Europe.  Seven  who  settled  in  Penn- 
sylvania forsook  the  Moravian  Church.  Fourteen  with  their  seven  converts  from  Georgia 
and  their  children,  a  company  of  thirty  persons  became  identified  with  Bethlehem  and 
Nazareth,  and  fifteen  of  these  were  employed  in  the  service  of  the  church. 


44  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

back  in  the  country."  An  agreement  for  the  purchase  of  five  thousand 
acres  of  land  recommended  to  him  by  Scotch  Irish  settlers  in  "the 
Forks  of  the  Delaware,"  was  made  with  William  Allen,  of  Phila- 
delphia, on  May  3,  1740.  Two  days  later  when  Whitefield  and  Boehler 
jointly  conducted  services  at  the  houses  of  Wiegner  and  Antes, 
Whitefield  proposed  to  Boehler  that  he  undertake  to  superintend  the 
erection  of  the  contemplated  house  on  his  land  and  employ  the 
Moravians  who  were  with  him,  several  of  them  being  carpenters  and 
masons.  The  proposition  was  regarded  favorably  and  on  May  6 
Boehler  and  Seiffert  accompanied  by  Antes  set  out  on  horseback  to 
inspect  the  locality.  They  passed  a  night  at  the  place  and  the  next 
day,  after  examining  the  timber,  stone  and  springs  of  water,  and 
discussing  various  eligible  building  sites,  they  returned  to  the  home 
of  Antes  where  on  May  10  the  contract  with  Whitefield  was  definitely 
concluded.  May  29,  Boehner,  Mack,  Seiffert,  the  Zeisbergers, 
Johanna  Hummel  and  the  boys  Benjamin  and  James,  provided  with 
tools,  a  meager  stock  of  eatables  and  the  barest  necessaries  for 
camping  in  the  woods,  started  from  Germantown  for  this  tract  which 
William  Allen  and  wife  had  on  May  1 1  deeded  to  Whitefield  and  which 
he  with  the  intended  school  and  village  in  mind  had  named  Nazareth.^ 

8  This  tract  of  5000  acres  —  almost  identical  in  its  metes  and  bounds  with  the  present 
Upper  Nazareth  Township — which  the  next  year  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Moravian 
Church,  with  title  held  by  the  Countess  Zinzendorf,  who  provided  the  purchase-money,  is 
occasionally  called  "  The  Barony  of  Nazareth  "  in  records  of  colonial  times,  because  its  title 
carried  with  it  certain  old  seignioral  prerogatives  of  the  Hundreds  and  Baronies  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland.  It  was  the  final  parcel  of  a  grant  of  25,000  acres  made  in  1682  by 
William  Penn  to  his  daughter  Laetitia  Aubry  and  conveyed  to  her  September  24-25,  1731, 
by  John,  Thomas  and  Richard  Penn.  The  deed  granted  "  the  Franchise,  Royalty,  Right, 
Privilege.  Liberty  and  Immunity  to  erect  the  said  5000  acres  of  land,  or  any  part  or  parts 
thereof,  into  a  manor,  and  to  have  and  to  hold  Court  Baron  therein  with  all  things  whatso- 
ever which  to  a  Court  Baron  do  belong ;  and  also  to  have  and  to  hold  Views  of  Frank- 
pledge for  the  conservation  of  the  peace  and  better  government  by  the  said  Laetitia  Aubry, 
her  heirs  and  assigns,  or  by  her  or  their  steward  or  stewards,  and  to  use  all  things  belonging 
to  Frankpledge."  It  was  to  "be  holden  of  the  said  John  Penn  and  Thomas  Penn  (Pro- 
prietary Governors)  in  free  and  common  socage  as  of  the  Seigniory  of  Windsor  free  and 
discharged  of  and  from  the  debts  and  legacies  of  the  said  William  Penn,  Sr.,  yielding  and 
paying  therefor  one  Red  Rose  on  the  24th  day  of  June  yearly,  if  the  same  shall  be 
demanded,  in  full  of  all  services,  customs  and  rents."  Its  lines  were  run  by  Benjamin 
Eastburn,  Surveyor  General  of  Pennsylvania,  "on  or  about  the  4th  day  of  June,  i73'>,' 
for  William  Allen  who  purchased  it  with  the  franchises  and  obligations  for  ;^500  sterling. 
These  dignities  and  privileges  of  the  manor  passed  with  the  title  through  the  several  con- 
veyances and  nominally  pertained  to  it  until  the  termination  of  Proprietary  government  in 
Pennsylvania  rendered  them  null  and  void. 

They  were  never  exercised  or  claimed,  but  under  Moravian  ownership  were  referred  to 


PIONEER    MOVEMENTS    TO     1 740.  45 

They  reached  their  destination  the  next  day  towards  evening.  When 
the  sun  went  down  and  night  gathered  around  them  this  Httle  band 
of  homeless  wanderers  broke  the  silence  of  the  dark,  wild  forest  with 
an  evening  hymn  of  praise,  committed  themselves  to  the  Keeper  of 
Israel  who  never  slumbers  nor  sleeps,  and  stretched  their  weary  limbs 
to  rest  beneath  the  spreading  branches  of  a  giant  oak  under  which, 
some  weeks  before,  the  three  riders  had  lain  down  to  sleep,  and  which 
for  more  than  six  decades  after  it  first  sheltered  these  pilgrims 
remained  standing,  a  venerable  landmark  known  as  "Boehler's  Oak." 

Thus  began  Moravian  history  in  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware.  So 
thoroughly  are  the  institutions  and  activities  which  arose  out  of  that 
humble  beginning  identified  with  this  interesting  region,  with  the 
fortunes  of  its  tawny  natives  retreating  before  the  white  man's  ad- 
vance, with  the  associations  of  its  streams  and  hills  and  with  memor- 
able events  in  the  course  of  years  involving  relations  to  all  the  ele- 
ments of  its  population,  that  a  few  salient  features  of  its  general  situ- 
ation and  early  opening  up  to  settlement  naturally  come  into  view  to 
be  noted  here  as  background  and  border  to  the  sketch  which  these 
pages  are  designed  to  present. 

Narrowly  understood,  the  term  "Forks  of  the  Delaware"  meant 
the  locality  just  within  the  confluence  of  the  Delaware  River  and  the 
Lehigh  or  "West  Fork  of  the  Delaware,"^  and  a  few  miles  up  these 

on  occasions  as  privileges  in  reserve  in  connection  with  questions  of  legal  status,  magisterial 
jurisdiction,  militia  duty,  and  the  like.  They  were  apparently  in  mind  in  1742  in  connection 
with  the  thought  of  founding  the  chief  establishment  on  this  manor  as  contemplated  at  one 
time  ;  and  again  in  1754  when  it  was  confidently  expected  that  Count  Zinzendorf  would 
take  up  his  residence  in  Pennsylvania,  and  the  building  of  his  large  manor  house,  later 
called  Nazareth  Hall,  was  finally  commenced.  The  romantic  quit-rent — a  red  rose  in  June 
— led  to  naming  the  Moravian  hostelry  on  the  northern  border  of  the  Barony  "The  Rose." 
In  the  archives  at  Bethlehem  there  remains,  on  an  old  list  of  Moravian  laxables  with 
memoranda,  evidence  of  a  little  "  War  of  the  Roses,"  waged  not  with  the  sword,  but  with 
the  pen,  in  that  the  scrivener  who  drew  up  the  document,  in  alluding  to  this  token,  wrote  by 
mistake  ''a  white  rose,"  and  another,  objecting  to  this  unauthorized  transfer  of  fealty  from 
Lancaster  to  York,  ran  his  quill  through  the  word  "  white  "  and  wrote  above  it  "  red." 

9  The  principal  names  given  the  Delaware  River  by  the  Unami  tribe  of  the  Lenape  or 
Delawares  living  in  the  Forks  were  Ltniape-wihitliick,  meaning  river  of  the  Letiapr :  antl 
Kit-hanne,  or  in  the  dialect  of  the  Minsi  tribe  of  the  upland  Minisinks  beyond  the  Kitta- 
tinny  hills,  Gicht-hanne,  meaning  the  principal  stream.  The  Dutch  in  1609  named  it 
Zuydt^  i.e.  South  River.  They  also  spoke  of  it  as  Nassau  River  and  Rrince  Hemirick's 
River.  The  Swedes,  thirty  years  later,  gave  it  the  name  Swenska  Revier,  i.e.  Sice.u-s' 
River,  while  they  also  referred  to  it  as  the  South  River.  Meanwhils  the  English,  who 
ultimately  forced  their  claim  and  name,  called  it  the  Delaware  after  Lord  de  la  Ware,  sup- 


46  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,   PENNSYLVANIA. 

Streams — the  picturesque  gateway  to  the  upper  country,  with  Indian 
trails  diverging  tow^ards  several  interior  points;  but  the  name  was 
more  broadly  applied  to  the  whole  range  of  country  from  this  Place 
of  the  Forks  to  the  Kittatinny  or  Blue  Mountains,  between  the 
courses  of  the  two  rivers,  with  the  Delaware  Gap  at  the  eastern  and 
the  Lehigh  Gap  at  the  western  extremity — identical  with  the  present 
area  of  Northampton  County,  except  that  its  two  south-most  town- 
ships protrude  beyond  and  one  little  township  of  Lehigh  County  en- 
croaches within  these  natural  boundaries  of  the  domain. 

This  attractive  and  desirable  region  remained  until  1737  nominally 
a  part  of  the  acknowledged  Indian  country,  for  under  the  terms  of 
the  deed  of  release  given  by  the  seven  Indian  chiefs  in  1718  and  con- 
firmed by  treaty  in  1728,  the  ''Lechay  Hills"  continued  to  be  the  Hmit 
of  the  ceded  territory  open  to  settlement.  But  encroachments  had 
taken  place  which  made  the  Delawares  uneasy.  Besides  the  settle- 
ments on  the  upper  Delaware  opened  prior  to  1701,  two  had  arisen 
in  the  Forks:  one  in  1728,  called  at  first  Craig's  Settlement,  from  the 
name  of  its  leading  pioneer,  Thomas  Craig,  and  later  popularly  known 
as  the  Irish  Settlement,  in  what  is  now  East  Allen  Township ;  another 
in  1732  along  the  slate  slopes  of  the  present  Lower  Mount  Bethel 
Township  under  Alexander  Hunter,  and  called  for  a  time  Hunter's 
Settlement.  The  population  of  both  were  Presbyterian  Ulster  Scots. 
These,  with  here  and  there  a  solitary  pioneer  who  had  built  his  cabin 
at  some  spot  that  struck  his  fancy  when  reconnoitering  along  the 
Delaware  or  the  Lehigh,  or  roaming  these  rich  hunting-grounds  of 
the  red  men,  were  the  first  neighbors  of  the  Moravians  in  the  Forks. 


posed  to  have  sailed  up  the  stream  soon  after  the  Dutch,  and  the  Lenape  roaming  along  its 
course  they  then  named  Dela^vare  Indians. 

The  name  of  the  West  Branch  was  Lcchauiveeki^  i.e.  where  there  are  forks  —  variations, 
Lechawiechink,  Lechauwekink.  It  was  shortened  into  Lecha,  the  name  yet  used  by  the 
Germans  of  the  region,  and  then  corrupted  into  Lehigh,  Reference  to  Lechay  occurs  in 
colonial  records  as  early  as  1701.  This  name  seems  to  have  come  into  use  not  merely  for 
the  river,  but  also  for  the  neighborhood  where  were  the  forks  of  streams  and  paths.  Men 
spoke  of  Lechay  in  this  sense  as  they  later  spoke  of  "  the  Forks."  The  most  important 
trail  to  the  Minisinks,  followed  by  the  Moravian  pioneers,  led  from  the  terminus  of  the  first 
King's  Road  from  Philadelphia  to  these  parts  at  the  stone-quarry  of  Irish  the  miller,  near 
the  present  Shimersville  on  the  Saucon  Creek,  across  the  Lehigh  at  the  "  old  Indian  ford," 
a  little  distance  below  where  the  Menagassi  or  Menakessi  [Monakasy,  Monocasy  ox  Mono- 
cacy)  i.e.  creek  with  bends,  flows  into  the  river.  The  Delawares  called  the  site  of  Easton 
Lechauwitank,  i.e.  in  the  Forks,  and  that  of  Bethlehem  Menagachsink,  i.e.  at  the  bending 
creek.     They  later  applied  these  names  to  the  two  towns. 


PIONEER    MOVEMENTS    TO    I74O.  47 

But  more  ambitious  schemes  than  any  cherished  by  these  humble 
settlers  who,  as  a  rule,  lived  on  peaceful  terms  with  the  Indians,  were 
closing  grasping  hands  about  this  grand  domain.  In  1733  William 
Allen, ^"  of  Philadelphia,  in  addition  to  his  other  large  acquisitions,  had 
an  unlocated  holding  of  ten  thousand  acres  which  had  been  conveyed 
to  him  by  William  Penn,  grandson  of  the  original  Proprietor,  sur- 
veyed in  the  Minisinks  and  parts  of  the  Forks  and  began  to  dispose 
of  it  in  parcels. 

In  1734  the  Proprietaries  instituted  a  lottery  of  a  hundred  thousand 
acres  of  land,  ofifering  adventurers  chances  on  tracts  covered  by  pro- 
prietary patent  and  yet  unconveyed  by  deed.  The  scheme  collapsed 
and  the  drawing  did  not  take  place,  but  in  1735  it  was  arranged  that 
holders  of  tickets  who  lived  in  the  Forks  could  locate  claims  there 


10  William  Allen,  already  mentioned  several  times,  whose  name  is  associated  with  so 
much  of  the  land  acquired  by  the  Moravians,  was  the  second  in  a  succession  oi  three,  father, 
son  and  grandson,  who  bore  the  name  of  William,  and  the  best  known  of  this  prominent 
Pennsylvania  family ;  having,  among  other  distinctions,  filled  the  office  of  Chief  Justice  of 
the  Commonwealth  from  1751  to  1774.  He  was  the  father-in-law  of  John  Penn,  the  last 
Proprietary  Governor,  and  his  son  James  was  the  founder  of  Northampton,  now  AUentown, 
which  grew  out  of  his  summer  residence  Trout  Hall  on  the  Jordan  Creek.  A  list  of  all  the 
deeds  for  land  executed  by  William  Allen  would  be  a  long  one,  and  if  every  conveyance 
netted  a  profit  like  that  realized  on  the  Barony  of  Nazareth — a  rise  from  ^500  to  ^^2200,  as 
mere  in<rj-et)ientum  latens,  after  five  years'  possession — the  statement  on  record  that  he  be- 
came the  wealthiest  man  in  Pennsylvania  would  follow  very  naturally.  By  force  of  training, 
official  obligation  and  connections  he  was  identified  with  the  conservative  party  which  urged 
the  further  effort  by  constitutional  process  to  remedy  evils  in  preference  to  revolutionary 
measures  in  1776,  fell  under  the  odium  of  being  a  tory,  lost  his  wealth  and  influence,  went 
to  England  during  the  Revolution  and  after  his  return  disappeared  from  public  view  in  the 
turmoil  of  the  times,  ending  his  days  in  retirement.  The  last  connection  between  Judge 
Allen  and  the  Moravians,  after  many  years  of  friendly  official  and  personal  intercourse,  is 
given  in  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  the  Rev.  Daniel  Sydrich,  the  Mora- 
vian pastor  in  Philadelphia  to  Bishop  Nathanael  Seidel  of  Bethlehem,  September  12,  1780: 
"  Wednesday  the  6th  inst.,  good  old  William  Allen  departed  this  life  quite  unexpectedly  at 
his  country  seat  Airy  Hill  (Mount  Airy)  and  his  body  was  buried  here  the  next  day.  Two 
months  ago  I  sounded  him  through  Mr.  Peter  Miller,  after  learning  that  our  church-lot  is 
yet  under  his  control  after  all,  as  to  whether  he  would  not  be  willing  to  make  us  a  present 
of  the  ground,  do  a  good  deed  thereby  and  establish  a  pleasing  monument  to  his  memory 
among  us.  He  would  not  listen  to  this  however  and  said  (his  own  words  in  English  quoted 
in  the  German  letter)  he  was  a  ruined  and  poor  man,  met  with  too  many  and  great  losses 
and  had  hardly  so  much  that  he  could  send  his  servants  to  market."  Pastor  Sydrich  then 
adds :  "  So  it  goes  at  last  with  the  rich  of  this  world,  and  from  this  very  many  find  out  in 
these  times  that  it  is  not  well  to  trust  in  uncertain  riches.  Next  December  the  four  years' 
ground  rent  will  be  due  him  which  amounts  to  twenty  guineas.  This  will  also  be  a  hard 
nut  for  our  people." 


48  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

and  thus  some  acquired  title  to  land  in  these  parts  prior  to  settle- 
ment with  the  Indians,  who  were  now  proceeding  from  murmurs  to 
threats.  That  same  year  the  government,  after  vain  attempts  to  quiet 
them,  appealed  to  the  deputies  of  the  Six  Nations  composing  the 
Iroquois  Confederacy,  who  were  in  Philadelphia  to  complete  a  treaty 
opened  in  1732,  asking  them  to  use  their  authority  with  the  Indians 
of  the  Forks  when  it  should  be  necessary.  The  Delawares  acknowl- 
edged a  certain  vassalage  to  this  powerful  union  and  were  called 
"women"  by  the  Iroquois." 

Measures  were  then  taken  to  secure  the  extinction  of  Indian  title 
to  lands  in  the  Forks  under  some  semblance  of  agreement.  A  docu- 
ment was  brought  to  light,  the  long  oblivion  of  which,  if  it  was  genu- 
ine, none  of  the  efforts  to  put  a  fair  face  on  the  proceedings  which 
followed  have  quite  satisfactorily  explained.  It  purported  to  be  a 
deed  made,  August  30,  1686,  by  certain  chiefs  to  William  Penn  for 
the  territorv  extending  from  the  upper  line  of  the  last  preceding 
purchase — the  Neshaminy  Purchase  of  1682 — in  a  northerly  direc- 
tion, continuing  the  north-northwest  line  of  that  purchase  as  far  as 
a  man  could  walk  in  a  day  and  a  half  and  thence  eastward  to  the 
Delaware.  The  paper  was  marked  "a  copy"  and  was  without  signa- 
tures.    The  original  instrument  signed  has  never  been  seen  or  heard 


II  This  confederacy  first  consisted  of  "  the  Five  Nations,"  viz.,  the  Mohaw^ks,  Oneidas, 
Onondagas,  Cayugas  and  Senecas.  In  1715  the  Tuscaroras  of  kindred  stock  joined  the 
league,  and  it  was  then  called  "the  Six  Nations."  Decided  differences  of  opinion  have 
prevailed  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  term  "  women,"  as  applied  by  them  to  the  Lenni-Lenape 
or  Delawares,  who  had  claimed  the  highest  dignity  of  origin  and  standing  among  the 
branches  and  tribes  of  the  race.  It  has  most  generally  been  taken  to  denote  their  utter  sub- 
jugation and  contemptuous  humiliation  as  warriors,  after  being  so  completely  worsted  in 
protracted  conflict  that  they  submitted  to  any  terms  their  vanquishers  imposed. 

Delaware  tradition  made  the  term  one  of  honor  —  the  umpires  between  warring  parties, 
holding  the  middle  of  the  chain  of  friendship  on  their  shoulders  while  the  parties  otherwise 
at  variance  held  the  ends.  Thus  the  "  women  "  covenanted  to  prevent  decimating  warfare 
while  following  peaceful  pursuits.  They  tell,  and  herein  compromise  their  reputation  for 
sagacity,  that  after  long  wars  the  Iroquois,  finding  them  invincible,  beguiled  them  into  this 
plausible  scheme  and  then  perverted  the  meaning  of  the  name  and  assumed  the  role  of 
masters.  In  1742  when,  at  another  Indian  conference  in  Philadelphia,  the  head  chief  of 
the  confederacy,  in  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  government  and  with  a  view  to 
winning  favor,  peremptorily  ordered  the  Delawares  with  words  of  withering  scorn,  to  leave 
the  Forks  forthwith,  there  was  no  mistaking  what  the  Six  Nations  understood  the  term 
"women"  to  mean.  Not  until  179S,  after  the  defeat  and  downfall  of  the  Iroquois  in  war 
with  the  government,  did  they,  as  a  stroke  of  expediency,  formally  disassociate  the  figurative 
woman's  dress,  garniture  and  utensils  from  their  "  cousins,"  the  Delawares,  and  acknowledge 
them  again  to  be  warriors. 


PIONEER    MOVEMENTS    TO    I74O.  49 

of.  It  was  designed  to  cover  the  whole  region  embraced  in  the 
Forks  of  the  Delaware  and,  as  the  sequel  proved,  a  large  portion  of 
the  best  land  in  the  Minisinks  beyond  the  mountains  besides ;  the 
exact  direction  of  the  line  from  the  end  of  the  walk  to  the  Delaware 
being  significantly  left  blank.  In  April,  1735,  the  walk  was  experi- 
mentally made  to  ascertain  what  this  conveyance,  so  unaccountablv 
forgotten  for  fifty  years  and  so  strangely  stultified  by  the  acts  of 
1718  and  1728,  would  cover.  The  form  of  a  treaty  was  gone  through 
at  Durham,  August  25,  1737,  when  this  document  was  produced  and 
the  chiefs  were  asked  to  ratify  it.  They  were  in  doubt  about  it,  but 
the  alleged  parties  to  the  contract  being  dead,  they  were  not  in  a 
position  to  disprove  the  writing.  They  therefore  gave  dubious  assent 
and  asked  that  the  lines  be  run  at  once,  if  so  it  must  be,  and  an  end 
made  of  the  matter.  September  12,  1737,  was  set  for  the  walk,  but 
court  being  in  session  it  was  postponed  to  the  19th.  At  sunrise  on 
that  day  three  selected  pedestrians  and  three  Indians,  accompanied 
by  officials  and  attendants  on  horseback,  started  from  the  point 
agreed  upon,  and  at  noon  the  next  day,  when  time  was  called,  one 
walker  who  held  out  to  the  end  struck  his  hatchet  into  a  tree  on  the 
slope  of  the  Pocono  or  Broad  Mountain.^-  The  Indians  resented  the 
extension  of  the  walk  beyond  the  Kittatinny  Mountains  and  when  the 
line  to  the  Delaware,  instead  of  striking  the  shortest  course,  as  they 
expected,  was  run  north-eastward  at  right  angles  to  the  line  of  the 
walk,  taking  in  a  large  section  of  the  Minisinks,  they  were  enraged, 
especially  so  the  Minsis  of  that  region  who  were  not  parties  to  the 
agreement  and  did  not  consider  themselves  bound  by  any  contracts 
made  by  the  Delawares  of  the  south  side ;  and  the  scheme  was  con- 
summated amid  sullen  threats  of  vengeance. 

12  One  of  the  famous  walkers  was  Solomon  Jennings,  a  pioneer  settler  on  the  Lehigh 
above  the  site  of  Bethlehem,  where  the  "  Geissinger  farms"  lie,  a  good  neighbor  and  friend 
of  the  Moravians  and  a  celebrated  Nimrod  of  the  region,  whose  son  was  later  sherift  of 
Northampton  County,  and  whose  son-in-law  was  Nicholas  Scull,  Surveyor  General  of  Penn- 
sylvania. Another  was  Edmund  Yeates,  who  became  blind  and  died  prematurely  from  the 
strain.  The  third  —  he  who  finished  the  walk  — was  Edward  Marshall,  the  hero  of  many 
wonderful  tales,  who  lived  to  be  nearly  ninety  years  old.  Jennings  and  the  Indians,  unable 
to  keep  up  the  pace,  dropped  out  on  reaching  the  Lehigh  and  deserted.  The  route  wa.s 
from  near  the  present  Wrightstown  by  the  old  Durham  road  to  Durham  Creek,  tlien,  veering 
westward,  to  the  Lehigh  which  was  crossed  at  the  "old  Indian  ford"  (see  note  9),  over  the 
site  of  Bethlehem,  through  the  present  Hanover  Township  of  Lehigh  County  and  Allen 
Township  of  Northampton  County  to  the  Lehigh  Gap,  and  thence  on  to  the  Pocono  Moun- 
tain, the  distance  being  about  sixty-five  miles. 
5 


50  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

This  was  the  famous  ''Walking  Purchase"  by  which  all  Indian 
claim  and  title  to  this  large  domain  was  held  to  be  extinguished  for- 
ever. Eighteen  years  later  when  other  grievances  had  accumulated 
and  the  Indians  were  cunningly  beguiled  into  alliance  with  the  French 
and  furnished  their  opportunity,  they  carried  those  threats  into  awful 
execution  with  tomahawk  and  torch,  dealing  out  indiscriminate,  sav- 
age retribution  to  old  and  young,  weak  and  strong,  good  and  bad 
alike,  in  a  reign  of  terror  which  stands  on  record  as  the  most  dismal 
episode  in  the  history  of  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware. 

Five  years  after  the  walk  was  made  the  last  Indians  reluctantly  sur- 
rendered possession  and  removed  from  the  Forks,  and  it  so  happened 
that  the  Moravian  pioneers  who  most  particularly  had  come  to  the 
region  with  peaceable  and  benevolent  intentions  toward  the  savages, 
were  especially  subjected  to  annoyance  and  even  danger  from  some 
of  this  obstinate  remnant  loitering  behind.  They  lived  on  the  Naza- 
reth tract,  quite  near  to  where  Whitefield's  agents  staked  ofi  the 
foundation  lines  of  the  proposed  house  soon  after  the  arrival  of  the 
Moravians.  Their  village  was  called  Welagameka,  which  meant  rich 
soil.  They  applied  this  term  also  to  the  surrounding  locality.  They 
had  a  small  space  in  cultivation ;  had  a  peach  orchard  and  a  burial 
ground  near  their  village,  not  far  from  which  stood  the  historic  oak 
already  referred  to,  hard  by  the  path  to  the  Minisinks.  Their  chief 
was  known  as  Captain  John,  one  of  the  six  doughty  sons  of  the  noted 
Delaware  chieftain  called  old  Captain  Harris — high-spirited,  sensitive 
men,  cherishing  grudges  against  the  English  and  smarting  under  the 
indignities  put  upon  them  by  the  Six  Nations ;  the  most  famous  of 
them  being  that  subtle  master  of  Indian  finesse,  Teedyuscung,  half- 
brother  of  Captain  John,  who  took  the  lead  in  subsequent  manoeuvres 
to  recover  Delaware  prestige,  and  to  whom  there  will  be  occasion  to 
refer  again.  The  final  departure  of  this  last  band  from  Welagameka 
did  not  take  place  until  the  close  of  1742,  after  peremptory  orders 
from  their  lords,  the  deputies  of  the  Six  Nations,  at  the  request  of 
the  Governor  at  Philadelphia  in  July  of  that  year,  in  return  for  the 
promise  of  the  latter  to  interfere  with  the  invasion  of  Indian  territory 
by  whites  in  other  quarters.  Even  then  it  required  a  concession  from 
the  Moravians  in  the  shape  of  an  indemnity  for  improvements  aban- 
doned to  induce  them  to  vacate  peaceably ;  the  government  having 
previously  objected  to  their  being  thus  "bought  of¥."  Details  of  this 
settlement  with  Captain  John's  troop  will  be  noticed  in  proper  con- 
nection.   They  were  therefore  on  the  ground  yet,  calling  it  their  own 


PIONEER    MOVEMENTS   TO    I  74O.  c  i 

in  defiance  of  the  fate  which  hung  over  them  since  the  walk  of  1737 
and  in  contempt  of  all  the  impressive  muniments  of  parchment  with 
which  others  defended  their  title  to  it,  when  operations  in  pursuance 
of  Whitefield's  plans  were  commenced ;  keeping  peace  with  the  Mora- 
vians, however,  partly  in  response  to  friendly  assurances  and  partly 
in  the  hope  of  being  paid  to  leave,  in  which  hope  they  were  encour- 
aged by  some  white  neighbors. 

The  pioneers  who  arrived  there  at  the  end  of  May,  1740,  experi- 
enced trying  times  during  the  following  months.  Their  first  shelter 
under  the  great  oak  tree  was  a  rude  framework  of  poles  roofed  with 
bark  and  wattled  with  leafy  branches  of  tree-tops,  until  they  built  a 
cabin  of  unhewn  logs  which  was  gotten  under  roof  at  the  close  of 
July.  During  those  weeks  it  rained  nearly  every  day.  Boehler,  who 
had  meanwhile  secured  a  force  of  lime-burners,  quarrymen,  masons, 
board-cutters  and  teamsters  from  Goshenhoppen,  Whitemarsh,  Maxa- 
tawny.  Lower  Saucon  and  elsewhere,  rejoined  them  the  last  day  of 
June.  The  work  moved  slowly  on  account  of  the  frequent  rain,  diffi- 
culty with  the  lime  and  sand  and  the  incompetence  of  some  of  the 
workmen.  When  September  opened  with  another  rainy  season  and 
the  walls  were  laid  up  only  to  the  doorsills,  at  an  outlay  of  about 
£300,  the  hope  of  completing  them  to  the  roof  before  winter  was 
abandoned.  The  workmen  hired  at  other  places  were  discharged  and 
the  Brethren,  by  permission  of  Whitefield's  agents,  set  about  the  erec- 
tion of  a  better  house  of  hewn  timber  in  which  to  pass  the  winter. 
It  was  so  far  finished  as  to  be  habitable  at  the  beginning  of  Novem- 
ber.^^  Boehler,  hearing  that  Whitefield  had  again  arrived  in  Pennsyl- 
vania from  Georgia,  went  to  Philadelphia  in  November  to  report  the 
condition  of  things.  He  found  the  famous  preacher  changed  in  his 
manner  and  disposed  to  be  unfriendly.  The  displeasure  he  had  car- 
ried away  with  him  from  his  doctrinal  encounter  with  the  missionary 
Hagen  in  Georgia  in  defense  of  the  theory  of  the  predestination  of 
some  to  perdition  as  well  as  of  others  to  salvation  was  increased  by 
the  report  that  Boehler  also  opposed  this  teaching.  He  moreover 
found  certain  ministers  in  New  York.  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania, 


13  This  house  was  subsequently  used  some  years  for  school  purposes  and,  1755-68,  as  a 
home  for  Moravian  widows.  It  is  yet  standing  on  the  premises  of  the  Whitefield  House 
which  since  1871  has  been  set  apart  as  a  home  for  superannuated  or  disabled  missionaries 
and  pastors,  with  the  little  log  house  as  one  of  its  adjuncts,  furnishing  a  snug  retreat  for  one 
and  another  retired  minister  content  to  accupy  the  humble,  quaint  and  historic  "gray 
cottage." 


52  A    HISTORY    OF   BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

who  also  held  this  view,  inveighing  against  the  Moravians,  with  no 
acquaintance  as  yet  with  them  personally  or  their  doctrines,  incited 
by  a  misleading  "pastoral  letter"  of  warning  from  the  Classis  of  Am- 
sterdam issued  three  years  before  and  at  this  time  being  circulated  in 
America.  Many  people,  among  others  the  neighbors  of  the  Moravian 
pioneers  in  the  Forks,  were  led  by  these  clerical  onslaughts  to  imagine 
that  the  arrival  of  these  persons  from  Herrnhut  was  the  most  serious 
menace  to  religion  and  the  common  welfare  that  had  yet  appeared. 
Whitefield's  previous  association  with  them  now  jeopardized  his 
popularity  among  men  of  his  theological  persuasion,  and  he  felt  con- 
strained, as  a  champion  on  trial  before  admirers,  to  vindicate  himself 
in  the  arena  of  controversy.  Therefore,  to  Boehler's  surprise,  he  at 
once  opened  the  scholastic  discussion  for  which  many  had  been  wait- 
ing eagerly.  It  was  carried  on  in  Latin  in  which  language  both  of  these 
young  schoolmen  could  argue  better  than  either  could  in  the  language 
of  the  other.  The  Oxford  orator  failed  to  convince  the  Magister  of 
Jena  that  his  conception  of  the  Divine  decrees  was  correct  and  quite 
lost  his  temper,  imperiously  declaring  that  the  Moravians  must  leave 
his  land  forthwith  and  need  not  expect  to  get  possession  of  a  foot  of 
it.  Boehler  retorted  that  they  had  no  intention  of  locating  per- 
manently on  his  tract,  that  he  was  surprised  at  his  bigotry  and  pope- 
like bearing  and  that  doubtless  if  he  had  the  power  of  the  Pope  he 
would  proceed  against  them  with  fire  and  sword.  Thereupon  White- 
field  closed  the  interview  with  the  curt  ultimatum :  "sic  volo,  sic  jubeo,. 
stet  pro  ratiane  voluntas.'"  Although  this  was  not  a  very  creditable 
triumph  in  argument,  it  satisfied  those  who  merely  wished  to  see  the 
leader  of  the  Moravians  put  down,  no  matter  how,  and  it  led  to  the 
next  important  step  towards  the  spot  at  which  their  settlement  was  to 
be  founded.  This  summary  expulsion  of  the  Brethren  from  the 
Nazareth  land  was  directly  proclaimed  with  satisfaction  in  the  neigh- 
borhood by  some  of  the  near-by  settlers  who  were  prejudiced  against 
them.  One  of  the  gathering-places  of  the  region  at  which  the  matter 
was  naturally  discussed  was  the  mill  of  Nathanael  Irish  on  the  Saucon 
Creek.^*    He  was  one  of  those  who  discarded  church-connection  and 

14  Mr.  Irish  who  appears  in  various  important  and  interesting  connections  with  the  early- 
Moravians  in  the  Forks,  had  located  some  time  prior  to  May,  1737,  on  306  acres  of  land 
where  the  village  of  Shimersville  is  situated,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Saucon  Creek.  There 
he  opened  a  farm,  built  a  mill,  established  a  land-office  as  agent  of  William  Allen,  and  in 
1 741  was  commissioned  a  Justice  of  the  Peace.  His  place,  the  terminus  in  1740  of  the 
first  highway  from  Philadelphia  to  the  Lehigh  (see  note  9)  was  a  general  rendezvous.  This 
mill  remained  standing  until  181 2  and  his  dwelling  until  1816;  the  former  on  the  farm  of 
the  late  John  Knecht,  the  latter  at  the  site  of  the  William  Shimer  residence.  He  subse- 
quently removed  from  the  neighborhood  and  died  in  1748  at  Union  Furnace  in  New  Jersey 


PIONEER    MOVEMENTS    TO    1 740. 

'If  WN 


53 


54  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

had  little  respect  for  religion,  on  account  of  the  ceaseless  sectarian 
bickerings  and  the  rabid  polemics  of  theologians  in  which  religious 
activity  mainly  consisted  in  those  days,  but  he  acted  a  Christian  part 
towards  the  little  band  of  Moravian  pioneers  in  that  trying  hour  for 
which  he  was  held  in  grateful  remembrance.  His  conmient  on  the 
occurrence  was  that  he  had  his  doubts  about  Whitefield's  religion  if 
he  drove  the  Moravians  away,  for  he  had  learned  to  know  them  as 
good  people.  Being  one  of  the  important  and  influential  men  of  the 
vicinity,  his  representations  through  Whitefield's  agents,  persuaded 
the  impetuous  clergyman  to  waive  his  contention  on  subtleties  of 
theological  speculation  in  favor  of  humane  sentiment,  and  to  forbear 
turning  these  people  out  of  the  house  they  had  built  into  the  wilder- 
ness at  the  beginning  of  winter.  He  also  olTered  to  sell  them,  on 
easy  terms,  five  hundred  acres  of  William  Allen's  land  lying  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  Lehigh  River,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Monocacy 
Creek,  a  desirable  tract  which  he  intended  to  retain  for  himself. 
Boehler  had  during  the  summer  frequently  taken  grain  to  his  mill  to 
be  ground,  and  they  had  become  well  acquainted.  His  ofifer  was  the 
subject  of  several  interviews  between  them,  but  no  conclusion  could 
be  reached  until  word  was  received  from  Europe  in  reference  to  the 
contemplated   settlement   in   Pennsylvania. 

After  securing  the  refusal  of  this  tract  and  arranging  with  Irish 
for  a  sufificient  supply  of  meal  to  keep  his  little  band  of  people  from 
suffering  hunger,  Boehler  settled  down  with  them  in  their  winter- 
quarters  to  wait.  Thev  occupied  the  next  several  weeks  in  completing 
their  house,  making  the  first  rough  building  more  comfortable  for 
the  use  of  part  of  their  number,  and  gathering  a  store  of  firewood. 
The  clouds  of  uncertainty  in  reference  to  further  plans  were  suddenly 
dispelled  to  their  inexpressible  joy  by  the  arrival  on  December  i8 
of  Bishop  David  Nitschmann,  who  had  reached  Phila(lcl])hia  three 
days  before.  With  him  came  his  uncle,  David  Nitschmann,  senior. 
Christian  Froelich,  Anna  Nitschmann,  daughter  of  the  elder  Nitsch- 
mann, and  Johanna   Sophia   Molther.^'^ 


'5  This  new  contingent  of  pioneers  increased  to  31  the  number  of  persons  in  the  North 
American  colonies  at  the  close  of  1740  who  had  been  in  connection  with  the  Brethren  in 
Europe,  of  whom  29  were  at  this  time  in  Pennsylvania,  viz.,  21  of  the  23  who  came  to  Penn- 
sylvania from  Georgia— one,  Rose,  having  died — Christopher  Baus,  who  had  come  over  in 
1734,  the  three  previous  accesions  of  1740,  John  Hagen,  still  in  Georgia,  Christian  Henry 
Rauch,  among  the  Indians  in  New  York,  Andrew  Eschenhach,  itinerating  in  Pennsylvania, 
together  with  Boehler,  Bishop  Nitschmann,   and  the  four  persons  who  had  come  with  the 


PIONEER    MOVEMENTS    TO    I74O.  55 

They  had  come  to  finally  carry  out  plans  of  operation  in  Pennsyl- 
vania in  pursuance  of  the  original  thought  of  1727,  which  had  been 
taking  shape  since  the  first  General  Synod  of  the  resuscitated  Church 
held  in  the  old  castle  of  Marienborn  in  1736,  after  Zinzendorf's  banish- 
ment from  Saxony,  when  measures  for  the  extension  of  missionary 
work  and  the  planting  of  colonies  in  foreign  lands  were  specially  dis- 
cussed. At  the  second  such  gathering  held  at  the  seat  of  the  Counts 
of  Reuss-Ebersdorf  in  June,  1739,  when  Zinzendorf  had  returned  from 
the  Island  of  St.  Thomas,  Spangenberg  reported  his  observations  in 
Pennsylvania  and  outhned  a   scheme  of  activity  there,  embracing 

latter — together  31.  There  were,  including  the  three  wards  from  Georgia,  15  at  Nazareth. 
The  four  newly  arrived  deserve  special  introduction. 

David  Nitschjnann,  Senior,  usually  called  "  Father  Nitschmann,"  who  stood  in  the  third 
known  generation  of  this  notable  Moravian  family,  a  native  of  Zauchtenthal,  Moravia, 
wheelwright  and  joiner  by  trade,  for  some  years  a  substantial  citizen  and  a  village  officer  of 
Kunwald  near  his  birthplace,  had,  like  some  of  his  ancestors,  suffered  imprisonment  and 
even  bodily  torture  for  conscience  sake.  From  1725,  when  he  emigrated  to  Herrnhut,  to 
his  arrival  in  Pennsylvania,  he  had  been  entrusted  with  various  important  duties  and  had 
shared  the  sufferings  of  the  luckless  colony  sent  in  1734  to  the  Island  of  St.  Croix  where 
he  left  his  wife  among  the  ten  who  died.  He  was  sixty-four  years  old  when  he  came  to 
Pennsylvania,  but  took  the  lead  in  opening  the  settlement,  was  the  master-builder  for  some 
years,  and  was  one  of  the  most  reliable  and  influential  men  in  official  position.  He  was  the 
first  of  the  Brethren  who  became  a  naturalized  citizen  of  Pennsylvania  in  order,  as  the  first 
of  the  nominal  "proprietors"  of  the  estates  of  the  Church,  when  it  had  no  legal  corporate 
existence,  to  hold  the  title  in  fee  simple  to  its  property.  His  character  combined  a  rare 
blending  of  force  and  amiability  with  sterling  honesty  and  childlike  piety,  and  as  the  patri- 
arch of  Bethlehem  until  his  death  in  1758  he  was  held  in  peculiar  reverence  and  affection  ; 
but  the  title  "  Founder  of  Bethlehem"  given  him  on  the  stone  which  marks  his  grave  in  the 
old  cemetery  is  a  misnomer,  for  this  designation  belongs  to  his  nephew,  the  Bishop,  also 
buried  there.     In  the  archives  at  Bethlehem  there  is  an  oil  portrait  of  Father  Nitschmann. 

Anna  Charity,  his  daughter,  commonly  only  known  by  her  first  name,  was  the  most  note- 
worthy woman  of  her  time  who  held  official  position  in  the  Moravian  Church.  .Mthough 
only  twenty-five  years  old  when  she  visited  Pennsylvania,  she  was  already  invested  with  the 
dignity  of  an  eldress.  Under  the  system  of  that  time  she  was  raised  to  the  position  of  a 
kind  of  sister  superior  of  all  the  single  women  of  the  Moravian  congregations  and  settle- 
ments. On  May  4,  1730,  she  had  instituted  a  special  covenant  of  consecrated  service 
among  seventeen  young  women  and  girls  out  of  which  grew  the  so-called  choir-system,  i  e. 
the  special  organization  of  classes  called  "choirs"  among  the  membership,  which  will  be 
treated  of  more  fully  elsewhere.  She  became  Zinzendorfs  second  wife  and  died  at  Herrn- 
hut in  1760,  having  returned  to  Europe  in  1743.  Juliana  Nitschmann,  wife  of  Bishop  John 
Nitschmann,  also  a  distinguished  woman,  who  died  at  Bethlehem  and  whose  grave  occupies 
a  conspicuous  place  in  one  of  the  walks  of  the  old  cemeter)',  is  sometimes  mistaken  for 
Anna  Nitschmann. 

Johanna  Sophia  Molther,  at  this  time  only  twenty-two  years  old,  was  the  wife  of  the 
Rev.  Philip  Henry  Molther,  later  bishop,  who  was  to  have  accompanied  the  party  to  Pcnn- 


56  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

itinerant  preaching  in  the  settlements,  schools  for  the  hosts  of  neg- 
lected children  and  missions  among  the  Indians  at  several  points,  all 
to  be  carried  on  from  a  central  settlement  to  be  founded,  and  it  was 
concluded  that  Bishop  Nitschmann  should  proceed  again  to  Pennsyl- 
vania and  establish  such  a  settlement.  When  the  third  General  Synod 
met  at  Gotha  in  June,  1740,  the  persons  were  selected  to  accompany 
him  in  addition  to  Hagan,  Ranch  and  Eschenbach  already  appointed 
to  go  to  America,  and  steps  were  taken  towards  the  formation  of  a 
considerable  colony  to  consist  in  part  of  the  personnel  of  the  short- 
lived colony  of  Pilgerruh  in  Holstein  which  was  to  be  abandoned  in 
consequence  of  the  opposition  of  jealous  clergy  influencing  the  author- 
ities. When  therefore  Nitschmann  and  his  company  arrived  at  the 
Barony  of  Nazareth,  the  choice  of  a  location  and  arrangements  for  the 
purchase  of  land  at  once  engaged  attention,  and  the  offer  of  Nathanael 
Irish  was  further  considered.  Boehler  received  a  call  to  return  to 
Europe  and  undertake  important  duties  in  England.  He  went  to  see 
the  miller  once  more,  introduced  Bishop  Nitschmann  and  commended 
him  to  the  same  courteous  treatment  that  he  had  experienced.  Mr. 
Irish  assured  them  of  his  good  will  and  renewed  his  offer  of  the  tract 
on  the  Lehigh.  Boehler  left  on  December  27,  visited  Wiegner,  Antes 
and  friends  in  Philadelphia,  and  then,  accompanied  by  Nitschmann, 
proceeded  to  New  York  where,  after  forming  a  little  association  of 
devout  people  similar  to  that  of  the  Skippack  Brethren  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, he  sailed  for  England  on  January  29,  1741.^" 


sylvania,  but  missed  the  ship  at  London.  She  was  by  birth  a  baroness  von  Seidewitz,  was 
one  of  the  original  pupils  of  the  first  school  for  girls  at  Herrnhut  and  was  one  of  Anna 
Nitschmann's  associates  in  the  covenant  of  1730.  After  more  than  a  year  devoted  to 
arduous  spiritual  labors  among  her  sex  in  Pennsylvania,  like  her  young  companion  on  this 
journey,  she  returned  to  Europe  in  1742.     She  died  at  Herrnhut  in  1801. 

Christian  Froehlich,  formerly  a  baker  and  confectioner  in  the  family  of  Zinzendorf,  who 
recognized  special  capabilities  in  him,  was  called  to  accompany  Bishop  Nitschmann  to  Penn- 
sylvania. He  figured  in  many  ways  during  the  first  years  at  Bethlehem  and  elsewhere,  and 
devoted  some  time  to  missionary  work  among  the  Indians  and  in  the  West  Indies.  Later 
he  was  engaged  in  secular  employment  some  years  in  New  York.  He  died  at  Bethlehem 
in  1776. 

16  In  connection  with  some  of  these  and  subsequent  movements,  until  regular  diaries  were 
begun  in  1742,  there  is  occasional  confusion  of  order  and  dates  in  some  published  narratives 
based  on  original  and  secondary  manuscript  sources  ;  owing  to  the  use  in  some  of  old,  in 
others  of  new  style  dates  ;  while  yet  others  state  time  indefinitely,  e.g.  "end  of  December  " 
(i.e.  O.  S.),  "  second  week  in  January"  (i.e.  N.  S.),  or  even  "middle  of  January,"  in  refer- 
ring to  the  same  occurrence — both  approximately  correct  according  to  the  calendar  in  mind. 
Double  dating  was  commonly  observed  by  the  Brethren  in  Pennsylvania   in  their  official 


PIONEER    MOVEMENTS   TO    I74O.  57 

Prior  to  his  departure  he  rendered  the  pioneers  a  Httle  service,  held 
in  affectionate  remembrance,  which  was  more  in  his  sphere  than  some 
of  his  duties  had  been.  It  was  the  preparation  of  choral  liturgies,  em- 
bodying verses  of  his  own  composition,  for  the  lovefeast  they  held 
with  a  frugal  meal  of  corncake  and  drink  of  roasted  rye  on  Christmas 
Eve — undoubtedly  the  first  Christmas  service  in  the  Forks  of  the 
Delaware — and  for  the  first  Moravian  celebration  of  the  Holy  Com- 
munion in  Pennsylvania  which  followed  the  Vigils.  The  manuscript 
copies  of  these  liturgies  were  preserved  as  tender  mementos  of  that 
time  when  the  band  of  pilgrims,  enduring  hardness  as  good  soldiers, 
renewed  their  covenant  before  the  vision  of  the  manger  and  the  cross. 

Hope  and  courage  were  revived  before  they  said  farewell  to  the 
man  who  had  been  their  devoted  leader,  for  at  last  there  was  a  fair 
prospect  that  they  would  soon  set  foot  on  a  spot  which  they  could  call 
their  own.  Two  days  before  that  Christmas  Eve,  and  after  Bishop 
Nitschmann's  interview  with  Nathanael  Irish,  three  of  them.  Father 
Nitschmann,  Martin  Mack,  and  another,  probably  Anton  Seiffert  or 
young  David  Zeisberger,  shouldered  their  axes  and  strolled  down 
through  the  woods  to  the  Lehigh  to  look  about  "the  Allen  Tract." 
Anticipating  the  purchase,  they  felled  the  first  tree  at  the  place 
selected  by  them  as  a  desirable  building-site,  some  distance  from  the 
river,  aside  of  the  "Indian  path"  that  led  up  from  the  ford  into  the 
north-west  trail  to  the  mountains.  It  was  on  a  wooded  slope  crowning 
a  bluff  that  descended  to  the  Monocacy,  where  the  most  copious 
spring  of  the  region  gushed  out  of  the  lime-stone  bed  at  the  foot  of 
the  declivity.  Its  flow  could  not  be  barred  by  the  frost  that  browned 
its  fringe  of  ferns,  stripped  its  canopy  of  birch  and  maple  and  set  the 
rippling  surface  of  the  near-by  stream  in  a  frigid  glaze.  Perhaps,  as 
they  noted  the  volume  of  its  crystal  jet  forcing  a  passage  upward 

records  until  1752,  when  the  Gregorian  calendar  was  finally  adopted  by  England.  This 
extended  in  some  records  to  even  following  the  cumbrous  old  practice  of  noting  the  double 
year  in  dating  between  January  i  and  March  25  (Annunciation  or  "Lady  Day")  the  old 
English  legal  New  Year  Day.  Ordinarily  when  single  dates  occur  in  letters  or  journals  of 
Brethren  from  Germany,  where  the  new  calendar  was  used  in  all  of  the  states  after  1700, 
it  may  be  assumed,  in  the  absence  of  parallel  records  for  comparison,  that  new  style  is 
meant.  Instead  of  December  27,  as  above,  some  old  records  give  "middle  of  January"  as 
the  time  of  Boehler's  departure  from  Nazareth,  apparently  taking  December  27  for  ( ).S.  But 
this  date  is  unquestionably  correct  according  to  N.  S.  It  agrees  with  his  autobiography  in 
which  he  uses  N.  S.  dates.  He  says  he  left  "towards  the  end  of  December"  and  states 
that  he  spent  his  birthday  (December  31)  at  Wiegner's.  The  dates  taken  in  these  pages 
are  uniformly  N.  S.  wherever  the  records  make  it  possible  to  determine  this  point. 


50  A    HISTORV    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

through  the  snow,  marked  where  an  easy  path  descended  to  the  spot 
and  inspected  the  banks  of  the  creek  with  a  view  to  constructing  the 
first  bridge  at  that  point,  they  thought  not  only  of  a  house  but  of  a 
future  town  on  the  ridge  above  suppUed  by  this  abundant  fount  where 
muhitudes  through  generations  to  come,  prizing  this  primitive  boon 
of  their  goodly  place,  like  the  ancient  king  whose  name  four  of  those 
first  settlers  bore,  would  often  crave  "water  to  drink  of  the  well  of 
Bethlehem  which  is  by  the  gate." 


CHAPTER  IV. 


The  Settlement  Founded  and  Named. 
1741. 

After  one  step  had  been  taken  towards  the  occupation  of  the  x\llen 
Tract,  in  felHng  the  first  tree  just  before  Christmas,  no  further  advance 
was  made  for  more  than  a  month.  The  snow  lay  deep  in  the  forest 
and  the  storms  of  a  rigorous  winter  beat  fiercely  about  the  little  log 
houses  in  which  the  pioneers  waited  during  January,  1741,  for  the 
return  of  Bishop  Xitschmann  from  New  York.  Meanwhile  the  daily 
presence  of  Indians  kept  the  chief  object  of  their  coming  to  America 
in  their  thoughts,  and  those  weeks  were  not  passed  in  merely 
hibernating.  While  Christian  Henry  Ranch,  their  heroic  brother  in 
service,  wintering  in  his  lonely  hut  far  off  among  the  pines  of  Sheko- 
meko.  was  trying  to  reach  the  hearts  of  the  wild  Mohicans,  these 
Brethren  in  the  Nazareth  woods  made  the  first  Moravian  missionary 
efforts  among  the  Delawares ;  notwithstanding  the  suspicious  and 
sulky  mood  of  this  little  band,  doggedly  clinging  to  Welagameka  as 
their  own,  defying  legal  ejectment  and  looking  upon  every  white  man 
north  of  the  Lehigh  as  an  intruder.  The  most  active  in  these  first 
missionary  attempts  in  the  Forks  was  Christian  Froelich,  who  had 
arrived  in  December.  Having  lived  for  a  season  in  London,  he  had 
learned  the  English  language,  and  as  some  of  the  Indians  also  spoke 
English,  he  could  communicate  with  them  directly.  He  succeeded  so 
far  in  winning  good  will  that  the  chief,  Captain  John,  entrusted  his  ten 
year  old  son  to  him — "a  clever  lad,"  wrote  Froehlich  in  his  narrative 
— with  the  intention  that  the  child  should  be  his  permanent  ward  if 
the  council  of  the  village  gave  its  approval.  The  zealous  missionary 
was  also  invited  to  one  of  their  reHgious  festivals  at  Welagameka, and 
at  the  close  of  the  chants  and  ceremonies  obtained  permission  "to  also 
pray  in  his  manner."  He  knelt  among  them  and  poured  out  his  soul 
in  fervent  intercessions  and  then  spoke  to  them  of  Christ  the  Saviour, 

59 


6o 


A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 


THE    FIRST    HOUSE   OF    BETHLEHEM,    I74I. 


I74I 1/42.  6i 

to  all  of  which  they  gave  reverent  attention.  These  experimental 
efforts  were  persevered  in  as  opportunity  was  found  until  the  Indians 
finally  left  the  place.  Froehlich  also  took  occasion  to  urge  the 
realities  of  Christian  faith  upon  Nathanael  Irish,  and  the  pious  lay- 
man was  permitted,  as  he  afterwards  wrote,  to  witness  the  softening 
of  this  man's  heart  which  theological  strife  had  hardened. 

Bishop  Nitschmann  returned  at  the  beginning  of  February,  Various 
reasons  led  to  a  further  consideration  of  inducements  to  settle  else- 
where, and  there  was  again  temporary  uncertainty.  Other  places  in 
view  were  Skippack,  Oley,  Conestoga  Manor  and  the  so-called 
London  lands  in  Lancaster  County,  even  as  far  west  as  the  banks 
of  the  Susquehanna,  besides  other  points  in  the  Forks  of  the  Del- 
aware. Finally  it  was  concluded  to  let  the  lot  instead  of  their  own 
judgment  decide  the  question,  and  the  result  was  in  favor  of  closing 
with  Mr.  Irish  for  the  five-hundred  acre  tract  on  the  Lehigh. 

Then,  on  February  4,  a  number  of  them  began  to  fell  timber  for  a 
large  house,  and  the  erection  of  a  small  one  at  the  spot  selected  in 
December  was  proceeded  with  as  rapidly  as  possible,  while  the  snow 
yet  covered  the  ground  to  the  depth  of  two  feet.  Father  Nitschmann 
took  the  lead  in  this  arduous  toil  and  his  biographer  states  that  none 
could  easily  keep  pace  with  him. 

After  the  work  was  properly  started  Bishop  Nitschmann  again 
visited  Henry  Antes  to  consult  about  the  consummation  of  the  land- 
purchase  ;  Mr.  Antes  having  offered  to  render  all  assistance  in  his 
power.  As  there  was  neither  a  legal  corporation  nor,  as  yet,  a 
naturalized  citizen  of  the  Province  among  the  Brethren,  it  was 
arranged  that  Antes  should  make  the  purchase  for  them ;  and  accord- 
ingly on  April  2,  1741,  William  Allen  and  wife  deeded  to  him  this 
first  real  estate  acquired  by  the  Moravian  Church  in  Pennsylvania. 
This  new  ownership  of  the  tract  of  land  on  which  more  has  transpired 
of  historic  interest  than  at  any  place  in  Northampton  County,  was  the 
fourth  in  succession  after  that  of  the  original  Proprietor  of  the 
Province — strictly  speaking,  only  the  second,  for,  as  part  of  a  grant 
of  five  thousand  acres  passing  from  WilUam  Penn  to  John  Lowther 
and  wife,  of  London,  and  from  Lowther  to  Joseph  Turner,  of  London, 
it  remained  an  unlocated  claim  until  WilHam  Allen,  who  purchased 
it  of  Turner  in  1731,  had  it  located  and  surveyed  with  other  portions 
in  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware  in  1736,  the  year  before  the  famous  walk 
brought  it  within  the  limits  thereafter  held  to  have  been  surrendered 
by  the  Indians, 


62  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Early  in  March — the  published  biography  of  Anton  Seififert  gives 
May  9,  which  doubtless  should  be  March  9,  as  the  date — the  workmen 
finished  laying  up  the  square-hewn  logs  of  the  first  house.  It  was 
twenty  by  forty  feet  in  dimensions,  one  story  high,  with  sleeping- 
quarters  for  a  number  of  persons  in  the  attic  under  the  steep-pitched 
roof.  The  building  was  divided  by  a  log  partition  into  a  larger  and  a 
smaller  section,  the  latter  used  to  house  the  first  cattle  owned  by  the 
settlement.  Such  a  combination  of  dwelling  and  stable  under  one 
roof,  as  a  first  make-shift,  was  not  an  unfamiliar  thing  to  these  settlers, 
for  many  an  old  cottage  in  the  villages  of  their  native  land  was  so  ar- 
ranged. Their  common  dwelling  in  the  larger  section  served  also  as 
their  place  of  worship  for  one  year.^ 

As  soon  as  it  was  so  far  enclosed  as  to  afford  sufficient  shelter  for 
hardy  men  willing  to  make  the  best  of  the  rudest  accommodations, 
some  took  up  their  abode  in  it  to  save  the  time  which  had  been  con- 
sumed each  day  in  going  to  and  fro,  even  the  little  distance  across  to 
the  home  of  their  friend  Isaac  Martens  Ysselstein  on  the  south  side 
of  the  river,  where  the  pioneers  had  passed  a  night  on  their  way  to 
the  Nazareth  manor  the  previous  year,  and  where  hospitable  doors 
were  at  all  times  open  to  those  who  wished  to  remain  over  night 
nearer  to  their  work  than  the  house  on  Whitefield's  land.  The  re- 
moval of  the  household  to  the  new  quarters  took  place  gradually  when 
the  severe  winter  had  come  to  an  end. 

After  the  opening  of  spring  the  little  colony  again  came  more  into 
contact  with  the  outside  world.  Frequent  journeys — usually  afoot — 
were  made  by  one  and  another  down  through  the  Long  Swamp  where 
dwelt  Joseph  Mueller  and  other  pious  acquaintances ;  to  Skippack 
where  the  first  Moravians  in  Pennsylvania  had  their  temporary  home 
with  Christopher  Wiegner ;  to  Fredericktown  in  Falkner's  Swamp,  the 


I  A  memorial-stone,  placed  in  1892,  marks  the  site  of  this  first  house  of  Bethlehem,  at  the 
rear  of  the  Eagle  Hotel,  on  what  is  now  "  Rubel's  Alley,"  but  was  previously  called  for 
some  years  simply  "the  old  alley  " — the  first  thoroughfare  of  the  neighborhood  and  prob- 
ably identical  with  the  old  "  Indian  path."  This  quaint  and  historic  domicile,  which  the 
people  of  Bethlehem  should  have  been  interested  in  preserving,  was  torn  down  in  1823  by 
a  generation  more  utilitarian  than  sentimental,  to  make  room  for  stabling  when,  in  the  march 
of  improvement,  the  second  village  store  was  converted  into  the  second  hotel  of  the  place, 
"  der  Gasthof  zum  goldetien  Adler"  now  less  euphoniously  called  the  Eagle  Hotel.  The 
numerous  pictures  of  the  house  which  are  extant  —  some  meritorious  as  to  execution  and 
many  not — are  evolved  from  one  or  the  other  of  two  pencil  sketches  made  while  it  was  yet 
standing ;  one  used  for  the  well-known  painting  by  Gustavus  Grunewald,  the  other  made 
and  then  reproduced  in  ink  by  the  Rev.  C.  F.  Seidel. 


I74I 1742.  63 

home  of  Henry  Antes,  their  most  vahied  friend  and  counselor;  to 
Germantown,  where  intercourse  was  maintained  with  those  of  the 
former  Georgia  colony  who  had  located  there,  and  many  new  friend- 
ships were  formed ;  to  Philadelphia,  where  men  like  John  Stephen 
Benezet  continued  to  be  warmly  interested  in  their  designs  and  move- 
ments, where  friend  and  foe  were  daily  discussing  them,  the  newest 
objects  of  attraction  in  the  Province  in  the  midst  of  the  contagious 
religious  excitement  awakened  by  Whitefield,  where  indispensable 
commodities  only  to  be  had  in  the  metropolis  were  purchased  for  their 
establishment  and  letters  from  Europe  were  eagerly  awaited. 

The  two  young  women,  Anna  Nitschmann  and  Johanna  Molther, 
who  had  arrived  in  December,  ventured  forth  at  the  beginning  of  April 
with  an  escort,  on  their  first  tour  among  the  settlements  in  pursuance 
of  the  object  which  had  brought  them  across  the  ocean,  becoming 
acquainted  with  families  of  various  sects  and  preparing  the  way  for 
that  extensive  itinerant  work  in  the  homes,  and  particularly  among 
the  children  of  all  classes,  in  which  later  so  many  consecrated  women 
engaged.  Bishop  Nitschmann  was  a  very  busy  man  at  this  time,  con- 
tinually traveling  up  and  down  the  country  on  both  spiritual  and  ex- 
ternal business,  and  during  his  brief  intervals  of  sojourn  at  the  new 
settlement,  joining  his  brethren  in  hard  manual  labor;  having  in  his 
young  days  learned  the  carpenter's  trade  and  maintained  himself  by 
means  of  it. 

Naturally  also  numerous  visitors  were  attracted  to  the  place,  some 
moved  by  friendly  interest,  others  by  curiosity  which  was  not  friendly 
in  all  cases ;  and  the  sensational  reports  spread  abroad  in  reference 
to  the  nature  and  purpose  of  the  undertaking  were  a  striking  evidence 
of  the  wrought-up  popular  mind  of  the  time,  continually  agog  for  the 
next  new  thing  to  fall  in  with  or  attack,  as  the  case  might  be,  and 
ready  to  give  currency  to  the  most  fantastic  canards.  Among  the 
early  spring  callers  were  several  representatives  of  the  mystic  fra- 
ternity of  Sabbatarian  Tunkers  at  Ephrata  who  had  made  a  temporary 
convert  of  one  of  the  Georgia  colonists  in  1739— Gottfried  Haberecht 
— who  forsook  them  again,  however,  and  rejoined  his  brethren  in  the 
Forks  in  September,  1741.  Some  of  the  other  Moravians  from 
Georgia  who  had  settled  at  Germantown  and  elsewhere,  also  came  to 
see  the  new  place  and  most  of  the  Skippack  Brethren  made  friendly 
calls  in  the  course  of  the  spring  and  summer. 

Before  the  end  of  June  the  last  of  the  pioneers  had  finally  removed 


64  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

from  the  Barony  of  Nazareth  to  the  Allen  Tract. ^  The  two  log 
houses  in  which  they  had  spent  the  winter  were  deserted  and  the 
foundation  walls  of  the  prospective  stone-house  left  desolate,  with  the 
Indians  of  Welagameka  once  more  in  sole  possession  of  the  spot,  at 
the  very  time  when  negotiations,  of  which  these  settlers  knew  nothing, 
were  being  concluded  in  England  for  the  purchase  of  the  Barony  by 
representatives  of  the  Moravian  Church ;  Whitefield  having  been  left 
by  the  death  of  his  loyal  business  manager,  William  Seward,  in  such 
financial  embarrassment,  that  he  was  unable  to  proceed  with  his 
Nazareth  plans  or  even  to  retain  possession  of  the  land.  Announce- 
ment of  the  purchase  of  this  property  for  £2500  on  July  15  reached 
the  Brethren  in  the  Forks,  September  15,  when  Bishop  Nitschmann 
came  from  Philadelphia  with  letters  from  Europe. 

While  elaborate  plans  for  the  Pennsylvania  undertakings  were 
maturing  in  Europe,  the  initial  settlement  in  the  Forks  was  a  scene  of 
stirring  activity  throughout  the  summer.  The  main  tasks  on  which 
the  strenuous  efforts  of  the  toilers  were  centered  were  the  preparation 
of  as  much  cleared  land  as  possible  for  immediate  cultivation,  and  the 
commencement  of  the  large  house  for  which  they  began  on  June  28  to 

2  The  complete  personnel  of  the  settlement,  including  those  who  were  itinerating  much  of 
the  time,  was  the  following : 

David  Nitschmann,  Bishop, 
Anton  Seiffert,  House  Chaplain,  David  Nitschmann,  Sr.,  Master  Workman, 

Andrew  Eschenbach,  Itinerant  Preacher,  John  Martin  Mack,  Assistant  Foreman, 

George  Neisser,  Messenger,  John  Boehner,  Carpenter, 

Christian  Froehlich,  General  Helper,  David  Zeisberger,  Carpenter, 

David  Zeisberger,  Jr.,  General  Helper,  Matthias  Seybold,  Farmer, 

Rosina  Zeisberger, 

Anna  Nitschmann, 

Johanna  Sophia  Molther, 

Johanna  Hummel, 
The  boys,  Benjamin  Sommers  and  James. 
In  addition  to  the  personals  to  be  found  in  Chapter  III,  the  following  notes  may  have  a 
place  here,  as  some  of  the  names  will  not  be  mentioned  again.  Besides  the  two  David 
Nitschmanns  and  Froelich  only  two  of  these  first  settlers  ended  their  days  at  Bethle- 
hem, viz.:  the  elder  Zeisberger  and  his  wife  Rosina  in  1744  and  1746  respectively.  Their 
son  David,  the  great  missionary,  the  last  survivor  of  these  seventeen  persons — leaving  out 
account  the  two  boys,  of  whose  end  nothing  is  known — died  after  sixty-three  years  of  mis- 
sionary service,  in  1808,  at  Goshen,  in  the  Tuscarawas  Valley,  Ohio,  in  the  88th  year  of  his 
age.  Sei(fert  was  recalled  to  Europe  in  1745  and  after  serving  the  Church  in  England,  Ire- 
land and  Holland,  died  at  Zeist,  Holland,  in  1785.  Eschenbach  left  the  Church  in  1747  and 
settled  on  a  farm  at  Oley,  Pa.,  where  he  died  in  1763.  Neisser,  who  had  been  working  in 
wood  for  Antes — mill  and  wagon  work — under  contract  which  expired  in  May,  rejoined  the 


t  «  I 


DAVID    NITSCHMANN,   Sh. 


I74I 1742.  6; 

which  day  they  generally  devoted  in  part  to  bodily  rest  with  religious 
and  social  cheer,  in  addition  to  the  observance  of  the  Lord's  Day 
— they  delighted  to  sing  together  the  time-honored  hymns  qf  their 
forefathers  and  favorite  verses  from  the  rich  song-treasures  of  Ger- 
many. The  latter  were  more  familiar  to  those  of  them  who  did  not 
hail  from  Moravia,  and  to  many  a  devout  guest  who  joined  with 
them  on  such  occasions. 

In  July  they  were  visited  by  the  missionary,  Christian  Henrv  Ranch, 
who  remained — making  several  calls  meanwhile  at  other  places — until 
August  9,  when  Bishop  Nitschmann  accompanied  him  to  Shekomeko 
to  inspect  the  mission,  returning  to  the  Forks,  September  10.  During 
Ranch's  sojourn,  the  Holy  Communion  was  celebrated  the  first  time 
at  the  settlement  on  Saturday,  July  8,  and  the  next  day  he  preached 
the  first  public  sermon,  taking  as  his  text  i  Peter  1 :  18,  19.  After 
that  the  sacrament  was  administered  monthly,  usually  on  Saturday. 
Furthermore,  on  July  22  they  engaged  the  first  time  in  an  observance 
in  vogue  at  Herrnhut  since  1728,  called  in  German  Gemeintag,*  and 

ter,  besides  the  lovefeasts  of  a  strictly  religious  nature,  regular  church  festivals,  anniversary 
meetings  of  the  organized  divisions  of  a  congregation  ("  choirs ")  or  solemn  services  of 
preparatory  covenanting  and  fellowship  (communion  lovefeasts)  preceding  the  sacrament  of 
the  Lord's  Supper.  Gradually  the  use  of  the  term  was  limited  to  the  more  purely  religious 
occasions,  and  the  lovefeasts,  held  in  more  ceremonious  and  uniform  fashion,  became  a  dis- 
tinct feature  of  the  established  liturgical  order.  With  this  the  thought  of  partaking  of  food 
to  satisfy  hunger  was  eliminated  and  the  symbolical  significance  of  breaking  bread  together 
came  to  be  emphasized  as  the  only  object  of  the  act.  At  the  present  time,  where  the  custom 
is  yet  retained  and  most  understandingly  observed,  this  feature  is  a  mere  incident  of  a  service 
which  would,  even  without  it,  have  character  as  a  choral  service  or  an  occasion  of  fellow- 
ship. The  nature  or  the  quantity  of  the  materials  used  is  of  no  significance,  and  varies 
with  local  usage.  Many  modern  Moravian  churches  have  never  introduced  lovefeasts,  and 
some  old  ones  have  abandoned  them  where  they  could  not  be  maintained  with  decorum  and 
dignity  or  in  an  appreciative  spirit. 

4  This  term,  applied  by  Zinzendorf  to  what  was  originally  called  the  day  of  thanksgiving 
and  prayer,  has  the  general  meaning  of  a  popular  diet,  or  common  assembly  or  mass-meet- 
ing. It  was  instituted,  February  10,  1728,  and  had  variously  the  character  of  a  concert  of 
prayer,  an  open  church-conference,  a  missionary  survey  and  general  intelligence  day  ;  the 
most  conspicuous  feature  of  the  occasion  being  generally  the  communication  of  the  latest 
accounts  from  the  churches  and  missions  in  all  parts,  even  outside  of  Moravian  fields  in 
Christendom  at  large.  Ordinations,  marriage  of  missionaries,  and  other  church-rites  were 
often  combined  with  these  occasions.  At  the  height  of  their  popularity  such  assemblies 
were  usually  impressive  and  inspiring.  To  this  custom  of  former  times  is  due  the  accumu- 
lation of  much  of  the  manuscript  matter  in  the  shape  of  diaries,  reports  and  letters  from  so 
many  churches  and  missions  preserved  in  the  archives  of  old  Moravian  centers  and  now  so 
valuable  as  sources  of  history.  The  time  given  to  duplicating  such  matter  for  use  at 
different  places  was  profitably  spent,  for  these  occasions  did  much  to  keep  the  widely- 
scattered  Brethren  in  sympathetic  touch  and  intelligently  interested  in  the  common  work  in 
all  lands. 


68  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,   PENNSYLVANIA. 

in  English  usually,  for  want  of  an  adequate  equivalent,  simply  Prayer 
Day — for  many  years  an  important  and  popular  occasion  in  Moravian 
congregations  in  Europe  and  America,  commonly  held  once  a  month 
and  as  a  rule  on  Saturday.  Such  days  of  converse  in  spirit  with  fellow- 
workers  in  many  regions,  when,  each  month,  the  latest  reports  and 
letters  from  abroad  were  read,  quickened  their  consciousness  of  con- 
nection between  the  rough  and  severe  manual  labor,  to  which  their 
time  had  mainly  to  be  given,  and  the  exalted  ideals  of  missionary 
service  set  up  as  standards  in  the  first  enthusiasm  and  then  maintained 
through  continual  correspondence  between  the  laborers  in  all  fields. 
Thus,  with  many  pleasant  experiences  easing  the  trials  and  hardships 
of  their  situation,  the  summer  passed. 

On  September  2^  they  thankfully  completed  the  sowing  of  their 
first  winter  grain  and,  September  27,  the  excavation  of  the  cellar  was 
finished,  where  heaps  of  stone  from  the  quarry  they  had  opened,  and 
scores  of  hewn  white  oak  logs  lay  ready  to  commence  the  substantial 
building  which,  during  the  first  years  of  the  settlement,  was  to  serve 
as  home  and  hospice,  manse  and  church,  administration  office, 
academy,  dispensary  and  town-hall ;  the  loved  resting-place  of  many 
weary  pilgrims ;  the  busiest  center  to  be  found  far  and  wide ;  sought 
out  by  the  inquisitive  and  expatiated  on  by  many  a  gossip  with  won- 
derful stories  to  tell  about  the  Moravians — "The  House  on  the 
Lehigh."     It  received  the  name  Gemeinhaiis^  in  the  German  nomen- 


5  Such  a  building  for  a  combination  of  uses,  and  so  named,  as  headquarters  of  the  Gcmeine 
(community  or  parish)  was  formerly  the  main  structure  of  a  Moravian  settlement  or  station, 
as  was  the  Sbor  or  Dum  (church-house)  of  earlier  times  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia.  The 
word  "congregation"  coming  into  use  as  English  for  Gemeine  —  correct  of  a  worshiping 
assembly,  but  less  correctly  applied  to  the  settlement,  community,  parish  or  corporation — 
the  rather  ill-sounding  and,  for  persons  unaccustomed  to  this  traditional  misuse  of  the 
words,  meaningless  term  "  Congregation- House  "  gained  currency  as  rendering  of  Gcmcin- 
haus.  Better,  although  lacking  some  associations  of  the  German  word,  is  Parish  House,  or 
for  the  Bethlehem  Genieinhatis^  when  later  for  a  long  time  exclusively  the  quarters  of  the 
local  ministry  and  of  missionaries  coming  and  going — Clergy  House,  both  being  terms  of 
understood  meaning  and  authorized  by  good  usage.  Considering  the  real  sense  of  Gemeine 
as  applied  to  the  organized  community,  and  the  more  ample  and  varied  uses  of  the  Gemei7t- 
kaui  from  the  beginning  than  are  commonly  associated  with  Parish  House  or  Clergy  House, 
the  term  Community  House  is  chosen  as  a  more  suitable  and  adequate  rendering  of  the 
German.  This  antique  structure  standing  at  the  corner  of  Church  and  Cedar  Streets,  with 
its  massive  logs  hidden  under  its  modern  dress  of  painted  weather-boarding — now  the  oldest 
house  in  Bethlehem — was  originally  45  by  30  feet  in  dimensions,  the  same  height  a*;  at 
present,  with  its  roof  ridge  truncated  at  the  gables.  Its  east  end  was  at  the  present  eastern 
doorway.  It  was  enlarged  in  1743.  Possibly  it  may  some  time  be  restored  to  use.s  in 
keeping  with  its  historic  character. 


I74I 1742.  69 

clature  of  the  time  and  in  these  pages  will  be  called  the  Community 
House. 

On  Thursday,  September  28,  the  first  foundation-stone  was  laid,  at 
the  south-east  corner,  and  consecrated  with  fervent  prayer  by  Bishop 
Nitschmann  and  Andrew  Eschenbach.  A  document  engrossed  on 
parchment  by  George  Neisser,  containing  the  names  of  fifteen  per- 
sons*' present  at  the  ceremony,  was  deposited  in  a  pewter  box  and 
cemented  into  a  cavity  in  the  stone. 

Special  significance  was  attached  to  the  Scripture  watch-word  of  the 
Church  for  that  day  in  its  collection  of  daily  texts^ — "This  is  the  place 
of  my  throne  and  the  place  of  the  soles  of  my  feet,  where  I  will  dwell 
in  the  midst  of  the  children  of  Israel  forever." — Ezek.  43  7. 
„  The  spirit  which  animated  them  when  they  proceeded  to  lav  up  the 
foundation  walls  of  this  house  was  very  different  from  that  in  which  a 
few  of  them  had  toiled  at  the  trying  task  on  the  Nazareth  land,  the 
previous  autumn.  This  building  was  their  own,  the  beginning  was 
auspicious  and  letters  from  Europe  informing  them  of  accessions  to 
their  number  to  be  expected  soon,  of  Count  Zinzendorf's  preparations 
to  come  to  Pennsylvania  in  the  winter  and  of  the  considerable  colony 
to  be  sent  over  a  few  months  later,  stimulated  their  exertions. 

On  October  26  they  had  the  pleasure  of  welcoming  the  first  three 
men  whose  coming  was  awaited :  Gottlob  Buettner,  John  Christopher 


6  The  list,  in  the  order  given  by  Neisser,  is  the  following :  David  Nitschmann,  episc, 
Anton  Seiffert,  elder,  Andrew  Eschenbach,  preacher,  David  Nitschmann,  Sr.,  David  Zeis- 
berger,  Rosina  Zeisberger  (Neisser  writes  "Anna'' — perhaps  her  name  was  Anna  Rosina. 
She  is  confused  by  some  writers  with  Anna,  wife  of  George  Zeisberger,  who  came  to  Penn- 
sylvania later),  David  Zeisberger,  Jr.,  Matthias  Seybold,  John  Boehner,  George  Neisser, 
Augustine  Neisser,  Christian  Froehlich,  Martin  Mack,  Gottlieb  Demuth,  Johanna  Hummel. 
Ten,  viz.  the  Nitschmanns,  Zeisbergers,  Neissers,  Seiffert,  Boehner,  Demuth,  were  from 
Moravia  and  adjacent  parts  of  Bohemia.  Neisser's  list  gives  the  region  from  which  each 
hailed.  Augustine  Neisser  was  merely  a  visitor.  Demuth  was  working  at  the  settlement 
nearly  all  summer. 

7  May  3,  1728,  the  custom  began  at  Herrnhut  of  giving  the  people  a  Scripture  te.xt  as  a 
watch-word  for  each  day  (Zi9«<«^).  In  173 1  the  issue  of  a  collection  for  the  entire  year 
began.  Eventually  there  were  two  texts  for  each  day,  a  watch-word  drawn  from  an  assort- 
ment of  Old  Testament  texts,  and  a  doctrinal  text  {Lehrtext)  selected  from  the  New  Testa- 
ment, each  accompanied  by  a  veisicle  from  the  hymn-book.  The  custom  has  continued 
uninterruptedly  to  the  present  time,  when  more  than  120,000  copies  are  annually  published 
in  seven  languages.  This  little  manual,  familiarly  styled  "The  Text-Book"  and  ''Das 
Losiingsbuck"  is  widely  used  outside  the  Moravian  Church. 


yO  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Pyrlaeus  and  John  William  Zander,^  who  sailed  from  England  as 
the  first  missionaries  sent  to  America  through  the  help  of  the  Society 
for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel,  founded  in  London  by  Spangen- 
berg.  The  arrival  of  these  men  assured  the  pioneers  that  the  plans 
of  which  letters  from  Europe  had  informed  them  from  time  to  time, 
were  progressing,  and  that  their  loyalty  to  the  cause  amid  all  dis- 
couragements was  not  in  vain,  as  some  of  the  Georgia  colonists  who 
had  forsaken  them  declared. 

There  is  little  on  record,  in  addition  to  these  leading  features,  to  fill 
out  the  dim  picture  of  daily  life  at  the  settlement  during  that  summer 
and  fall  of  1741 — a  picture  which  it  would  be  interesting  to  scrutinize 
more  closely.  Besides  the  people  of  the  place,  numerous  figures  flit 
casually  across  the  scene  which  appear  also  in  the  sketches  of  other 
settlements  and  organizations  of  that  time ;  for  there  was  a  continual 
coming  and  going  of  persons  whose  names  are  more  or  less  prominent 
in  the  history  of  different  neighborhoods  from  the  frontier  down  to 
the  sea-board,  or  associated  with  the  particulars  of  social,  industrial 
and  religious  life  in  Philadelphia  and  Germantown  in  those  days. 
Some  of  the  restless  and  inconstant  religionists  who  then  abounded 
in  Pennsylvania,  ever  ready  to  turn  from  one  persuasion  to  another  as 
fitful  impulse  or  capricious  fancy  prompted,  were  also  among  those 
who  came  to  see  and  hear.  Occasionally  flighty  or  erratic  characters 
drifted  to  the  spot  to  air  eccentric  notions,  or  challenge  debate  on 

8  These  three  young  men  —  all  under  thirty  years  of  age  —  who  had  lately  joined  the 
Brethren's  Church  and  become  candidates  for  missionary  service,  were  the  first  additions  to 
the  Pennsylvania  nucleus  since  December,  1740,  increasing  to  34  the  number  now  in  the 
North  American  colonies  who  had  been  connected  with  the  Church  in  Europe,  of  whom  32 
were  in  Pennsylvania — Ranch  being  at  Shekomeko,  N.Y.,  and  Hagen  yet  in  Georgia.  (See 
Chapter  III,  note  15.)  These  new  missionaries  were  ordained  and  married  in  Pennsylvania 
in  1742.  Buettner's  wife  was  Margaret,  daughter  of  John  Bechtel  of  Germantown.  Her 
second  husband  was  the  missionary  John  George  Jungmann.  Pyrlaeus  married  Susan 
Benezet,  daughter  of  John  Stephen  Benezet  of  Philadelphia.  Zander  married  Johanna 
Magdalena  Miller,  daughter  of  Peter  Miller  of  Germantown.  The  brave  and  gentle 
Buettner  died  in  1745  at  Shekomeko,  after  three  years  of  missionary  labor,  in  his  twenty- 
ninth  year.  His  grave  near  Pine  Plains,  Duchess  County,  N.Y.,  is  marked  by  a  monument 
erected  in  1859.  Pyrlaeus,  the  best  known  of  the  three,  as  missionary,  schoolman  and 
musician,  was  a  theological  candidate  from  the  University  of  Leipsic.  He  is  chiefly  noted 
as  a  student  and  teacher  of  Indian  language,  particularly  the  Mohawk  and  Mohican  dialects, 
and  left  some  linguistic  work  of  interest  in  manuscript,  which  is  preserved  in  the  Moravian 
archives  at  Bethlehem.  He  returned  to  Europe  in  1751,  served  the  Church  in  England 
until  1770,  then  went  back  to  Germany  and  died  at  Herrnhut  in  1785.  Zander  went  as  a 
missionary  to  Berbice,  Guiana,  South  America,  in  1742,  returned  to  Europe  in  1 761,  and 
labored  in  Holland  until  his  decease  in  1782  at  the  Moravian  settlement,  Zeist. 


I74I 1742.  71 

some  hobby ;  others  to  seek  kinship  in  some  particular  fanaticism,  or 
congenial  rest  for  a  troubled  soul. 

Thus,  among  others,  a  demented,  although  harmless  Englishman, 
Thomas  Hardie,  who  for  more  than  a  year  occasioned  much  difficulty 
to  the  pioneers  who  tried  to  restrain  and  guard  him  during  seasons  of 
frenzy,  wandered  to  the  Forks  from  Ephrata.  The  famous  Chronicon 
Ephrateiise,  describing  his  career,  archly  associates  his  dementia  with 
his  turning  to  the  Moravians,  and  closes  the  account  of  his  wanderings 
and  his  end  with  the  pious  wish,  expressed  in  its  obituaries  of  various 
other  individuals,  that  God  might  give  him  a  blessed  resurrection. 

Henry  Antes  visited  the  settlement  several  times  in  the  course  of 
the  summer  to  lend  aid  and  counsel  in  the  work  and  to  consult  about 
plans  for  an  alliance  of  like-minded  people  of  different  religious 
connections,  on  a  larger  scale  than  that  of  the  Skippack  Association, 
for  the  improvement  of  the  general  religious  and  moral  condition — a 
scheme  in  reference  to  which  he  had  apparently  been  in  correspond- 
ence with  Spangenberg,  who  was  in  England,  and  which  he  hoped  to 
see  successfully  inaugurated  under  Zinzendorf's  leadership. 

A  slight  change  in  the  personnel  of  the  place  also  occurred  during 
autumn.  Christian  FroehHch  undertook  temporarily  the  manage- 
ment of  the  sugar-refinery  of  Captain  Wallace  in  Philadelphia — he  had 
become  skilled  in  this  work  in  England — and  was  of  service  there  to 
his  Brethren,  in  circulating  correct  information  about  them  and  their 
purposes,  and  acting  as  a  city  agent  in  a  variety  of  matters.  George 
Neisser  left  the  Forks  in  November  and  joined  his  brother  Augustine 
at  Germantown,  where  he  passed  through  a  serious  illness.  He  did 
not  return  to  the  settlement  until  the  following  June.  His  absence 
accounts  for  the  very  meager  records  of  the  period  from  November 
to  June.^ 

9  Neisser's  brief  notes,  the  main  source  of  information  on  numerous  details  of  the  year 
174I,  contain  a  variety  of  minor  items  in  addition  to  those  which  have  been  worked  into 
the  text,  and  although  comparatively  unimportant,  they  help  to  fill  out  the  lines  of  the  sketch, 
besides  revealing  somewhat  of  the  person  and  employments  of  this  interesting  first  Mora- 
vian chronicler  in  Pennsylvania.  Thus  on  May  18  he  mentions  the  receipt  of  a  copy  of 
Benzelius's  Greek  Testament  from  his  brother  and  later  records  his  pleasure  in  reading  from 
the  Acts  and  Epistles  in  the  solitude  of  the  woods  on  Sunday.  Early  in  June  he  rigs  up  a 
wagon  for  conveyance  between  the  home  of  Antes  and  the  Forks,  and  works  at  carts  for 
Frederick  Antes  and  Valentine  Geiger.  In  the  latter  part  of  July,  while  on  one  of  his 
journeys,  he  attends  a  Tunker  meeting  at  Henry  Jacobi's  in  the  Long  Swamp.  He  notes 
that  on  August  2  they  broke  flax,  and  from  him  it  is  learned  that  turnips  were  the  first  crop 
raised  from  the  new  soil  of  the  Allen  Tract.     They  sowed  turnip  seed  on  August  4.     On 


72  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Early  in  December  a  flutter  of  glad  expectation  was  occasioned  at 
the  Forks  by  the  announcement  that  Count  Zinzendorf  had  arrived 
in  America.  He  reached  New  York,  November  30,  on  the  ship  Lon- 
don, Captain  William  Bryant,  from  England,  accompanied  by  his 
daughter  Benigna,  a  maiden  of  sixteen  years ;  Rosina  Nitschmann, 
wife  of  Bishop  David  Nitschmann ;  John  Jacob  Mueller,  his  secretary 
and  artist ;  three  new  missionaries,  Abraham  and  Judith  Meinung, 
from  the  German  membership  of  the  Church,  and  David  Bruce,  a 
Scotchman,  who  had  joined  the  Brethren  in  England;  and  the  printer 
John  Henry  Miller,  who  was  merely  a  fellow-passenger.^*'  There  was 
a  stir  in  and  about  New  York  among  people  of  widely  different  sen- 


Saturday,  August  19,  they  finished  a  foot-bridge  across  the  Monocacy  and  then  had  Gemein- 
fai^.  Sunday,  August  20,  was  ^^Dies  Avioena.'^  The  following  week  he  made  a  plow  for 
Nathanael  Irish  and  one  for  the  Brethren.  August  28  a  remarkable  catch  of  rock-fish  is 
recorded.  September  3  he  notes  the  autumnal  flight  southward  of  migratory  pigeons  with 
the  line  "Reditus  columbarum  ad  partes  australesT  On  September  lO  the  splitting  of  rails 
began.  On  Sunday,  October  29,  stands  in  English  the  singular  entry,  "  I  was  in  critical 
circumstances  with  the  Brethren."  Did  this,  together  with  his  brother's  persuasions,  of 
which  there  are  indications,  have  something  to  do  with  his  leaving  for  a  season?  Novem- 
ber 7  he  departed  for  Germantown  where  his  brother,  who  was  living  in  the  house  of  the 
clock-maker  Theobald  Endt,  a  separatist,  removed  to  his  own  dwelling  a  few  days  later. 
There  shortly  after  this  he  received  a  fraternal  letter  from  Buettner  and  "  a  sharp  letter " 
from  Eschenbach,  and  at  the  beginning  of  December  was  taken  sick. 

10  This  interesting  group  increased  to  42  the  number  of  persons  in  the  North  American 
colonies  who  had  been  connected  with  the  Brethren  in  Europe;  40  of  them  being  in  Penn- 
sylvania at  the  close  of  the  year. 

Zinzendorf's  daughter,  Henrietta  Benigna  Justina,  was  born  at  Berthelsdorf,  Saxony, 
December  23,  1725,  became  in  1746  the  wife  of  Baron  John  de  Watteville,  theological 
alumnus  of  Jena,  Moravian  minister  and,  1747,  bishop — his  original  name  was  John  Michael 
Languth,  the  same  as  his  father,  a  Lutheran  clergyman,  and  he  was  adopted  by  the  Count's 
intimate  friend.  Baron  Frederick  de  Watteville,  and  by  letters  patent  was  endowed  with  his 
name,  rank  and  title  in  1745 — and  with  her  husband  came  to  Pennsylvania  again  in  I748 
and  1784.     There  will  be  further  mention  of  her  in  these  pages. 

Rosina  Nitschmann  was  a  daughter  of  Thomas  Schindler  and  was  born  at  Zauchtenthal, 
Moravia.  Being  among  the  early  emigrants  to  Herrnhut,  she  was  one  of  the  seventeen 
young  women  of  that  settlement  when  it  was  first  organized  as  a  colony.  She  was  married 
to  David  Nitschmann,  November  12,  1726.  She  had  two  daughters  who  died  in  childhood 
and  a  son.  Christian  David,  born  July  18,  1731.  Like  her  husband,  she  was  a  most  devoted 
worker  in  a  variety  of  ways  both  in  Europe  and  America.  The  particular  duties  that  fell 
to  their  lot  in  those  heroic  days  compelled  them  to  be  absent  one  from  another  very  much, 
and  she  made  many  long  and  perilous  journeys  unaccompanied  by  her  husband.  One  such 
was  a  journey  to  Greenland  in  1745  to  escort  two  young  women  who  went  as  missionaries. 
Count  Zinzendorf  called  her  a  Phoebe  in  the  Church.  She  died  of  consumption  August  10, 
1753,  and  was  buried,  August  12,  in  the  old  Herrnhaag  graveyard  where  all  traces  of  her 


I74I 1742.  73 

timents  towards  the  Count  when  his  arrival  became  known,  for  he  had 
been  extensively  advertised  in  advance  through  both  favorable  and 
hostile  pubhc  discussion  of  his  expected  visit.  Some  enthusiasts  an- 
ticipated the  advent  of  a  new  apostle  to  work  spiritual  wonders.  Some, 
more  sober-minded,  who  desired  not  only  increased  evangelistic  efforts, 
but  improved  relations  between  adherents  of  different  creeds,  hoped 
at  least  for  better  things  in  both  respects  than  had  been.  Many 
others  were  merely  curious  to  see  and  hear  this  remarkable  man,  so 
much  lauded  and  so  much  maligned ;  for  it  was  a  rare  spectacle  to 
see  a  nobleman  of  high  rank,  large  fortune  and  honorable  position 
at  court,  retire  from  the  functions  and  connections  of  his  station  to 
engage  in  religious  work  and  even  take  ecclesiastical  orders.  Yet 
more,  influenced  by  those  busy  pulpiteers  and  pamphleteers  who  had 
been  publishing  the  aspersions  cast  upon  him  by  the  manifesto  of 
certain  excited  Amsterdam  clerics,  referred  to  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ter, and  other  pasquinades  yet  more  defamatory,  and  had  been  circu- 

grave,  as  of  so  many  others,  were  eventually  obliterated.  She  died  at  Marienborn.  No 
biography  was  ever  published. 

John  Jacob  Mueller,  a  portrait  painter  of  Nuremberg,  joined  the  Church  in  1 740.  Besides 
serving  as  Zinzendorf's  private  secretary,  he  wrote  the  journals  of  important  synods  held  in 
Pennsylvania  in  1742  and  took  down  from  delivery  a  number  of  the  Count's  public  dis- 
courses while  in  America,  which  were  published  and  are  in  some  respects  among  the  more 
valuable  of  his  printed  sermons,  as  specimens  of  his  preaching  at  its  best  in  matter  and 
form,  adapted  to  a  general  audience  and  to  the  conditions  of  the  time.  Mueller  returned 
with  him  to  Europe  in  1743,  continued  with  his  corps  of  personal  associates  many  years, 
was  ordained  in  1760  and  died  at  Niskey,  Prussia,  in  1781. 

The  young  missionaries,  Meinung  and  Bruce  came  to  America  unordained  and  itinerated 
some  time  as  lay-evangelists  among  the  settlements,  helping  meanwhile  in  manual  labor  at 
Bethlehem. 

Meinung  and  wife  went  as  missionaries  to  the  Danish  West  Indies  in  1746.  He  died  on 
the  Island  of  St.  Thcmas  in  1749.  His  wife  Judith,  m.n.  Holleschke,  from  Moravia,  widow 
of  Melchior  Kuntz,  when  married  to  Meinung,  returned  to  Pennsylvania  in  1751,  to  Europe 
in  1753,  and  died  at  Herrnhut  in  1790.  Their  son,  Charles  Lewis,  went  to  North  Carolina, 
1771,  and  died  in  1817  at  Salem,  N.  C. 

Bruce,  from  Edinburg,  was  the  first  native  English-speaking  missionary  of  the  Moravian 
Church  in  America.  In  1742  he  married  John  Stephen  Benezel's  daughter  Judith  of  Phila- 
delphia, subsequently  the  second  wife  of  Doctor  John  Frederick  Otto  of  Bethlehem.  Bruce 
itinerated  in  different  neighborhoods,  was  Elder  of  the  temporary  p:nglish  organization  at 
Nazareth  in  1742,  assisted  in  Philadelphia  at  intervals  and  was  the  first  regularly  appointed 
evangelist  of  the  Church  who  labored  in  and  about  New  York  in  1742.  He  became  mis- 
sionary to  the  Indians  at  Wechquadnach  on  the  New  York  and  Connecticut  borders  in 
February,  1749,  and  died  there,  July  9,  1749,  greatly  mourned  by  the  converts  who  were 
warmly  attached  to  him.  A  monument,  jointly  to  his  memory  and  that  of  Joseph  Powell, 
sometime  missionary   in   Jamaica,    W.  I.,    who  died   in   1774  while  laboring  as  evangelist 


74  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

lating  the  story  that  the  Moravians  were  Crypto-Papists  and  emis- 
saries of  the  French,  were  firmly  persuaded  that  he  was  an  adven- 
turer dangerous  both  to  the  Protestant  faith  and  to  the  State,  and 
ought  to  be  ofificially  proceeded  against.  This  absurd  agitation  would 
appear  almost  amusing  at  a  distance,  were  it  not  for  the  serious  re- 
sults it  finally  effected  in  the  actual  persecution  of  Moravian  mission- 
aries and  the  ruin  of  their  flourishing  work  among  the  Indians  in  the 
Province  of  New  York  which  will  be  noticed  more  particularly  farther 
on. 

Zinzendorf  remained  in  New  York  a  few  days,  enjoying  the  hospi- 
tality of  Thomas  Noble,  merchant ;  became  acquainted  with  the 
friends  of  Spangenberg  and  the  other  leaders  who  had  been  there 
before,  and  with  many  more  people ;  reorganized  the  little  society 
formed  by  Boehler  at  the  beginning  of  the  year,  and  then,  on 
December  6,  started  for  Pennsylvania. 

among  white  settlers  of  Duchess  Co.,  N.  Y.,  was  erected  in  1859  over  the  remains  of  Bruce 
at  Wechquadnach  Lake  ("Indian  Pond")  in  the  town  of  Sharon,  in  Litchfield  Co.,  Conn. 

John  Henry  Miller  was  the  later  widely-known  printer  and  newspaper  publisher  of  Phila- 
delphia who  had  been  attracted  by  the  work  of  the  Brethren  in  Europe-  and  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Moravian  Church  at  Bethlehem  in  1742.  Restless  and  fond  of  change,  his  life 
was  one  of  many  wanderings  prior  to  1760,  when  he  established  his  office  in  Philadelphia. 
He  worked  at  his  handicraft,  which  he  had  learned  in  the  Brandmiiller  office  in  Basle,  in 
many  European  cities  and  between  1742  and  1760,  during  his  several  sojourns  in  America, 
in  the  offices  of  Franklin,  Bradford,  Saur,  and  other  printers  in  Pennsylvania,  besides  putting 
into  operation  the  first  printing-press  for  the  Church  of  his  adoption  in  1744  at  Marien- 
born  in  the  Wetterau  in  Germany.  His  first  newspaper  venture  in  America  was  in  partner- 
ship with  Samuel  Holland  at  Lancaster,  Pa.,  where  they  issued  the  first  number  of  the  bi- 
lingual (German-English)  Latuastetsche  Zeitung  on  January  13,  1752,  as  Miller  records  in 
his  private  note-book;  but  at  the  beginning  of  the  following  June  he  left  Lancaster  and 
severed  his  connection  with  that  office.  The  first  issue  of  his  well-known  Staatsbote  appeared 
in  Philadelphia,  January  18,  1762.  He  published  it,  with  minor  variations  of  heading,  until 
1779,  when  he  retired  from  business.  It  was  continued  by  his  successors.  It  was  the  first 
newspaper  printed  in  Philadelphia  after  July  4,  1776,  announcing  the  events  of  that  day. 
Being  in  sympathy  with  the  Revolution,  he  had  to  flee  the  city  when  the  British  got  posses- 
sion in  1777,  and  besides  his  heavy  losses,  suffered  the  chagrin  of  having  his  press  come — 
under  protection  of  the  British  Commandant — temporarily  into  the  hands  of  his  business 
competitors  and  political  antagonists,  the  younger  Saurs,  who  were  loyalists. 

The  Staatsbote  was,  for  a  number  of  years,  one  of  the  several  newspapers,  German  and 
English,  regularly  taken  by  the  officials  at  Bethlehem,  and  from  1760  to  1779  most  of  the 
Bethlehem  printing  was  done  by  Miller.  In  1780  he  retired  to  Bethlehem  where  his  wife 
had  been  living  apart  from  him,  in  accordance  with  a  singular  agreement  between  them,  and 
had  died  in  1779.  He  died  in  1782  at  the  age  of  eighty  years.  A  probably  well-nigh  com- 
plete list  of  his  imprints  appears  in  The  First  Century  of  German  Printing  in  America, 
1 728-1830,  the  work  of  the  late  Prof.  Oswald  Seidensticker,  published  in  1893  by  the 
Pionier  Verein  of  Philadelphia. 


i;4i 1742.  75 

He  did  not  proceed  directly  to  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware,  but 
turned  his  course  first  towards  Philadelphia,  where,  after  brief  stops 
at  several  places  on  the  way,  he  arrived  on  December  10.  He  was 
met  there  by  Bishop  Nitschmann,  welcomed  as  a  guest  to  the  home 
of  Mr.  Benezet  and  then  installed  in  the  apartments  of  a  neighbor- 
ing house  on  Second  Street,  near  Race,  which  had  been  rented  for 
his  use  when  in  Philadelphia  by  Christian  Froehlich.  In  accordance 
with  the  etiquette  which  he  held  to  be  incumbent  upon  him,  he  form- 
ally announced  his  arrival  to  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  who 
courteously  replied  to  his  note ;  and  in  order  to  forestall  sinister  re- 
ports which  he  knew  would  be  carried  to  the  Governor,  he  invited 
him  to  send  representatives  to  attend  his  meetings  and  hear  his  dis- 
courses ;  a  precaution  to  which  the  executive  of  the  Province  agreed, 
while  at  the  same  time  assuring  him  of  the  broad  and  generous  tol- 
eration, in  the  matter  of  creed  and  church  connection,  extended  by 
the  laws  of  Pennsylvania.  The  sensation  awakened  by  his  coming, 
which  had  been  eagerly  awaited  by  so  many  persons  of  various 
stations,  religions  and  dispositions,  in  Philadelphia  and  the  sur- 
rounding region,  was  greater  than  at  New  York.  While  high 
expectations  of  religious  benefit  w^ere  cherished  in  some  quar- 
ters, there  was  excited  preparation  for  controversy  in  others.  More 
than  one  veteran  in  theological  warfare  and  sectarian  strife  got  his 
arsenal  in  readiness,  and  there  was  even  a  temporary  truce  between 
some  habitually  contending  parties  in  order  to  join  forces,  and  com- 
bine their  diversity  of  weapons  against  a  new  object  of  attack,  with 
the  added  zest  of  novelty.  A  few  days  were  passed  in  Philadelphia, 
forming  acquaintances,  consulting  with  men  of  different  stations  and 
connections,  and  interviewing  Eschenbach  and  the  young  women, 
Anna  Nitschmann  and  Johanna  Molther,  in  reference  to  their  tours 
through  the  country  districts. 

On  Monday  evening,  December  18,  the  Count  went  out  to  Ger- 
mantown,  where  he  lodged  with  John  Bechtel,  the  faithful  licensed 
lay-preacher  and  pastor  of  some  of  the  spiritually  awakened  German 
Reformed  people  of  that  place.  When  Zinzendorf  first  appeared  in 
Philadelphia  Bechtel  had  been  almost  deterred  by  the  outcry  of  some 
from  entering  into  cordial  relations  with  the  Count ;  but,  as  a  leading 
member  of  the  Skippack  Association,  he  shared  the  hope  of  Henry 
Antes  that  a  solution  of  the  religious  problem  of  Pennsylvania 
might  be  advanced  by  an  alliance  of  devout  men  of  all  persuasions 
in  practical  efforts  for  the  common  good,  on  the  ground  of  some 


76  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

simple  evangelical  articles  of  agreement  which  would  leave  contro- 
verted points  untouched  and  each  party  undisturbed  in  its  views  on 
such  points.  At  Germantown  Zinzendorf  also  met  others  of  that 
little  Association,  besides  several  of  the  better  sort  of  German  Sepa- 
ratists whose  manifest  earnestness  and  strength  of  personality  ren- 
dered them,  with  all  their  eccentricities  and  prejudices,  men  whom 
it  would  be  desirable,  if  possible,  to  enlist  in  some  kind  of  activity  for 
the  general  welfare  more  profitable  than  mere  criticism  and  protest 
over  against  every  existing  thing. 

The  company  that  was  to  join  him  on  his  first  journey  into  the 
country  assembled  at  Germantown.  On  Tuesday  morning  they  set 
out  for  Skippack.  They  spent  the  night  at  the  house  of  Christopher 
Wiegner  and  on  Wednesday  proceeded  to  Falkner's  Swamp  and  vis- 
ited Henry  Antes.  There  the  most  important  interview  had  by  Zin- 
zendorf prior  to  the  close  of  the  year  took  place.  No  man  to  be 
found  was  more  competent  than  Antes  to  give  information  about  the 
general  condition  of  the  Germans  of  Pennsylvania,  and  about  the 
numerous  sects  and  parties  that  entered  into  the  motley  religious 
composition  of  the  Province ;  and  no  man  was  less  likely  to  misrepre- 
sent any  of  them,  for  he  was  singularly  free  from  prejudice  and 
bigotry.  He  unfolded  the  plans  he  had  been  considering  since  his  first 
discussion  of  the  situation  with  Spangenberg  in  1736,  and  his  propo- 
sition that  he  would  issue  a  circular  letter,  inviting  the  various  per- 
suasions to  send  representatives  to  a  general  "conference  of  reli- 
gions," as  a  first  step,  was  favorably  regarded  by  Zinzendorf,  who 
agreed  to  be  present. 

Thursday  morning,  December  21,  they  started  on  the  final  stage 
of  their  journey  to  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware,  taking  the  route  to 
the  mill  of  Nathanael  Irish,  which  had  become  a  familiar  road  to  some 
of  the  party.  It  was  a  long,  hard  ride  for  those  who  were  not  used 
to  such  exertions,  and  the  evening  dusk  of  that  shortest  winter  day 
had  gathered  when  the  cavalcade  descended  the  last  northern  slope 
between  the  miller's  stone-quarry  and  the  Lehigh,  and  a  cheering 
gleam  from  the  cabin  of  the  Ysselstein  family  near  the  river  greeted 
them  in  the  distance.  They  dismounted  there  and  made  a  brief  call 
at  the  home  of  these  friendly  Hollanders.  Then  torches  were  pro- 
vided, several  members  of  the  family  led  the  way  to  the  Indian  ford, 
where  the  canoes  were  brought  into  requisition  for  some,  while  the 
horses  were  taken  over  by  others,  and,  guided  by  the  flickering  lights 
thus  improvised,  they  crossed  the  stream  in  the  darkness.     As  they 


I74I 1742.  ;; 

followed  the  winding  way  up  the  ascent  on  the  north  side,  another 
light  glimmering  through  the  trees  soon  welcomed  the  pilgrims  to 
the  little  log  house  on  the  Allen  tract— to  them  the  most  interesting 
and  important  spot  in  America — and  they  were  at  their  journey's 
end.  In  the  unfinished  Community  House  two  rooms  in  the  second 
story  at  the  western  end  had  been  hurriedly  prepared,  as  well  as 
could  be,  for  the  use  of  the  Count,  and  perhaps  for  his  daughter,  and 
there  he  passed  the  first  night  at  the  Forks.  There  is  no  record  of 
what  took  place  on  the  following  two  days.  It  may  be  assumed  that 
manual  labor  was  for  the  most  part  suspended  and  that  the  time  was 
devoted  to  social  converse,  spiritual  edification  and  official  confer- 
ence, for  this  first  visit  which  Zinzendorf  made  to  the  new  settlement 
was  a  very  short  one;  and  undoubtedly  Saturday  was  spent  in  the 
customary  manner  with  interest  heightened  by  his  Hturgical  leader- 
ship, discourses  and  narratives. ^^ 

The  first  extant  record  after  the  mention  of  his  arrival  brings  to 
view  an  interesting  Christmas  Eve  scene. ^"  They  were  assembled  in 
the  little  log  house  at  the  close  of  Sunday,  December  24  N.  S.,^^  to 
observe  the  Vigils  of  Christmas  on  the  same  day  on  which  their 
brethren  in  the  far-off  Fatherland  were  similarly  engaged.     Besides 

"  See  notes  3  and  4  to  this  chapter  on  Saturday  lovefeast  and  Genieintag.  Zinzendorf 
was  both  musically  and  poetically  gifted,  was  a  good  singer,  a  very  animated  and  impressive 
speaker,  and  possessed  a  rare  liturgical  faculty  which  rendered  such  services  as  these 
peculiarly  attractive.  He  had  brought  both  the  lovefeast  and  the  Gemeintag  into  vogue  and 
took  delight  in  them  to  the  end  of  his  days. 

12  The  number  present  and  the  names  of  all  cannot  be  ascertained.  There  were  more 
than  is  commonly  supposed.  Bishop  Spangenberg,  a  reliable  authority,  in  his  Life  of 
Zinzendorf  pp.  1373-74,  intimates  that  all  who  came  with  the  Count  from  Europe  were 
there,  and  adds  that  sundry  persons  "  who  sought  the  fellowship  of  the  Brethren  and  expected 
a  blessing  for  their  hearts  had  come  from  the  country."  These  were  probably  from  Skip- 
pack  and  Falkner's  Swamp — perhaps  Wiegner  and  Antes  among  them — and  from  the  Long 
Swamp,  men  like  Joseph  Mueller  and  Abraham  Dubois.  All  of  the  pioneers  named  in  note 
2  of  this  chapter  were  undoubtedly  present  excepting  Neisser,  recovering  from  sickness  at 
Germantown,  and  Froehlich  yet  in  Philadelphia.  Buettner,  Pyrlaeus,  Zander  (note  S), 
Eschenbach  and  Haberecht  were  probably  there.      Rauch  evidently  was  not. 

>3Not  according  to  the  antiquated  calendar  then  yet  retained  in  England,  eleven  days  l)e- 
hind  the  time.  Says  one,  "  Wir feierten  von  Aufangdie  Christnacht's  Vigilicn  mu/i  Stilo  Novo 
in  Gcmeimchaft  ntit  tinsern  Brudern  in  Etiropar  This  was  sutisequeiitly  atlduced  by 
certain  vigilant  patriots  of  a  neighboring  settlement  as  one  of  the  evidences  that  the  Mora- 
vians were  secretly  Papists  in  league  with  the  French  against  the  government,  for  was  not 
the  correction  of  the  calendar  promulgated  by  a  Pope  in  15S2,  and  was  not  the  governmont 
yet  using  the  old  style  time  ?     It  was  a  clear  case. 


y^  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Other  services  of  the  day,  they  celebrated  the  Holy  Communion,  as 
befitted  a  Sunday  so  significant  for  all  who  participated.  Then,  with 
the  Christmas  theme  uppermost,  their  devotions  were  protracted  until 
after  nine  o'clock.  It  was  a  novel  and  unique  occasion  which  awak- 
ened peculiar  emotions.  Their  humble  sanctuary,  with  beasts  of  the 
stall  sharing  its  roof,  brought  the  circumstances  of  the  Saviour's 
birth  vividly  before  their  imagination.  With  the  forest  about  them, 
stretching  away  to  where  heathen  multitudes  lived  in  ignorance  of 
Immanuel,  the  relation  between  the  subject  of  that  holy  night  and 
their  purpose  towards  those  dwellers  in  the  forest  possessed  their 
minds.  It  stirred  the  quick  fancy  of  the  Count,  always  keenly  respon- 
sive to  such  impressions.  Acting  upon  an  impulse,  he  rose  and  led 
the  way  into  the  part  of  the  building  in  which  the  cattle  were  kept, 
while  he  began  to  sing  the  quaintly  pretty  words  of  a  German 
Epiphany  hymn^*  which  combined  Christmas  thoughts  and  missionary 

14  A  hymn  by  Adam  Drese  (d.  1718,  aged  88  years),  musical  director  at  Weimar   and 

Arnstadt,  who  also  composed  the  tunes  to  his  hymns.  This  hymn  of  nine  verses  stands  as 
No.  937  in  the  original  Herrnhut  hymnal  of  1735  under  the  heading  ^^  Heidenfest"  i  e. 
Epiphany.  In  the  edition  of  174I,  in  which  the  tunes  are  also  numbered,  the  hymn  is  940 
and  the  tune  52.  In  the  Offices  of  Worship  and  Ifymns,  published  in  1891  at  Bethlehem, 
hymn  511  is  a  free  translation  by  S.  C.  Chitty,  of  six  stanzas  corresponding,  as  they  there 
follow,  to  1,2,  3,  8,  9,  7  of  the  original.  Martin  Mack  mentions  the  lines  '■^ Nicht  Jerusalem, 
sondern  Bethlehem^''  of  verse  2,  and  '■^Aus  dir  kommei  was  tnir  frommet"  of  verse  3,  as  the 
particular  words  treasured  in  memory  in  connection  with  the  naming  of  the  settlement.  This 
old  hymn  associated  in  so  interesting  a  way  with  the  early  history  of  Bethlehem,  but  so  little 
known  beyond  these  oft-quoted  four  lines,  deserves  insertion  in  part  in  this  volume.  The 
first  five  stanzas,  its  most  characteristic  portion,  here  follow,  with  an  English  rendering  in 
the  same  measure  which  the  writer  has  tried  10  make  as  literal  as  possible,  while 
preserving  their  original  structure. 

Jesu  rufe  mich  Jesus  call  Thou  me 

Von  der  Welt,  dass  ich  From  the  world  to  flee, 

Zu  dir  eile.  To  Thee  hasting; 

Nicht  verweile  ;  Without  resting  ; 

Jesu  rufe  mich.  Jesus  call  Thou  me. 

Nicht  Jerusalem,  Not  Jerusalem, 

Sondern  Bethlehem  Rather  Bethlehem 

Hat  bescheret  Gave  us  that  which 

Was  uns  naehret ;  Maketh  life  rich  ; 

Nicht  Jerusalem.  Not  Jerusalem. 

W^erthes  Bethlehem,  Honored  Bethlehem, 

Du  hist  angenehm  :  Pleasant  I  esteem  ; 

Aus  dir  kommet  From  thee  springeth 

Was  mir  frommet,  What  gain  bringeth  ; 

Werthes  Bethlehem.  Honored  Bethlehem. 

Du  bist,  wie  man  spricht.  Thou  no  more  of  right 

Nun  die  kleinste  nicht ;  Art  called  least  in  might; 

Allen  Leuten,  Unto  all  men. 

Auch  den  Heiden  Yea  the  heathen, 

Bringst  du  Heil  und  Licht.  Brings't  thou  health  and  light. 

Zeige  mir  den  Stern  Point  me  out  the  star 

Der  mich,  aus  der  Fern,  Which  my  course,  afar. 

Von  den  Heiden  (Uiides  from  pagan 

Lehr  abscheiden  ;  Ways  forsaken  : 

Zeige  mir  den  Stern.  Point  me  out  the  star. 


I74I 1742.  79 

thoughts,  as  suggested  by  the  homage  of  heathen  sages  before  the 
infant  Jesus,  and  made  conspicuous  in  the  character  given  the  ob- 
servance of  Epiphany  among  the  Brethren  in  those  days  of  first  mis- 
sionary zeal.  Its  language  expressed  well  the  feeHng  of  that  hour, 
and  the  place  in  which  it  was  sung  made  the  vision  of  the  manger 
seem  very  real.  The  little  town  of  Bethlehem  was  hailed,  its  boon 
to  mankind  was  lauded,  the  star  that  guided  the  magi  to  the  spot 
and  the  light  of  the  gentiles  there  beaming  forth  were  sought,  humble 
supplication  at  the  Redeemer's  feet  was  uttered  in  successive  stanzas, 
and  then  the  song  ended.  One  who  was  present  wrote  long  after- 
ward: "The  impression  I  there  received  is  yet  fresh  in  my  memory, 
and  will  remain  until  my  end."^^ 

With  this  episode  a  thought  came  to  one  and  another  which  gave 
rise  to  a  perpetual  memorial  of  the  occasion,  signaHzing  it  as  pecu- 
liarly historic  and  enhancing  its  romantic  interest.  No  name  had 
yet  been  given  to  the  settlement.  That  vigil  service  and  that  hvmn 
suggested  one.  By  general  consent  the  name  of  the  ancient  town  of 
David  was  adopted  and  the  place  was  called  Bethlehem.^" 

15  Autobiography  of  Martin  Mack,  which  describes  this  incident  more  fully  than  other 
original  references  to  it.  Spangenberg  also  alludes,  in  his  Life  of  Zinzettdorf  to  the  extra- 
ordinary feeling  awakened,  as  described  by  sundry  participants  with  whom  he  had  con- 
versed about  it.  Some  features  of  this  occasion  and  of  occurrences  preceding  it  are  derived 
from  other  autobiographies  and  subsequent  allusions  in  diaries  and  journals. 

>6  The  name  Bethlehem  was  officially  used  already  in  the  proceedings  of  the  "Conferences 
of  Religions"  in  January,  1742.  It  is  found  in  several  of  Neisser's  notes  of  occurrences  in 
1 741,  but  the  existing  copy  of  these  notes  was  written  later,  when  he  used  the  name  ex  pos. 
facto,  so  that  this  does  not,  as  might  seem,  lend  support  to  another  alleged  origin  of  the 
name,  antedating  Christmas,  1741,  as  some  have  supposed,  which  was  set  forth  later,  as,  e.g- 
in  the  first  records  of  the  Single  Brethren's  House,  1748.  It  associates  the  term  "  house  on 
the  Lehigh,"  applied  occasionally  at  first  to  the  Community  House,  with  the  Hebrew, 
"  house  of  bread," — Beth-Lechem,  i.e.  Bethlehem,  and  out  of  Beth,  i.e.  house,  and  Lechem, 
so  similar  to  Lecha,  i.e.  Lehigh —  see  Chapter  III,  note  9 — forms  a  Hebrew-Indian  com- 
pound, Bethlehem.  This  was  then  given  an  additional  significance  in  that  the  house  on  the 
Lehigh,  headquarters  of  the  settlement,  was  a  material  and  spiritual  house  of  bread  for  so 
many.  Certain  lists  of  the  inhabitants  compiled  in  the  years  1746-49,  and  yet  preserved  in 
the  archives  of  the  Moravian  Church,  have  the  heading  "  The  House  Bethlehem  "  and  this 
has  been  taken  by  some  as  pointing  to  such  a  prior  designation  of  the  Community  House. 
But  in  those  catalogues  the  word  house  is  to  be  taken  in  the  sense  of  household,  as 
applying  to  the  people  and  not  to  a  building.  The  writer,  after  a  thorough  examination, 
finds  no  ground  for  regarding  this  other  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  name  as  anything 
more  than  a  fanciful  after-thought,  playing  with  words  in  a  manner  characteristic  of  the 
time  when  it  was  the  fashion  for  many  to  imitate  Zinzendorfs  excessive  use  of  polyglot  and 
fondness  for  all  kinds  of  paronomasia  in  documents,  addresses  and  rythmical  effusions ;  he 
moreover  having  been  strongly  persuaded  of  the  Hebrew  ancestry  of  the  Indian  tribes. 
The  clear  testimony  of  Mack,  Neisser,  Spangenberg  and  Boehler  that  the  name  originated 
simply  as  described  in  the  text,  should  be  conclusive. 


CHAPTER    V. 


Connecting  Events  and  the  Sea  Congregation. 
1742. 

F'or  the  space  of  six  months  after  that  memorable  Christmas  of 
1 74 1,  the  records  tell  nothing  about  what  took  place  in  the  Forks  of 
the  Delaware,  but  much  about  the  movements  and  projects  of  Zin- 
zendorf  and  his  associates  elsewhere  in  Pennsylvania.  These  are 
so  intimately  related  to  the  history  of  Bethlehem  and  lie  at  the  root 
of  so  much  that  appears  upon  the  scene  later,  that  some  of  their 
details  and  results  must  be  noted. 

On  Christmas  Day  the  Count  started  with  his  daughter  and  some 
other  persons  on  a  rapid  tour  through  the  Oley  and  Conestoga  neigh- 
borhoods. He  preached  his  first  sermon  in  Pennsylvania  that  even- 
ing at  the  house  of  Jean  Bertolet,  a  French  Huguenot  of  Oley,  who 
had  been  a  member  of  the  Skippack  union.  He  intended  to  visit 
the  Ephrata  community,  but  changed  his  mind  and  merely  paused 
at  the  place,  without  seeing  Conrad  Beissel,  the  Superintendent;  but 
he  seems  to  have  spoken  with  members  of  the  Zionitic  Brotherhood 
connected  with  the  settlement.  Ephrata  was  at  that  time  a  more 
influential  establishment  than  is  commonly  supposed,  and,  with  all  its 
oddities,  this  influence  was  not  morally  harmful,  but  good.  The 
habitat  of  the  eccentric  "New  Mooners"  also  lay  in  his  path,  and  his 
attention  was  naturally  drawn  to  this  new  religious  freak,  thought 
to  have  originated  in  earlier  Jewish  influences  in  the  neighborhood. 
He  also  encountered  representatives  of  the  less  picturesque  but  far 
more  noxious  fanatics  of  Oley,  called  the  "New  Born,"  whose  dan- 
gerous tenets  had  been  combated  already  by  Spangenberg  six  years 
before.  He  furthermore  came  into  contact  with  leaders  of  the  regu- 
lar Tunkers,  from  whom  the  Ephrata  fraternity  had  sprung,  with 
Mennonite  Brethren  of  both  branches,  and  with  many  Lutheran  and 
Reformed  families.  The  almost  complete  destitution  of  Christian 
ministrations,  worthy  of  the  name,  which  he  found  among  these  latter, 
awakened  his  profound  solicitude. 

80 


1742.  8 1 

He  got  back  to  Germantown,  December  30,  and  on  the  last  dav  of 
the  year,  preached  the  first  of  a  series  of  sermons  in  the  German 
Reformed  Church  of  that  place,  in  which  John  Bechtel  had  been 
ministering.  This  was  his  first  appearance  in  a  public  house  of  wor- 
ship in  America.  He  took  up  his  residence  again  in  his  rented  house 
in  Philadelphia,  having  decided  to  live  there  the  first  three  months 
and  then  to  locate  the  same  length  of  time  in  Germantown.  He  now- 
had  regular  daily  services  at  his  house.  Those  on  Sunday  and  Wed- 
nesday evenings  were  open  to  any  who  wished  to  attend,  and  other 
men  from  his  corps  of  assistants  took  turns  with  him  in  conducting 
them. 

Far-reaching,  ideal  plans  for  the  spiritual  improvement  of  Penn- 
sylvania, such  as  only  a  man  of  Zinzendorf's  spirit  would  have 
conceived  and  attempted,  were  engaging  his  thoughts  at  this  time. 
An  outline  of  these  plans,  which  have  been  so  greatly  misunderstood 
and  so  much  misrepresented,  may  be  here  given  somewhat  fullv, 
because  they  reveal  the  genesis  of  the  whole  system  of  religious 
activity  which  was  subsequently  developed  with  Bethlehem  as  its 
operating  center.  His  primary  purpose,  as  regards  the  essential 
matter  of  Christian  teaching,  amid  the  conflict  of  doctrines  and 
confusion  of  tongues,  while  multitudes  were  abandoned  by  the  ecclesi- 
astical authorities  in  Europe  to  spiritual  starvation  and  moral 
decadence,  may  be  stated  in  his  own  characteristic  words.  He  says : 
'T  sought  to  enthrone  the  Lamb  of  God  as  real  Creator,  Preserver, 
Redeemer  and  Sanctifier  of  the  whole  world ;  and  to  introduce  the 
catholicity  of  the  doctrine  of  His  passion  as  a  universal  theology  for 
the  Germans  of  Pennsylvania,  in  theory  and  practice." 

This  sets  forth  the  rationale  of  his  scheme.  Such  a  completely 
Christ-centered  conception  of  religion,  cherished  with  his  intense 
ardor  and  profound  conviction  of  its  sufificiency  for  all  classes  and 
conditions  of  men ;  urged  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people  to  meet 
their  inmost  needs  and  radically  change  their  lives,  he  would  substitute 
for  the  attenuated  subtilties  of  scholastic  theology,  for  the  perfunctory 
routine  of  mere  ecclesiasticism,  for  legalistic  self-righteousness  and 
superficial  ethics,  for  sectarian  controversy  about  rites  and  customs, 
for  mystical  reveries,  theosophic  speculations  and  all  the  religious 
vagaries  that  abounded.  In  his  mind  Christ-centered  meant  pre- 
eminently cross-centered  in  a  sense  then  rarely  recognized.  Around 
the  cross  he  would  anew  gather  men  of  all  creeds  and  persuasions,  to 
find  something  essential  and  soul-satisfying  in  connnon,  which  would 
7 


82  A   HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM.    PENNSYLVANIA. 

divert  them  from  the  side-issues  about  which  they  wrangled  and 
the  comparatively  trivial  things  for  which  they  contended.  He 
believed,  not  only  that  the  way  to  the  cross  to  find  salvation  was 
open  in  the  Divine  purpose  to  all  men  and  might  be  found  by  all  if 
they  wished,  but  also  that  a  way  from  the  cross,  with  the  simple  and 
effectual  message,  could  be  found  to  all,  whatever  their  belief  or  state 
might  be.  He  would  seek  avenues  of  approach  to  every  persuasion 
and  points  of  touch  with  every  form  even  of  perverted  and  distorted 
Christianity.  He  would  try  to  present  the  essential  message  to  the 
different  persuasions  through  the  medium  of  their  respective 
traditions,  environment,  habits  of  thought  and  modes  of  speech,  and 
not  in  the  rigid  formulas  of  one  or  another  school.  In  this  way  he 
hoped  to  draw  all  away  from  their  extremes  and  lead  them  to  grasp 
and  repeat  the  essential  living  word  in  their  several  religious 
languages.  Conceiving  thus  of  unity  in  diversity,  he  cherished  visions 
of  the  previous  Babel  producing  a  many-tongued  pentecostal  harmony 
around  the  cross. 

He  fondly  hoped  to  put  this  high-soaring  idea  to  practical  experi- 
ment in  Pennsylvania  with  less  difficulty  than  in  Germany,  because  of 
the  absence  of  a  state  church  and  even  of  any  general  denominational 
organization ;  because  of  the  crude  and  unsettled  state  of  things,  the 
woeful  scarcity  of  gospel  ministry  and  the  supposed  readiness  of 
churchless  thousands  to  welcome  any  provisions  for  their  needs.  He 
had  no  thought  of  trying  to  outwardly  weld  denominations.  While 
his  plan  required  a  federal  system  of  supervision  and  direction,  it  had 
in  view  emphatically  the  conservation  of  the  general  confessional 
distinctions.  He  classified  the  religious  bodies  represented  in  Penn- 
sylvania as  the  "Religions"  and  the  "Sects."  He  sometimes  applied 
the  first  of  these  terms  to  all  the  bodies  that  had  a  historic  origin 
in  general  ecclesiastical  epochs  and  movements  and  had  a  distinct 
system  with  defined  principles.  In  this  sense  not  only  the  Anglican 
communion  and  the  Presbyterian  and  Baptist  bodies,  but  also  the 
Quakers  among  English-speaking  people ;  and  not  only  the  Lutheran 
and  Reformed  divisions,  but  also  the  Mennonites  and  even  the  old 
Tunkers  among  the  Germans,  Swedes  and  Hollanders,  were  occa- 
sionally spoken  of  as  religions.  Generally,  however,  he  used  the 
word  in  a  narrower  and  more  sharply  defined  sense,  as  applied  only 
to  national  church-establishments  and  to  the  historic  Protestant 
confessions.  Thus,  commonly,  when  speaking  of  the  Germans  of 
Pennsylvania,  the  masses  who  simply  adhered  to  the  traditions  of 


1742.  83 

Lutheran  and  Reformed  Protestantism  of  the  several  schools  and 
branches,  were  had  in  mind  by  him  as  representatives  of  the  religions 
— the  German  Protestant  churchmen  of  the  two  main  classes. 

All  who  repudiated  these  confessions,  separated  themselves  and 
associated  on  the  basis  of  any  specialty  were  the  sects.  As  regards 
the  religions,  he  wished  to  see  them  maintained  and  fostered  on 
their  original  foundations,  where  more  stress  would  be  laid  on  their 
common  evangelical  tenets  than  on  the  extreme  divergencies  of  their 
later  theological  developments ;  so  that  they  might  stand  in  closer 
touch  on  essentials  and  in  better  co-operation  for  the  common  good, 
while  those  distinctions  which  deserved  to  be  mutually  tolerated  and 
respected  were  left  unimpaired.  As  to  the  sects,  he  proposed  to 
approach  them  in  such  special  ways  as  would  best  appeal  to  their 
idiosyncrasies  and,  by  winning  them  to  a  truer  conception  of  essentials, 
draw  them  away  from  their  extreme  separatism,  overestimation  of 
non-essential  specialties  and  occasional  fundamental  errors,  to  again 
recognize  something  in  common  with  the  general  religions  from 
which  they  had  withdrawn  and  were  alienated.  He  believed  that 
the  power  of  the  newly  "enthroned  Lamb  of  God"  would  not  only 
soften  asperities  and  reduce  friction,  but  gradually  dissolve  those 
sectarian  formations  that  were  radically  pernicious  more  effectually 
than  making  war  upon  them  would.  His  plan  was  that,  wherever  his 
good  offices  were  accepted,  he  would  supply  the  people  of  these 
various  Protestant  connections  with  preaching  and  pastoral  care  by 
men  of  their  respective  traditional  affinities  who  had  joined  the 
composite  organization  which  had  grown  out  of  the  Moravian 
beginning  at  Herrnhut,  with  the  different  elements  duly  represented 
in  conference  and  management  under  the  general  system  of  operation 
to  be  established.  This  system  would  thus  embrace  departments ; 
a  Lutheran,  a  Reformed,  a  general  Baptist  department;  one  for  free 
evangehzation  where  none  of  these  traditional  Hues  needed  to  be 
followed ;  another  for  the  missionary  work  among  the  Indians.  To 
the  minds  of  those  who  were  unable  or  unwilling  to  find  his  peculiar 
stand-point ;  who  could  not  conceive  of  religious  effort  on  any  basis 
but  that  of  doctrinal  contrarieties  or  in  any  quality  but  that  of 
denominational  rivalry  and  propagandism,  this  elaborate,  somewhat 
intricate  and  certainly  novel  scheme  was  incomprehensible.  The  few 
individuals  who  then  assumed  to  represent  the  regular  Protestant 
clergy  among  the  multitudes  of  Pennsylvania,  were  by  nature  and 
training  incapable  of  understanding  the  lofty  idea,  the  disinterested 


84  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

purpose  and  the  benevolent  motive  back  of  it.  Some  had  reason 
enough  too  for  sensitive  and  jealous  uneasiness  about  their  dubious 
position  among  the  people,  even  in  such  a  field,  large  enough  to 
fully  engage  twenty  times  their  number ;  and,  with  hardly  an 
exception,  these  were  persons  who  could  not  be  expected  to  know 
a  better  way  of  trying  to  maintain  their  standing  than  to  coarsely 
attack  the  reputation  and  recklessly  impugn  the  motives  of  every 
other  man  undertaking  religious  work  in  the  Province,  whom  they 
regarded  as  a  competitor.  Preferring  to  think  evil  of  the  Count, 
they  naturally  adopted  and  circulated  the  easy  conclusion  which 
any  ill-disposed  mind  would  find  suggested,  that  his  plan  was  only 
a  deceitful  stratagem  to  make  proselytes  for  his  own  particular 
association  which  they  called  Herrnhuters  and  Zinzendorfians,  while 
those  who  spoke  English  included  all  of  its  members  under  the  name 
Moravians. 

Some  modern  denominational  writers,  burdened  with  a  supposed 
duty  to  make  out  an  anti-Zinzendorf  case,  permit  themselves  to 
reproduce  this  shallow,  unworthy  imputation,  and  follow  the  mere 
libeler's  short  course  to  an  explanation  of  his  complicated  experiment ; 
intimating  that  his  real  purpose  was  to  proselyte  and  "make 
Moravians"  of  the  people.  Some  treat  the  situation  in  this  particular, 
not  as  it  was,  but  as  it  would  have  been  if  modern  conditions  had 
existed — the  country  full  of  well-organized  churches,  ministers  enough 
to  adequately  serve  all  places  and  complete  systems  of  administration 
existing  among  all  denominations.  Broadly  evangelical  efforts  to 
meet  crying  need  among  the  great  mixed  multitude  of  a  new  country, 
in  a  condition  of  deplorable  ecclesiastical  neglect,  with  fewer  than  a 
dozen  very  crudely  organized  and  for  the  most  part  yet  more  crudely 
served  congregations  among  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  German 
Protestants  scattered  over  an  area  of  more  than  two  thousand  square 
miles,  were  a  legitimate  undertaking  on  the  part  of  any  evangelists 
more  concerned  with  trying  to  benefit  the  people  than  with  contending 
for  one  scholastic  system  against  another.  Even  if  Zinzendorf  had 
proposed  to  operate  in  such  a  field  on  a  distinctly  Moravian  Church 
basis,  modern  charges  of  proselyting,  under  that  kind  of  circumstances, 
would  be  captious  and  frivolous.  But  everyone  who  is  properly 
acquainted  with  the  history  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  Pennsylvania 
knows  that  his  strong  opposition  to  organizing  congregations  in  this 
character  and  under  this  name,  even  where  the  services  of  the 
Brethren  were  most  acceptable,  accounts  for  the  fact  that  so  little. 


1742.  8s 

iij  a  denominational  form,  resulted  from  theirextensive  and  influential 
early  activity. 

It  might  indeed  be  said  that  the  Moravian  Church  eventuallv 
became  established  as  a  distinct  denomination  in  Pennsylvania  in 
spite  of,  rather  than  in  consequence  of  Zinzendorf's  policy  and 
method. 

The  most  indistinct  feature  of  the  Count's  Pennsylvania  plan — next 
to  his  individual  status,  that  perpetual  crux  criticorum — was  just  the 
part  to  be  borne  in  it  by  the  Moravian  Church.  The  name  Moravians, 
loosely  applied,  then  and  now,  to  the  whole  composite  association  of 
that  time  which  he  had  formed  out  of  the  Herrnhut  beginning,  is 
inaccurate  and  misleading.  Clearness  can  only  be  found  by  taking 
the  terms  Moravians  and  Moravian  Church  at  that  time  as  he  used 
them  and  in  his  point  of  view.  Such  clearness  is  necessary  in  order, 
not  only  to  rightly  discern  this  feature  of  his  plan,  but  to  understand 
many  of  the  movements  which  emanated  from  Bethlehem  during  the 
first  years. 

The  association,  composed  of  various  ecclesiastical  elements,  which 
had  arisen  at  Herrnhut  and  was  extending  elsewhere,  was  the  Briidcr- 
gemeim — Community  of  Brethren,  or  Association  of  Brethren.  Their 
common  appellation  was  simply  the  Brethren.  Its  pre-eminent 
purpose  was,  to  be  a  missionary  or  evangelistic  body.  Bethlehem 
was  to  be  its  American  center.  There,  as  at  Herrnhut,  there  would 
be  persons  of  dilTerent  general  confessional,  and  ecclesiastical  con- 
nections. Their  services  were  to  be  utilized,  as  far  as  possible,  among 
their  ecclesiastical  kindred  respectively,  for  their  general  spiritual 
improvement  and  their  organization  into  well-ordered  congregations 
with  reliable  ministers.  The  people  thus  served  were  not  to  be 
gathered  to  the  membership  even  of  the  composite  Association  of 
Brethren,  much  less  of  the  Moravian  Church  as  a  distinct  ecclesi- 
astical body,  but  in  the  lines  of  their  several  "religions."  In 
accordance  with  this  idea,  the  desire  of  large  numbers  of  people  later 
to  be  received  at  Bethlehem,  or  even  to  enter  into  full  connection  with 
the  Association — Gcm-ciiw — was  not  encouraged,  whatever  to  the 
contrary  has  been  declared  by  the  assailants  of  the  Brethren.  The 
number  of  persons  who  were  thus  received,  either  to  be  utilized  in 
the  general  working  force  or  for  special  reasons  existing  in  individual 
cases,  was  really  very  small  compared  to  the  number  that  sought 
admission. 

The  Moravians  were  specifically  the  refugees  from  Moravia  whom 
the  Count  had  received  at  Herrnhut,  who  composed  the  main  body 


86  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

of  the  first  missionaries  and,  with  a  few  exceptions,  the  pioneer  band 
in  Pennsylvania.  Some  refugees  not  strictly  from  Moravia,  but  from 
adjacent  parts  of  Bohemia,  were  classed  with  them.  The  Moravian 
Church,  as  Zinzendorf  then  used  the  term,  meant,  not  the  whole 
composite  Association  or  Community  of  the  Brethren  then  existing, 
but  specifically  the  historic  Unitas  Fratrum  of  Bohemia,  Moravia 
and  Poland,  in  its  suppressed  Moravian  survival,  with  its  episcopate 
passed  on,  "in  span  contra  spent,"  from  Comenius,  its  last  Moravian 
bishop,  through  a  succession  of  conservers,  to  Jablonsky,  his 
grandson.  It  was  represented  in  that  Association  of  Brethren  in  the 
persons  of  those  refugees  of  its  Moravian  "hidden  seed,"  who  desired 
its  resuscitation ;  in  certain  rudiments  of  organization  and  principles 
of  discipline  and  order  introduced  by  him  in  the  spirit  of  its  ancient 
Ratio  Disciplinac  which  they  wished  to  see  restored ;  in  some  features 
of  ritual  and  general  cult  concordant  with  the  inner  genius  of  the  old 
Church ;  in  the  traditions  those  Moravians  yet  cherished  of  its  simple, 
essential  evangelicalism,  which  easily  assimilated  with  both  of  the 
general  Protestant  "religions"  on  their  more  approachable  sides ;  and 
in  its  preserved  episcopate  which,  in  the  matter*  of  ecclesiastical 
continuity,  was  the  most  tangible  link,  and  which  had  been  transferred 
by  its  last  two  depositaries  to  the  Brethren  at  Herrnhut.^ 

Zinzendorf  looked  upon  what  thus  survived  of  the  existence  of  the 
Brethren's  Church  of  Moravia  as  a  venerable  ecclesiastical  remnant, 
worthy  and  capable  of  being  rehabilitated  and  also  of  being  utilized 
in  the  promotion  of  his  wider  plans.  Therefore,  it  was,  for  the  time 
being,  built  in,  as  a  piece  in  his  structure ;  or  rather  incorporated  as 
an  element  of  the  Association  in  such  a  quality  that  there  was  a 
possibility  of  its  emerging  eventually  in  a  more  distinct  and  dominant 
character,  where  this  would  seem  easier  and  more  desirable  than  in 
Saxony.  But  the  impress  of  Zinzendorf's  ideas  and  an  overmastering 
German  influence  averse  to  such  development,  not  only  in  Germany 
and  England  but  also  in  America,  where  it  could  have  been  effected 
most  easily  and  would  have  been,  not  only  in  accordance  with  the 
desires  of  the  pioneer  Moravians,  but  the  most  readily  understood 
and  practical  course,  kept  the  Church  imbedded  in  the  Association. 
It  asserted  itself,  however,  sufificiently  to  establish  an  ecclesiastical 
individuality,  preserve  a  defined  frame-work  and  perpetuate  the 
historic  orders  inherited.    After  many  years,  this  individuality  became 

I  See  on  the  above  points,  Chapter  II.  note  i,  also  Zinzendorfs  words  on  reading  the 
J^atio  Disciplinac  and  history  with  dedication  by  Comenius,  and  passage  on  Jablonsky. 


1742.  87 

sufficiently  fixed  that  in  modern  times  the  Association  of  the  Brethren 
— or  Unity  of  the  Brethren — and  the  Moravian  Church  may  be  spoken 
of  as  identical,  and  the  term  Moravians  applied  to  its  members  as  a 
general  denomination  name  equivalent  to  the  term  the  Brethren. 

In  Zinzendorf's  Pennsylvania  plan,  the  function  of  the  Moravian 
Church,  in  the  strict  sense  of  that  time,  was  then  a  three-fold  one. 
First,  it  would  constitute  the  proper  ecclesiastical  footing  for  his 
department  of  free  evangelization,  which. was  not  to  be  directed  into 
either  Lutheran  or  Reformed  lines,  when  prosecuted  among  English- 
speaking  churchless  people,  or  among  miscellaneous  German 
sectarians,  so  that  on  this  basis  the  evangelists  would  not  seem  to 
be  merely  gathering  the  people  out  of  one  sect  into  another;  the 
proper  footing  also  for  the  missionary  work  among  the  Indians  who 
were  heathen,  standing  in  no  kind  of  relation  to  any  existing  Christian 
body,  so  that  not  even  the  most  captious  railer  could  call  Moravian 
work  among  them  proselyting,  even  if  men  who  had  been  members 
of  one  of  the  "religions,"  and  joined  the  Brethren,  engaged  in  it  with 
them. 

In  the  second  place,  it  was  to  stand  among  the  religions  and  sects 
as  a  living  witness  for  an  evangelical  harmony  above  those  points  of 
difference  at  which  creeds  diverged  and  denominations  drew  apart. 
Merged  in  an  association  which  enveloped  its  identity,  its  ardently 
loyal  sons  would  count  themselves  as  but  one  of  the  tribes  of  that 
general  family.  As  such,  they  would  seek  touch  with  the  two  great 
Protestant  religions,  even  doctrinally,  at  the  point  of  closest  approach  ; 
a  Christ-centered  point  which  Zinzendorf  conceived  to  lie  back  of  all 
divergent  scholastic  systems  in  the  primitive  genius  of  Protestantism, 
as  promulgated,  1530-1533;  the  Augsburg  Confession,  1530,  the 
articles,  doctrinal  and  pastoral,  of  the  Reformed  Synod  of  Berne,  1532, 
the  German  reissue  of  the  confession  of  the  Brethren  of  Bohemia 
and  Moravia,  published  under  the  direction  of  Luther  and  with  his 
preface  in  1533.  In  the  third  place  the  Moravian  Church  was  to 
be  the  special  handmaiden  of  the  two  great  religions — Lutheran  and 
Reformed — in  gathering,  organizing  and  nurturing  their  scattered  and 
demoralized  hosts  in  Pennsylvania ;  among  other  things,  in  serving 
them  for  the  time-being  through  its  episcopate,  by  conferring  a  proper 
ordination  upon  the  men  found  and  called,  under  the  Count's  general 
plan,  as  suitable  and  worthy  to  labor  among  them  in  the  ministry,  in 
default  of  ministers  sent  by  their  authorities  in  Europe.  Handhvigcr 
dienst  he  also  called  this  service,  like  that  of  men  carrying  stone  and 


05  A    HISTORY    OF   BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

mortar  to  the  builders.  In  one  of  his  utterances  on  this  subject, 
anticipating  a  well-ordered  situation  finally  resulting,  he  said:  "If 
these  two  rehgions  will  go  hand  in  hand  and  use  the  treasures  of  their 
respective  churches  for  the  common  good,  they  can  constitute  a 
complete  apostolic  church  and  bring  all  the  small  sects  back  into 
accord  with  them ;  and  then  the  Moravian  Church  would  see  her 
two  beloved  brothers  in  one  house,  and  would  be  their  faithful  sister." 
He  contemplated  an  ideal  reproduction  in  Pennsylvania  of  what  had 
in  theory  been  attained  in  the  Sendomir  Consensus  of  1570. 

Further  obscurities  in  the  peculiar  individual  status  of  Zinzendorf, 
when  he  came  to  Pennsylvania,  have  occasioned  confusion  and  error 
in  sundry  publications,  commonly  taken  as  authoritative  sources,  and 
even  disposed  some  writers,  who  have  treated  the  subject  without 
sufficient  information,  or  with  a  hostile  bias,  to  indulge  in  disrespectful 
and  injurious  comments.  Therefore  some  statements,  with  a  view 
to  rendering  this  matter  clearer,  may  be  added  to  the  foregoing 
elucidations. 

He  was  not  only  "the  banished  Count,"  and  the  promoter  of  the 
Association  of  the  Brethren  with  its  growing  evangelistic  work,  but 
was  a  bona  fide  evangelical  minister  of  the  Augsburg  Confession  and 
the  Lutheran  order,  prior  to  and  apart  from  the  relations  he  bore  to 
the  Moravian  Church,  strictly  speaking.  Naturally,  historians  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  do  not  usually  regard  him  as  such  at  any  period  of 
his  career,  because  his  views  and  methods  are  not  held  to  have  been 
conformable  to  Lutheran  standards ;  because  his  work  never  bore 
a  distinctly  denominational  character  under  consistorial  direction ;  and 
because — particularly  from  the  denominational  standpoint  in  America, 
where  there  is  nowhere  a  general  Lutheran  state  church  admitting 
the  existence  of  special  bodies  with  distinct  systems  and  names  within 
its  pale — his  connection  with  the  Moravian  Brethren,  and  even  with 
the  general  Association  of  the  Brethren,  is  viewed  as  connection  with 
another  church  and  therefore  necessarily  a  severance  of  all  Lutheran 
connection.  Some  writers  have  made  shorter  work  in  disposing  of 
his  claim,  by  discrediting  or  ignoring  the  facts  on  which  he  based  it, 
and  calling  it  all  a  pretense.  This,  however,  is  the  method  of  the 
mere  combatant,  not  of  the  candid  investigator  and  honorable 
historian.  Some  of  the  steps  by  which  he  made  his  way  into  the 
ministry  would  appear  needlessly  indirect ;  would  even  seem  shifty 
and  eccentric,  when  the  complications  and  peculiar  impediments  with 
which  his  rank  and  station  and  the  active  opposition  of  his  family 


1742.  89 

embarrassed  his  course,  are  not  duly  considered — circumstances 
which  are  not  easily  understood  and  appreciated  now.  His  deter- 
mination to  attain  this  desire ;  his  undiminished  attachment,  under 
later  circumstances,  to  that  "religion"  in  which  he  was  reared — the 
original  genius  and  system  of  which  he  esteemed  above  every  other, 
as  appears  repeatedly  in  his  recorded  utterances ;  his  unremitting 
efforts  to  make  himself  understood  in  it  and  to  keep  in  adjustment  to 
it  with  his  unique  institutions,  which  he  was  profoundly  convinced 
were  not  inconsistent  with  its  genuine  spirit,  were  pathetic,  in  view  of 
the  attitude  then  so  generally  taken  towards  him  by  its  eminent 
clergy  of  both  the  orthodox  and  pietist  schools,  and  the  indefensible 
assaults  of  many  of  the  lesser  and  baser  sort.  The  chief  points  of 
his  course  into  the  Lutheran  ministry  were  the  following:  In  1732, 
measures  to  transfer  his  Berthelsdorf  domain  to  the  Countess,  in 
anticipation  of  the  approaching  troubles,  by  which  he  extricated 
himself  from  the  trammels  of  his  position  as  lord  of  the  manor ;  and 
the  relinquishment  of  his  seat  at  the  court  of  Dresden  cleared  his 
way  somewhat.  In  1733,  a  favorable  ex  cathedra  opinion  from 
Tuebingen,  in  response  to  his  inquiry,  settled  in  his  mind  the  question 
whether  he  could,  as  a  Lutheran  and  within  general  Lutheran  lines, 
foster  the  Herrnhut  association  on  the  proposed  basis,  and  indulge 
the  wishes  of  the  Moravians  to  the  extent  had  in  view.  From  the 
standpoint  of  this  opinion,  he  considered  his  entire  subsequent  work  a 
special  one  in  which  he  engaged  as  primarily  a  Lvitheran  and 
remaining  such. 

In  April,  1734,  after  some  particular  theological  study,  in  addition 
to  that  of  his  university  years,  he  went  to  Stralsund  to  seek  a 
theological  examination.  To  avoid  the  embarrassments  of  con- 
ventional etiquette  and  prevent  the  name  Zinzendorf  from  figuring 
in  the  position  into  which  he  there  stepped  as  a  candidate,  that  of  a 
private  tutor,  he  used  as  an  incognito  one  of  his  minor  titles,  Von 
Freydeck — a  common  practice  among  the  nobility  under  peculiar 
circumstances — but  did  not,  of  course,  expect  that  his  identity  would 
really  remain  concealed,  any  more  than  any  other  conspicuous  noble- 
man traveling  incognito  would  expect  this.  The  result  was  a  testi- 
monial to  his  Lutheran  orthodoxy  as  a  theologian,  issued  by  the 
Stralsund  divines,  dated  April  26,  1734. 

He  placed  the  small  sword  worn  on  occasions  according  to  custom 
by  men  of  his  rank  at  court,  in  the  hands  of  the  Lutheran  Super- 
intendent at  Stralsund,  in    token    of    his    renunciation    of    civil    for 


90  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

ecclesiastical  station  and  his  first  step  into  the  ministry.  Upon  his 
return  to  Herrnhut  he  notified  the  Queen  of  Denmark  of  this,  in  view 
of  the  Danebrog  order  he  had  received  from  the  Danish  King,  which 
was  mentioned  among  his  dignities  in  the  Stralsund  testimonial.  This 
distinguished  order  he  eventually  returned.  At  the  same  time  he 
informed  the  Lutheran  Superintendent  at  Dresden,  Dr.  Valentine 
Ernst  Loescher,  of  his  intentions,  citing  the  case  of  Prince  George 
ot  Anhalt,  in  the  days  of  the  Reformation,  as  a  precedent  for  such 
a  step  on  the  part  of  one  of  his  rank  and  connections.  Then,  feeling 
the  increasing  weight  of  disapproval  on  the  part  of  relatives  and 
associate  noblemen,  he  planned  a  course  which  he  thought  would 
bear  some  similarity  to  that  of  the  Anhalt  prince,  and  would  be 
tolerated  by  royalty  and  nobility,  under  the  rigid  ideas  of  that  time, 
as  consistent  with  his  station.  Deciding  to  pass  into  the  ministry 
under  the  church  of  Wuertemberg,  where  the  way  seemed  to  open 
more  readily  than  elsewhere,  he  proposed  to  restore,  at  his  own 
cost,  the  ruined  abbey  of  St.  George  which,  with  its  ancient  benefits, 
had  passed  under  the  control  of  the  Lutheran  Church ;  to  fit  it  up  as 
a  theological  seminary  to  furnish  the  settlements  and  missions  of 
the  Brethren  with  a  trained  ministry ;  and  himself  assume  the 
direction  under  the  old  prerogatives  of  the  seat.  The  Duke  of  Wuer- 
temberg, fearing  difficulties  to  himself  by  reviving  that  obsolete 
prelacy,  declined  to  favor  the  proposition,  and  nothing  came  of  it.  A 
few  weeks  after  the  Duke's  reply,  November  8,  1734,  the  Count 
formally  notified  the  Lutheran  Directory  at  Stuttgart  of  his  purpose 
to  enter  the  ministry  in  that  realm,  and  received,  in  response,  their 
cordial  approval ;  Chancellor,  Dr.  Christopher  Matthew  Pfafif,  of 
Tuebingen  University  having,  shortly  before,  delivered  an  elaborate 
favorable  opinion  on  the  question  of  the  tokens  of  an  inner  call  and 
of  qualification,  submitted  in  a  document  by  Zinzendorf  through 
Spangenberg,  who  had  also  conducted  the  negotiations  in  reference 
to  St.  George. 

December  19,  1734,  the  theological  faculty  of  Tuebingen  passed 
upon  his  final,  formal  declaration  submitted  in  print.  The  Stralsund 
testimonial  was  confirmed  and,  notwithstanding  some  misgivings  on 
the  part  of  one  or  two,  he  was  regularly  received  into  holy  orders 
after  the  manner  in  vogue,  his  official  position  in  view  being  that  of 
assistant  to  his  Berthelsdorf  minister.  December  19  and  21,  he 
preached  at  Tuebingen  in  the  quality  of  an  accredited  theologian  and 
minister  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 


1742.  91 

Two  years  later,  and  after  his  banishment  from  Saxony,  he  was 
strongly  persuaded  by  Frederick  WiUiam  I,  King  of  Prussia,  who 
was  interested  in  his  work  and  favored  the  development  of  the 
Moravian  Church  on  a  more  distinct  basis,  to  not  remain  simplv  a 
Lutheran  minister,  but  to  receive  consecration  as  a  bishop  of  that 
Church.  Zinzendorf,  after  carefully  considering  the  matter  and  taking 
counsel  with  the  aged  Bishop  Jablonsky  at  Berlin  and  with  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  concluded  to  follow  this  suggestion,  and  was 
so  consecrated  by  Jablonsky  and  David  Nitschmann  with  the  written 
concurrence  of  Sitkovius,  on  May  20,  1737,  with  the  understanding 
that  he  assumed  this  episcopate  of  an  ancient  suppressed  church  as 
a  Lutheran  divine,  just  as  Jablonsky  had  borne  it,  holding  position 
as  a  clergyman  of  the  Reformed  Church ;  David  Nitschmann,  the 
missionary  bishop,  representing  the  actual  Moravian  Brethren.  Thus 
his  scheme  of  having  the  several  general  religions  figure  as  tropes 
in  his  Association  of  Brethren  would  be  represented  in  the  episcopate 
which  had  been  introduced  to  furnish  ordination  to  all  departments ; 
and  the  manifest  demands  of  the  situation  that  he — then  at  the  head 
of  the  whole  work — should  be  a  bearer  of  this  digity  before  all 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities,  would  be  met.  He  intended  how- 
ever that  his  active  representation  and  exercise  of  it  before  the  public 
should  be  an  ad  interim  function  under  the  exigencies  of  the  time ; 
for,  as  he  said,  he  did  not  consider  himself  the  proper  person  to  be 
a  bishop.  Therefore,  when  he  formed  his  plans  for  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  wished  to  appear  ecclesiastically  as  simply  a  Tuebin- 
gen  theologian  and  minister  of  the  Lutheran  order  as  pre- 
viously, he,  in  July,  1741,  before  starting  for  America,  retired  from 
this  episcopacy.  He  then  called  himself,  so  far  as  his  relation 
specifically  to  the  Moravian  Church  was  concerned,  Ancien  Eveque  des 
Freres — a  retired  senior,  or  bishop  of  the  Brethren.  After  his  return 
to  Europe,  he  never  used  the  title  of  a  bishop  in  any  communications 
or  negotiations,  but  used  that  of  Ordinarius.  He  did  not,  however, 
regard  this  as  debarring  or  disqualifying  him  in  the  matter  of 
pariticipating  in  ordinations.  Therefore,  first  and  last,  he  considered 
himself  a  Lutheran  divine,  so  far  as  general  ecclesiastical  status  in 
connection  with  one  of  the  religions  was  concerned,  and  looked  upon 
his  other  ofifices  and  duties  in  connection  with  the  Brethren,  to  whom 
he  devoted  himself,  as  special. 

But  the  embarrassments  of  his  troublesome  rank  pursued  him  to 
Pennsylvania,  and  he  soon  perceived  that  this  was  in  his  way  yet 


92  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,   PENNSYLVANIA. 

more  than  the  Moravian  episcopate  would  have  been.  When  he 
arrived  in  America  he  took  another  of  his  lesser  titles,  that  of  von 
Thiirnstein,  and  so  announced  himself  to  the  Governor  of  Penn- 
sylvania, who  being  both  a  well-informed  and  well-bred  gentleman, 
respected  his  incognito  and  made  use  of  it  in  addressing  commvmi- 
cations  to  him.  But  he  found  that  the  ignorant  misunderstood  and  the 
malicious  misrepresented  his  course  ;  and  the  rude  liberties  taken  with 
him  by  ill-bred  assailants,  subjected  his  ancestral  name  to  indignities 
under  which  he  felt  his  kindred  falHng  with  him,  on  account  of  the 
course  he  had  taken  in  a  conviction  of  his  calling,  but  against  their 
protest.  This  so  oppressed  his  mind  that  he  resolved  to  take  an 
extraordinary  step  which  he  had  thought  of  before  as  a  last  resort. 
This  was  to  formally  renounce  his  rank  and  title"  with  a  view  to 
escaping  from  its  embarrassments  and  delivering  his  family  from 
annoyance  through  the  detraction  he  suffered  in  the  craze  of  the 
time. 

»  The  Count's  full  array  of  titles,  as  given  by  Spangenberg  in  his  Life  of  Zinzendorf,  is 
the  following :  Nicholas  Lewis,  Count  and  Lord  of  Zinzendorf  and  Pottendorf ;  Lord  of  the 
Baronies  of  Freydeck,  Schoeneck,  Thiirnstein  and  the  Vale  of  Wachovia  ;  Lord  of  the 
Manor  of  Upper,  Middle  and  Lower  Berthelsdorf;  Hereditary  Warden  of  the  Chase  to  his 
Imperial  Roman  Majesty,  in  the  Duchy  of  Austria,  below  the  Ems;  late  Aulic  and  Justicial 
Counsellor  to  his  Majesty,  Augustus  II,  King  of  Poland,  for  the  Electorate  of  Saxony.  It 
is  not  surprising  that  such  men  as  those  several  ministers  of  the  religions,  sectarian  leaders 
and  separatists  in  Pennsylvania — who  agreed  on  nothing  but  to  attack  Zinzendorf  and  incite 
the  populace  against  him — did  not  know  that  noblemen  with  several  titles  sometimes,  for 
particular  reasons,  temporarily  took  a  different  one  from  that  by  which  they  were  mainly 
known ;  that  under  the  ramified  and  punctilious  etiquette  of  those  days,  in  titled  circles,  this 
was  at  times  decidedly  important  to  them ;  that  this  was  known  as  traveling  or  sojourning 
incognito,  which  meant,  not  an  attempt  to  pass  for  somebody  else,  but  merely  that,  for  some 
reason,  their  prominent  rank  was  not  to  be  associated  with  the  quality  in  which  they  were 
then  figuring ;  or  that  they  wished  to  be  exempt,  for  the  time  being,  from  official  and  cere- 
monious constraints  inseparable  from  the  station  represented  by  their  chief  title.  That  kind 
of  men  could  not  be  expected  therefore  to  know  that  Count  Zinzendorf  really  was  also  Von 
Thiirnstein  and  had  a  right  to  the  name,  as  in  Europe,  on  other  occasions,  he  had  used  the 
names  Von  Freydeck  and  Von  der  Wachau  when  he  did  not  wish  to  be  formally  recognized 
and  dealt  with  as  the  Count  of  Zinzendorf ;  and  men  who  understood  such  matters,  as  at 
the  court  of  Berlin  and  among  the  conservative  and  decorous  classes  in  London,  not  only 
addressed  him  but  referred  to  him  under  his  incognito^  even  though  they  well  knew  that  he 
was  Zinzendorf. 

Neither  is  it  surprising  that  some  better-informed  but  ill-disposed  persons  in  Pennsylvania, 
the  same  as  in  Europe,  pretended  not  to  know  these  things,  when  alluding^o  this  matter  in 
aspersing  him.  But  when  respectable  and  presumably  well-informed  modern  writers  betray 
that  same  lack  of  knowledge,  or  follow  the  course  of  those  in  his  day  who  affected  to  ignore 
it,  and  call  Von  Thurnstein  a  "pseudonym,"  or  "a  fictitious  title,"  or  "an  assumed  name,"  or 


1742.  93 

At  a  meeting  of  the  leading  men  of  Philadelphia,  held  at  his  request 
on  his  birthday,  May  26,  1742,  at  the  house  of  Governor  Thomas,  he 
published  such  a  renunciation  in  a  Latin  address,  of  which  printed 
copies  had  been  distributed  to  the  persons  present,  in  order  that  they 
might  follow  more  understandingly,  because  of  the  difiference  between 
the  Continental  pronunciation  of  Latin,  which  he  used,  and  the  English 
pronunciation  to  which  these  gentlemen  were  accustomed.  These 
copies  were  then  collected  and  deposited  under  seal  with  Charles 
Brockden,  Deputy  Master  of  the  Rolls  of  the  Province  and  Recorder 
of  Deeds  for  the  city,  who  was  present.^  They  were  to  remain  in 
his  charge  pending  further  necessary  steps  in  Europe,  This  act, 
which  created  quite  a  sensation  and  was  variously  commented  upon, 
was  thus  in  the  nature  rather  of  a  public  notice  of  his  purpose.  It 
was  never  really  consummated ;  for  after  his  return  to  Europe,  he  was 
urgently  dissuaded  from  the  step,  not  only  by  his  family,  but  by  the 
civil  authorities,  and  the  reasons  presented  were  so  cogent  that  he 
yielded. 

It  seemed  an  eccentric  notion,  but  the  animating  spirit  was  heroic. 
Believing  that  the  choice  was  before  him  between  his  noble  rank 
and  title,  with  everything  honorable  before  men  that  went  with  it ;  and 
devoting  himself  to  the  work  of  the  gospel  and  the  spiritual  good  of 
his  fellowmen,  in  the  way  he  had  chosen  and  believed  to  be  the  right 

speak  of  his  "failure  to  conceal  his  identity,"  as  if  they  thought  this  was  what  he  intended 
and  expected  to  do,  this  cannot  be  called  not  surprising,  and  it  is  hardly  excusable.  What 
his  detractors  in  Pennsylvania  at  that  time  said  about  him  in  their  ignorance  or  animosity 
would  not  be  worth  referring  to  in  connection  with  this  kind  of  a  matter.  The  modified 
modern  reproductions  by  writers  who  should  not  do  this,  warrant  the  use  of  some  space  to 
set  the  subject  right  before  the  readers  of  these  pages.  Zinzendorf 's  singular  resort  to  an 
antiquated  prerogative  in  creating  an  adoptive  relation  to  the  Moravian  Father  Nitschmann, 
associated,  as  he  once  intimated,  with  his  assumption,  *^ad interim"  of  the  Moravian  epis- 
copate, occasioned  his  freak  of  using  this  name  several  times  in  a  half  playful  manner  in 
certain  letters  while  in  Pennsylvania — a  thing  also  given  publicity  by  eager  censors.  That 
requires  no  justification.  It  belonged  to  those  odd  fancies  which  unnecessarily  gave  occa- 
sion to  carpers,  often  rendered  his  words  and  movements  inscrutable  to  plain,  matter-of-fact 
people  and  offended  those  who  had  no  sympathy  with  anything  beyond  the  limits  of  sturdy 
soberness.     He  genially  acknowledged  "a  disposition  to  extravagances." 

Among  the  Quakers  of  Pennsylvania  he  passed  as  plain  "  Friend  Lewis"  and  among  the 
Brethren,  with  like  plainness,  as  "Bruder  Ludwig." 

3  Brockden's  attested  copy  of  the  memorandum  of  the  formality,  with  the  names  of  those 
present,  printed  in  the  Btiedingsche  Sammlungen,  III,  p.  330,  is  to  be  found  on  page  95  of 
The  Early  History  of  the  Church  of  the  United  Brethren,  etc.,  by  Levin  T.  Reich  el  — a 
manuscript  printed  in  1888  by  the  Moravian  Historical  Society. 


94  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

way  for  him,  he  determined  to  pursue  the  latter  and  let  the  former 
go.  His  only  reward  was  to  be  yet  more  calumniated,  to  have  his 
family  name  yet  more  ruthlessly  dragged  into  the  gutter,  and  to  have 
later  historians,  in  sympathy  with  the  coarse  revilement  of  that  time, 
report  the  whole  procedure  as  merely  gotten  up  "for  stage  ellfect." 

These  various  elucidations,  given  thus  fully  in  connection,  to  set  the 
persons  and  plans  at  the  foundation  of  the  Bethlehem  activities  in  a 
correct  light,  will  serve  in  advance,  instead  of  explanations  which 
would  otherwise  have  to  be  added  specially  to  some  movements  and 
arrangements  farther  on.  They  will  also  forestall  some  details  in 
connection  with  important  occurrences  of  the  months  from  January 
to  June,  1742,  which  would  be  necessary  in  so  far  as  these  have  a 
"bearing  on  the  subject  of  these  pages. 

Zinzendorf's  most  conspicuous  local  activity  during  those  months 
lay  in  his  connection  with  the  neglected  and  demoraHzed  German 
Lutheran  congregation  of  Philadelphia,  long  without  a  minister,  dis- 
couraged through  fruitless  efforts  to  procure  one  from  Europe,  but 
continuing  to  worship  as  best  they  could  in  an  old  building  belonging 
to  William  Allen,  which  had,  as  it  seems,  done  duty  as  a  barn,  a  car- 
penter's shop  and  a  butcher's  shop,  and  then  been  fitted  up  as  a 
make-shift  place  of  worship.  Around  that  rude  meeting-house  are 
clustered  some  of  the  most  disagreeable  sensations  of  his  activity  in 
Pennsylvania ;  and  with  his  efforts  to  there  be  of  service  to  his 
neglected  co-religionists  are  associated  the  most  persistently  adverse 
and  derogatory  representations  of  his  work  in  America  that  have 
been  perpetuated  in  print.  The  beginning  of  his  connection  with 
that  congregation  was  his  preaching  there,  January  21  N.  S.,  on  invi- 
tation of  the  church  wardens.  This  led  through  a  series  of  negotia- 
tions to  his  public  formal  acceptance  of  a  call  to  be  their  minister, 
which  occurred  on  the  second  Sunday  after  Easter,  May  13  N.  S. ; 
the  re-organization  of  the  congregation  and  election  of  new  wardens 
on  the  basis  of  some  general  articles  of  constitution ;  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  John  Christopher  Pyrlaeus,  who  was  a  Lutheran  candidate 
of  the  University  of  Leipsic,  to  be  his  assistant.  He  spoke  of  this 
call  as  unanimous.  This  must  doubtless  be  taken  merely  in  the  sense 
of  ncminc  contradiccnte ;  for  while  the  preponderating  sentiment 
unquestionably  favored  this  solution  of  their  preplexities  about  secur- 
ing a  pastor,  there  was  suppressed  dissatisfaction  in  some  quarters 
which  was  worked  upon  by  agitators  outside,  and  some  unstable  ele- 
ments, at  first  much  taken  with  the  plan,  were  won  to  the  opposition 


1742.  95 

when  the  active  crusade  against  Zinzendorf  was  opened.  This  did 
not  start  with  the  Lutherans.  The  German  Reformed  people  used 
the  meeting-house  on  the  last  Sunday  of  each  month,  when  they 
were  ministered  to  by  the  Rev.  John  Philip  Boehm,  of  Whitpain. 
whose  itinerary  embraced  this  charge.  He  was  "a  man  of  war  from 
his  youth,"  skilled  in  the  tactics  of  the  church  militant,  immovable 
in  what  he  conceived  to  be  his  duty  as  well  as  in  any  prejudice  that 
possessed  him,  and,  in  keeping  with  a  rugged  nature  and  rough 
environment,  was  not  over-choice  about  the  weapons  he  used.  He 
represented  in  Pennsylvania  the  extreme  Calvinism  and  the  austere 
rule  of  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  under  which  he  was  laboring  to 
gather  and  organize  the  Reformed  elements  of  the  region.  He  was 
the  chief  promulgator  in  the  Province,  of  the  so-called  pastoral  letter 
of  that  doughty  body,  issued  five  years  before,  which  was  the  text- 
book of  those  ministers  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  who  were  lift- 
ing up  their  voices  so  vehemently  to  save  the  country  from  the  Mora- 
vians. From  a  perusal  of  its  misleading  contents,  he  had  conceived 
an  intense  aversion  to  the  Count  in  advance,  and  upon  the  appear- 
ance of  the  latter  on  the  scene  he  proceeded  to  reproduce  its  stric- 
tures and  calumnies,  with  additions,  in  a  pastoral  letter  of  his  own, 
which  he  had  printed  and  circulated ;  besides  continuing  to  cry  aloud 
and  spare  not  wherever  he  went.  Some  of  its  absurd  statements  and 
accusations  seemed  to  Zinzendorf  sufBciently  injurious  in  their  influ- 
ence among  the  uninformed  and  credulous  masses,  that,  contrary  to 
his  usual  course  with  such  pasquinades,  he  wrote  a  reply  which,  later 
in  the  summer,  was,  on  consultation,  put  into  the  hands  of  George 
Neisser,  to  responsibly  issue.  He  gave  it  in  charge  of  the  printer, 
Henry  Miller,  then  employed  in  Franklin's  office,  where  it  was 
printed. 

Mr.  Boehm's  crusade  had  a  climax  in  Philadelphia,  after  it  had 
progressed  far  enough  to  enlist  the  active  co-operation  of  the  rabble, 
that  was  possibly  more  heroic  than  even  he  had  anticipated.  On  a 
Sunday  in  July,  five  ruffians,  avowing  themselves  to  be  Reformed, 
with  a  promiscuous  gang  behind  them,  entered  the  meeting  house 
while  Pyrlaeus  was  preaching,  interrupted  him  with  the  statement 
that  some  one  outside  wished  to  speak  to  him,  and  when  this  ruse 
failed,  seized  him,  dragged  him  from  the  pulpit  and  out  of  the  build- 
ing, kicked  and  trampled  upon  him.  It  became  clear  later  that  some 
persons  in  the  Lutheran  party  who  had  joined  the  crusade,  were  impli- 
cated in  this  act,  as  well  as  in  the  previous  carrying  out  of  Mr. 


96  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM.    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Boehm's  suggestion  to  surreptitiously  put  a  special  padlock  on  the 
door  "to  keep  the  cattle  out;"  and  in  the  next  step,  to  have  the  man 
with  the  key  absent  himself  when  "the  Count's  party"  would  assemble 
for  service,  so  that  if  they  forced  an  entrance — as  they  did — into  their 
place  of  worship,  an  accusation  of  trespass,  and  even  a  pretext  for 
forcible  ejectment,  although  it  was  their  rightful  Sunday,  might  be 
trumped  up.  This  incident  ended  the  connection  of  Zinzendorf  and 
of  those  who  adhered  to  him  with  that  meeting-house.  During  the 
months  in  which  he  was  officiating  there  he  continued  also  to  preach 
in  the  German  Reformed  church  of  Germantown.  That  congrega- 
tion was  composed  of  a  different  element  of  the  Reformed  Church 
which  had  declined  to  adopt  Boehm's  church  constitution  and  the 
Amsterdam  ideas.  He  had  no  official  connection  with  it,  and  his 
crusade,  supplemented  by  that  of  the  coterie  of  Germantown  Sepa- 
ratists, failed  to  produce  much  effect  there  until  at  a  later  time.  The 
people  under  Bechtel's  leadership  were  more  disposed  to  fall  in  with 
the  teaching  and  spirit  of  the  Berne  Synod  of  1532,  which  Zinzen- 
dorf presented  to  their  attention.  Bechtel  was  ordained  there  on 
April  22  N.  S.,  by  Bishop  Nitschmann,  to  be  Reformed  minister  and 
superintend  the  work  that  would  be  organized  among  people  of 
Reformed  connection  elsewhere,  under  Zinzendorf's  plan,  on  the 
basis  of  the  Berne  Synod ;  which  he  thought — in  the  absence  of  any 
authority  in  the  Province  decreeing  what  standards  should  be  adopted 
denominationally,  or  of  even  a  general  denominational  organization 
on  the  basis  of  any  of  these  varying  standards — had  as  much  right  on 
the  English  soil  and  under  the  tolerant  government  of  Pennsylvania, 
as  the  canons  of  the  Synod  of  Dort,  imported  from  Holland,  had. 
The  Count  had  meanwhile  compiled  a  unique  catechism  for  popular 
use  in  the  particular  work  of  the  time,  based  on  the  principal  twelve 
of  the  forty-four  articles  of  the  Synod  of  Berne,  selected  in  the  line 
of  his  general  object  "to  enthrone  the  Lamb  of  God"  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  introduced  by  a  rhymed  paraphrase  of  the  captions  of  those 
selected  chapters.  The  work  was  turned  over  in  the  rough  to  Bech- 
tel, who  gave  it,  together  with  the  Berne  articles,  thorough  study, 
within  the  limits  of  his  ability  and  education,  and  then,  after  it  was 
gotten  into  final  shape,  with  some  practical  suggestions  on  his  part 
utilized,  it  was  adopted  by  him  as  a  medium  of  instruction.  In  his 
capacity  as  a  Reformed  minister,  on  that  ancient  broad  evangelical 
platform,  he  adopted  and  edited  the  work,  in  accordance  with  the 
understanding  reached,  and  had  it  printed  under  his  name,  as  publicly 


1742.  97 

responsible  for  its  issue  and  promulgation.  This  catechism  and  a 
collection  of  hymns  for  general  use  at  that  time,  compiled  by  Zinzen- 
dorf  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  and  printed  with  the  title  Hirtcn- 
Lieder  vm  Bethlehem — Pastoral  Hymns  of  Bethlehem — are  now  rari- 
ties among  the  Pennsylvania  imprints  of  that  period.* 

It  remains  yet  to  introduce  the  most  prominent  events  of  those 
months  from  January  to  June — the  general  assemblies  which  resulted 
from  the  efforts  of  Henry  Antes.  They  may  be  treated  with  com- 
parative brevity,  because  some  of  their  details  lie  outside  the  scope  of 
these  pages,  and  others  having  an  important  bearing  upon  what 
subsequently  developed  with  Bethlehem  as  its  operating  center, 
in  so  far  as  Zinzendorf's  ideas  influenced  action  and  results,  appear 
with  sufficient  clearness  in  the  exposition  of  his  scheme  already 
given.  In  accordance  with  the  understanding  reached  December  20, 
Antes,  on  December  26  N.  S.,  issued  his  circular,^  inviting  the  leaders 
of  the  various  persuasions  to  participate  in  a  general  "Conference  of 

4  Of  the  Hirten  Lieder,  only  two  copies  are  known  by  the  writer  to  exist.  The  edition 
was  probably  distributed,  for  the  most  part  at  least,  in  paper  covers  merely,  as  special 
collections  of  hymns  for  religious  gatherings  frequently  now  are  —  hence  its  extreme 
scarcity.  The  collection  was  printed  by  Saur  of  Germantown,  who  is  reported  to  have  con- 
descendingly said  he  did  so  because  he  "judged  it  to  be  harmless.''  Doubtless  he  regarded 
it  as  rather  a  matter  of  business  when  it  came  to  making  out  the  bill  and  collecting  the  cash. 
A  second  edition  "Nach  der  Germatttowner  Edition''''  was  incorporated  as  part  first  in  the 
small  German  hymn-book  of  the  Moravian  Church,  published,  1754,  in  London.  More 
copies  of  the  Bechtel  catechism  are  extant,  but  the  existence  of  an  exact  reprint — imprint,  date 
and  all — issued  in  Europe  in  1743,  but  with  German  type,  often  leads  to  confusion  with 
the  original.  Saur,  as  self-appointed  censor  of  all  religions,  sects  and  ministers, 
refused  to  print  the  catechism  because  it  had  Bechtel's  name  to  it.  Franklin,  less  disposed 
to  such  censorship,  took  the  contract  and  printed  it  with  Latin  type.  An  English  and 
a  Swedish  edition  of  1742  and  1743  respectively  are  extremely  rare. 

5  In  view  of  the  interpretation  put  upon  this  move  and  the  light  in  which  the  proceedings 
are  presented  by  writers  of  biased  attitude,  using  adverse  and  often  quite  erroneous  accounts 
as  sources,  the  circular  of  Antes  deserves  a  place  here,  to  reveal  the  real  purpose  of  the 
gatherings  and  the  spirit  in  which  they  were  called.     It  reads  in  translation  as  follows : 

In  the  Name  of  Jesus:  Amen. 
Beloved  Friend  and  Brother  : 

Inasmuch  as  frightful  evil  is  wrought  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  among  the 
souls  that  have  been  called  to  the  Lamb  (to  follow  Christ)  mainly  through  mistrust  and  sus- 
picion towards  each  other — and  that  often  without  reason  —  whereby  every  purpose  of  good 
is  continually  thwarted — although  we  have  been  commanded  to  love;  it  has  been  under 
consideration  for  two  years  or  more,  whether  it  would  not  be  possible  to  appoint  a  general 
assembly,  not  to  wrangle  about  opinions,  but  to  treat  with  each  other  in  love  on  the  most 
8 


98  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Religions"  at  Germantown  on  New  Year  Day  O.  S.,  January  12  N.  S.'' 
Seven  such  general  conferences  took  place :  the  first,  January 
12-13,  at  Germantown,  in  a  vacant  house  of  the  clock-maker,  Theobald 
Endt;  the  second,  January  21-23,  in  Falkner's  Swamp,  at  the  house 
of  George  Huebner;  the  third,  February  21-23,  ^^  Oley,  at  the  house 
of  John  de  Turck ;  the  fourth,  March  21-23,  at  Germantown,  in  the 
house  of  John  Ashmead,  where  Zinzendorf  had  his  headquarters 
several  months;  the  fifth,  April  18-20,  in  the  Germantown  Reformed 
church;  the  sixth.  May  16-18,  at  Germantown,  in  the  house  of 
Lawrence  Schweitzer;  the  seventh,  June  13-15,  in  Philadelphia,  in 
a  house  of  Edward  Evans  on  Race  Street  above  Second. 

Upwards  of  a  hundred  persons  generally  attended  the  regular 
sessions,  in  which,  on  several  occasions,  as  many  as  fifty  participated 
officially  as  accredited  deputies  of  various  persuasions.  A  great  many 
more  were  present  at  some  public  meetings.  At  the  beginning  no 
fewer  than  thirteen  varieties  of  creed  and  sect  could  be  counted  in 
the  motley  assemblage.  Seven  such  were  represented  by  accredited 
deputies,  and  several  separatists,  representing  only  themselves,  took 

important  articles  of  faith,  in  order  to  ascertain  how  closely  we  can  approach  each  other 
fundamentally,  and,  as  for  the  rest,  bear  with  one  another  in  love  on  opinions  which  do  not 
subvert  the  ground  of  salvation  ;  and  whether,  in  this  way,  all  judging  and  criticising 
might  not  be  diminished  and  done  away  with  among  the  aforesaid  souls,  by  which  they 
expose  themselves  before  the  world  and  give  occasion  to  say :  those  who  preach  peace  and 
conversion  are  themselves  at  variance.  Therefore  this  matter,  so  important,  has  now  been 
under  advisement  again  with  many  brethren  and  God-seeking  souls,  and  been  weighed 
before  the  Lord ;  and  it  has  been  decided  to  meet  on  the  coming  New  Year's  Day  at  Ger- 
mantown. Hence  you  are  cordially  invited  to  attend,  together  with  several  more  of  your 
brethren  who  have  a  foundation  for  their  faith  and  can  state  it,  if  the  Lord  permits.  It  has 
been  announced  to  nearly  all  of  the  others  (persuasions)  through  letters  like  this.  There 
will  probably  be  a  large  gathering,  but  do  not  let  this  deter  you;  for  all  will  be  arranged 
without  great  commotion.     May  the  Lord  Jesus  grant  us  His  blessing. 

From  your  poor  and  unworthy,  but  cordial  friend  and  brother, 
Frederick  Township,  HENRY    ANTES, 

in  Philadelphia  Co., 
December  15  (26  N.S.),  1741. 

6  The  old  style  dates  then  yet  officially  used  in  Pennsylvania,  and  therefore  attached  to  the 
circular  and  the  reports  of  the  meetings,  are  usually  retained  in  history.  The  new  style 
dates  are  here  taken,  to  agree  with  those  adopted  by  the  Brethren  and  now  associated  with 
occurrences  just  before,  during  and  right  after  these  gatherings  ;  especially  the  important 
events  that  directly  followed  at  Bethlehem,  with  which  only  new  style  dates  have  been  con- 
nected and  made  historic.  Otherwise,  a  sudden  skip  of  eleven  days  would  appear  between 
the  close  of  the  last  conference  and  the  organization  at  Bethlehem,  making  an  interval  of 
ten  days  seem  twenty-one  days. 


1742.  99 

part  in  the  proceedings.  The  Moravian  Brethren  from  Bethlehem 
who  attended,  were  there  only  as  individuals  and  unofficially.  They 
brought  no  credentials  as  deputies,  for  they  had  no  organization  yet 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  took  the  position  that  they  did  not  represent 
one  of  the  existing  religions  and  sects  of  the  Province.  Others  who 
belonged  to  the  general  Association  of  the  Brethren  in  Europe  and 
regularly  participated  in  the  conferences  were  associated  in  this 
capacity  with  the  several  religions — Lutheran  or  Reformed — in  which 
they  had  been  brought  up,  and  among  the  adherents  of  which  they 
were  to  labor  in  Pennsylvania.  This  was  consistent  with  Zinzendorf's 
general  plan,  and  if  the  explanation  of  this  plan  already  given  is  kept 
in  mind,  this  idea  can  be  understood.  Not  until  in  the  seventh  con- 
ference did  the  Moravian  Brethren  figure  as  representing  a  recognized 
distinct  body  in  Pennsylvania.  That  the  names  of  some  of  them  were 
among  the  signatures  witnessing  the  journal  of  one  and  another  con- 
ference, signified  nothing  in  the  matter  of  their  relation  to  it;  for, 
as  was  explicitly  stated,  these  witnesses  were  purposely  chosen  at 
random  from  among  reputable  men  present  at  the  sessions  without 
regard  to  their  being  deputed  members  or  not. 

In  the  nature  of  things,  it  could  not  be  expected  that  all  of  these 
incongruous  elements — some  of  them  fanatical  in  the  extreme,  others, 
like  the  group  of  Germantown  separatists,  hopelessly  irreconcilable 
and  contumacious — could  be  led  to  any  kind  of  agreement,  even 
under  the  simple  plan  of  Henry  Antes,  which,  at  first,  sought  nothing 
more  than  a  cessation  of  sectarian  hostilities ;  agreement  to  disagree 
peaceably  on  settled  differences  ;  mutual  recognition  of  whatever  good 
there  might  be  in  each  system;  a  covenant  to  labor  more  earnestly 
for  the  common  welfare,  each  party  in  its  own  way.  Some  came  only 
to  propagate  their  specialties.  Some  were  intent  on  sowing  discord 
and  defeating  the  object  from  the  beginning.  Such,  when  they  found 
themselves  headed  off  and  were  unable  to  put  their  way  through, 
resorted  to  misrepresentation  and  revilement;  and  their  screeds 
finding  their  way  into  print,  have  chiefly  furnished  the  materials  on 
which  those  writers  who  have  wished  to  present  adverse  accounts  of 
the  whole  movement,  have  based  their  versions. 

Therefore,  by  the  time  the  fourth  conference  was  reached,  only 
Lutheran  and  Reformed  elements  that  were  in  accord  with  Zinzen- 
dorf's plan;  certain  of  the  Mennonites,  Tunkers  and  "Hermits" 
attending  as  individuals  not  deputed  by  their  respective  bodies,  and 
the  Moravian  Brethren,  also  on  this  footing,  remained  in  it.     But 


lOO  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

with  this  sifting,  a  gradual  development  into  a  more  tangible  organ- 
ization took  place.  The  convention  assumed  the  character  of  a 
standing  body,  and  what  at  first  was  only  a  "Conference  of  Religions" 
became  "the  Pennsylvania  General  Synod."  In  the  report  of  its 
proceedings  as  finally  shaped  and  printed,  the  several  conferences 
are  called  synods.  Thus  the  common  term,  the  "Seven  Pennsylvania 
Synods"  came  into  vogue.  This  General  Synod  was  supposed  to 
represent  what  Zinzendorf  styled  "the  Church  of  God  in  the  Spirit," 
with  its  membership  of  sincere  and  genuine  Christians  found  among 
the  various  religions  and  sects.  It  is  a  misapprehension  to  suppose 
that  under  this  term  he  had  in  mind  merely  the  constituency  repre- 
sented in  that  Synod.  The  second  article  adopted  in  the  very  first 
conference  was  an  answer  to  the  question:  "What  is  embraced  in  the 
Communion  of  Saints?"  and  was  the  following  declaration:  "The 
Church  of  God  in  the  Spirit  throughout  the  world,  which  is  His  body, 
the  fullness  of  Him  that  filleth  all  in  all,  is  one  which  cannot  be  num- 
bered, and  members  of  it  are  to  be  found  in  places  where  they  would 
never  be  sought."  The  term  meant  simply  what  is  understood  by 
"the  Invisible  Church"  within  the  external  pale  of  the  Church  Univer- 
sal. That  Pennsylvania  General  Synod  was  had  in  mind  as  instituted 
to  represent  the  Pennsylvania  contingent  of  this  Invisible  Church,  and 
to  foster  fellowship  and  co-operation  among  such  true  children  of  God 
in  all  denominations.  The  step  which  constituted  this  standing  Synod 
was  taken  at  the  close  of  the  third  conference,  when  Trustees  of  the 
Synod  were  chosen.  Fifty  names  were  written  on  pieces  of  paper.  A 
civil  officer,  present  as  usual  by  request,  drew  thirty  of  these  names. 
Then  another  appointed  person  drew  from  this  number,  twenty.  Of 
these  twenty,  ten  were  drawn,  and  of  the  ten  finally  five.  After  that 
three  of  the  five  were  elected.  These  three  were  empowered  to  select 
two  other  men  to  serve  with  them,  whose  names  were  not  to  be 
known  by  any  but  the  Trustees,  unless  it  should  be  thought  advisable 
to  communicate  their  names  to  the  government  of  Pennsylvania.  It 
was  furthermore  decreed  that  if  it  should  become  commonly  known 
who  they  were,  their  appointment  should  lapse  and  others  should  be 
chosen  in  their  places.  These  two  were  to  labor  unobtrusively,  with- 
out being  known  as  having  an  ofificial  appointment ;  to  oversee  and 
foster  the  union  of  the  Church  of  God  in  the  Spirit  among  the  people 
connected  with  the  Synod ;  to  prevent,  as  well  as  they  could,  its  dis- 
solution on  the  one  hand,  and  every  tendency  towards  the  formation 
of  a  new  sect  out  of  it,  distinct  from  the  existing  denominations,  on 


1742.  loi 

the  other  hand.  Subsequently  it  was  decided  to  have  stated  meetings 
of  the  Synod  and  to  hold  quarterly  conferences  of  the  ministers  con- 
nected with  it,  at  Philadelphia,  Bethlehem,  Conestoga  or  elsewhere 
in  the  country. 

Zinzendorf's  personal  connection  with  these  conferences  began  with 
undergoing  a  general  inquisition  at  the  first  one,  on  the  part  of  the 
different  sectarians  assembled,  who  had  come  prepared  to  make  him 
a  target.  He  had  gone  down  among  them  as  one  of  them,  on  their 
level,  and  had  to  submit  to  the  decidedly  democratic  and,  in  some 
cases,  insolent  liberties  they  took  with  him.  He  proved  himself  equal 
to  the  situation,  however.  Some  left  full  of  spleen,  and  took  refuge 
in  shooting  at  him  from  a  comfortable  distance  through  Saur's  print- 
ing-press and  furnishing  new  ammunition  to  his  enemies  in  Europe. 
Others  were  won,  or  learned  regard,  and  at  the  second  conference  he 
was  unanimously  chosen  Syndic  or  Moderator.  He  presided  in  this 
capacity  at  the  remaining  sessions,  relieved  occasionally  by  Antes, 
who  had  opened  the  first  conference  and  presided  at  it,  or  by  some 
one  else.  When  the  indistinctness  of  his  position  to  the  minds  of  so 
many  was  distorted  to  his  prejudice,  he  insisted  upon  the  basis  he 
claimed  when  he  came  to  Pennsylvania,  and  plainly  declared  that  he 
assumed  the  moderatorship  at  those  conferences,  "not  in  the  char- 
acter of  a  special,  free  servant  of  God  as  Mr.  Whitefield  had  labored," 
but  in  the  capacity  of  a  Lutheran  minister.  He  declared  his  convic- 
tion that  his  own  religion,  in  which  he  was  reared,  was  the  best 
ground  on  which  to  stand  in  appealing  to  sects  and  schismatics  in 
those  assembUes,  and  stated  that  he  "needed  no  theology  for  that 
position  other  than  that  to  be  found  in  Luther's  smaller  catechism." 
In  conducting  the  proceedings  he  secured  agreement  at  the  outset  to 
an  extraordinary  measure  which  was  subsequently  more  reviled  than 
any  other  feature  by  those  who  first  acquiesced  in  it  and  then,  when 
they  found  it  restraining  their  fanatical  turbulence  or  aggressive 
contentiousness,  "forsook  the  conference  to  go  out  and  write  pas- 
quils."  This  measure  was  to  regularly  submit  to  the  lot  the  ques- 
tion of  introducing  any  new  matter  that  any  one  might  wish  to  bring 
forward,  orally  or  in  writing.  This,  it  was  thought,  could  more  grace- 
fully be  accepted,  if  it  should  rule  out  anything,  than  a  general  regu- 
lation limiting  subjects,  or  a  vote  on  each  special  case,  or  a  decision 
from  the  chair ;  and  in  this  way  no  previous  inquiry  into  the  nature 
or  purpose  of  the  communication  or  proposition  in  question  was 
needed,  in  order  to  decide  whether  to  admit  or  reject  it.      It  was 


I02  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

intended,  under  the  peculiar  circumstances,  to  control  the  propensity 
to  thrust  in  irrelevant,  unprofitable  or  controversial  themes,  and  to 
do.  this  in  a  manner  that  might  be  taken  as  Providential  overruling, 
without  the  risk  or  restricting  liberty  or  quenching  the  spirit  by  an 
exercise  of  human  will  or  judgment.  Zinzendorf  set  the  example  of 
rigidly  applying  this  method  to  whatever  he  thought  of  introducing 
or  proposing,  and,  as  he  afterwards  stated,  usually  had  some  person 
inimical  to  him  draw  the  lot  in  his  case.'^ 

A  beginning  was  made  with  organizing  congregations  for  the  sev- 
eral religions  under  this  Pennsylvania  Synod ;  for  the  Lutherans,  that 
in  Philadelphia,  as  reconstructed  by  Zinzendorf,  and  several  in  the 
country ;  for  the  Reformed,  who  would  adopt  the  Synod  of  Berne 
in  preference  to  Boehm's  Amsterdam  cult,  that  in  Germantown,  as 
reconstructed  after  Bechtel's  ordination,  and  one  in  the  country. 
Zinzendorf  became  inspector  of  the  Lutheran  department  and  Bech- 
tel  of  the  Reformed  department  of  the  Synod's  work.  The  state- 
ment    that     Zinzendorf     came      to      Pennsylvania     claiming     the 

7  This  arrangement,  which  Zinzendorf  himself  later  referred  to  as  adopted  for  an  extraor- 
dinary situation,  and  not  advisable  under  normal  conditions,  has  been  mentioned  by  some 
historians  as  introduced  in  accordance  with  Moravian  custom.  No  such  method  has  ever 
been  in  vogue  in  conducting  Moravian  synods  or  conferences.  Apart  from  this  extreme 
application  of  it,  the  use  of  the  lot  was  not  an  entirely  new  and  strange  thing  among  the 
people  who  were  there  assembled,  and  all  agreed  to  the  plan  at  first.  Zinzendorf  even  inti- 
mated in  one  of  his  later  references  to  it,  that  the  original  proposition  to  pursue  this  course 
did  not  emanate  from  him.  It  was  far  more  common  in  former  times  than  now,  among 
Germans  and  some  others,  to  use  the  lot  in  various  ways,  in  making  selections,  decid- 
ing questions  or  seeking  guidance  in  perplexity ;  or  to  employ  methods  akin  to  it,  such  as 
drawing  names,  numbers  or  questions,  yes  or  no,  drawing,  in  connection  with  many  a  matter, 
from  an  assortment  of  Scripture  texts,  opening  the  Bible  at  random  for  a  suggestive  passage,  etc. 
Those  who  think  of  the  employment  of  the  lot  as  an  exclusively  Moravian  practice  in  times  past, 
lack  proper  information.  Moravians  became  conspicuous  before  the  world  in  this  particular  be- 
because  all  their  doings  were  so  much  advertised  in  print — books  were  not  written  about  other 
people  who  used  the  lot  privately  or  collectively— and  because  what  gradually  became,  among 
them  an  uncommonly  prevalent  practice,  through  example  of  Zinzendorf,  who  from  his  youth 
privately  followed  this  custom  to  an  inordinate  degree,  was,  after  his  death,  officially  estab- 
lished and  reduced  to  system,  as  a  process  of  governmental  machinery ;  applied,  from  the 
control  of  the  whole  down  to  congregations  and  individuals,  in  a  variety  of  ways  which, 
even  in  those  times,  many  in  the  Chur? h  did  not  favor.  In  this  only,  and  not  in  the  optional 
use  of  the  lot  by  people  privately  or  officially,  individually  or  jointly,  did  the  Moravian 
Church  stand  unique,  so  long  as  this  was  maintained,  and  present  a  singular  ecclesiastical 
experiment.  Less  than  twenty  years  after  the  establishment  of  this  official  lot  regime,  oppo- 
sition was  so  strong  that  the  General  Synod  (1782)  was  constrained  to  begin  modifying  it. 
Successive  further  modifications  followed  at  intervals,  gradually  reducing  the  range  of  things 
to  which  it  was  applied,  until  at  last  for  many  years  these  were  very  limited,  and  finally  the  use 


1742.  I03 

position  of  General  Inspector  of  all  the  Lutheran  congrega- 
tions in  the  Province  is  erroneous  and  misleading;  as  is  also 
the  representation  that  he  thus  broadly  installed  Bechtel  in  similar 
charge  of  all  the  Reformed  congregations  and  called  upon  Boehm 
to  subordinate  himself  to  Bechtel.  All  that  was  done  in  this  respect 
must  be  understood  to  apply  merely  to  those  that  were  willing  to 
come  under  the  Synod  and  adopt  its  principles.  These  organizations 
were  of  course  ephemeral.  The  subsequent  collapse  of  the  scheme 
in  consequence  of  the  increasing  assaults  from  without  and  elements 
of  weakness  and  impracticability  within ;  and  the  final  waking  up  of 
the  respective  European  authorities  of  these  religions  to  the  neces- 
sity of  doing  something  substantial  for  their  people  in  Pennsylvania, 
caused  the  permanent  ecclesiastical  development  to  take  strictly 
denominational  form.  Thus,  in  its  defeat,  Zinzendorf's  plan  indirectly 
expedited  the  performance  of  the  important  duty  they  had  neglected. 
He  later  said:     "All  the  priests  and  levites  in  Europe  were  deaf  to 

of  the  lot  disappeared  entirely  from  the  system  of  government.  Its  application  for  many 
years  to  marriages  in  the  Exclusive  Church  Settlements  and  in  the  case  of  persons  officially 
serving  as  ministers  and  missionaries,  arose  under  an  overwrought  system  devised  to  carry 
out  lofty  ideals  of  a  completely  consecrated  associate  and  individual  life,  under  Christ 
the  Head ;  and  of  complete  subjection  to  Divine  guidance,  believed  to  be  given  in 
every  matter  in  response  to  simple  faith  and  to  be  ascertained  in  this  manner.  This  particu- 
lar application  of  the  lot,  after  many  years  of  growing  dissent,  was  relaxed  in  1818.  After 
that,  it  was  unknown  in  the  American  Church  Settlements,  and,  in  the  course  of  the  follow- 
ing years,  ceased  elsewhere.  It  was  retained  longest  in  connection  with  persons  called  to 
serve  in  the  foreign  mission  field.  Much  popular  misconception  has  prevailed  in  reference 
to  this  whole  lot  system,  through  lack  of  acquaintance  with  the  principles  and  methods. 
Space  cannot  be  taken  here  to  explain  these,  beyond  mentioning  the  extremely  important 
fundamental  principle  of  the  system,  that  no  official  use  of  the  lot  by  a  board,  involving  a 
call,  or  proposition  to  any  persons,  ever  bound  the  persons  in  question  without  their  previous 
knowledge  and  consent.  It  bound  the  board,  if  affirmative,  to  extend  the  call  or  make  the 
proposition,  but  not  the  person  to  acquiesce,  except  by  previous  understanding.  The  force 
of  this  principle  in  the  matter  of  appointments  to  service  and  in  the  yet  more  important 
matter  of  marriages,  is  obvious.  That  persons  were  mated  together  for  marriage  by  a  board 
using  the  lot  in  connecting  one's  name  with  that  of  another,  without  their  concurrence,  in 
a  kind  of  lottery,  is  a  preposterous  supposition.  In  view  of  the  absurd  representations  and 
the  fictions  that  have  been  circulated  and  believed  about  these  matters,  these  explanations, 
which  would  be  necessary  somewhere  in  these  pages,  are  here  inserted  once  for  all.  It  may 
be  added,  that  in  1889,  after  the  official  use  of  *.he  lot  had  for  many  years  been  restricted 
simply  to  the  confirmation  of  certain  particular  elections  and  appointments,  the  General 
Synod  of  the  Moravian  Church  abolished  this  remaining  vestige  and  expunged  all  reference 
to  the  lot  from  its  digest  of  principles  and  enactments,  so  that  it  was  then  obsolete  in  every 
particular. 


104  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

the  cry  of  the  Pennsylvania  sufferer  until  their  grudge  against  the 
Samaritan  [himself]  unstopped  their  ears." 

The  Synod  also  came  into  touch  with  the  work  among  the  heathen 
which  had  been  started  by  the  Brethren  in  the  West  Indies,  in  Ber- 
bice,  South  America,  and  among  the  North  American  Indians.  All 
of  this  work  was  to  be  fostered  and  supplied  from  Pennsylvania,  as 
one  of  the  departments  of  activity  in  which  all  elements  of  the  Synod 
co-operated.  This  was  the  particular,  but  not  exclusive,  sphere  of 
labor  had  in  view  for  the  Moravian  Brethren.  The  West  India  work 
was  personally  represented  at  the  last  three  general  conferences  by 
the  missionaries  George  and  Maria  Elizabeth  Weber  and  GottUeb 
Israel,  who  arrived  in  Pennsylvania  from  St.  Thomas  just  before 
Bishop  Nitschmann  sailed  to  visit  that  mission,  and  they  remained 
until  after  his  return. 

At  the  third  conference — that  in  Oley — two  of  three  deacons 
ordained  "priests"  (presbyters),  Gottlob  Buettner  and  Christian 
Henry  Ranch — the  third  was  Pyrlaeus — were  had  in  view  especially 
for  missionary  service  among  the  Indians,  in  which  Ranch  had 
made  a  noble  beginning  in  the  Province  of  New  York ;  and  on  that 
occasion  his  first  three  Indian  converts,  Shabash,  Seim  or  Otabawane- 
men,  and  Kiop  or  Kiak,  were  baptized  in  John  de  Turck's  barn,  and 
named  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  as  patriarchs  of  the  Indian  church, 
and  in  token  of  belief  in  the  descent  of  the  aborigines  of  America 
from  the  lost  tribes  of  Israel. 

Another  department  of  activity  instituted  was  school  work  for  the 
hosts  of  neglected  children.  At  the  fourth  conference  it  was  decided 
to  invite  parents  in  the  different  townships,  concerned  for  the  wel- 
fare of  their  children,  to  meet  for  consultation,  April  17,  at  the  house 
of  John  Bechtel,  in  Germantown.  Zinzendorf  published  this  in  the 
Manatawny  neighborhood  when  he  preached  there,  April  i,  and  Bech- 
tel issued  a  printed  circular,  April  3.  The  appointed  day  was  that 
just  before  the  opening  of  the  fifth  conference.  A  few  came  from 
town,  but  none  from  the  country,  except  such  as  were  members  of 
the  Synod.  In  some  quarters,  poverty  too  great  to  provide  suitable 
clothing  for  the  children ;  in  other  quarters,  callousness  and  general 
apathy  in  such  matters ;  in  yet  others,  the  warnings  sounded  by  those 
who  would  save  the  children  from  the  peril  of  falling  into  the  hands 
of  the  "Herrnhuters,"  worked  together  among  the  country  folk  as 
impediments  to  this  well-meant  and  greatly  needed  effort.  A  school 
was  opened,  however,  on  May  4  in  the  Ashmead  house  in  German- 


1742.  105 

town,  with  twenty-five  girls  in  attendance,  as  a  beginning.  It  com- 
bined instruction  in  reading  and  writing,  manual  employment  in 
various  ways,  and  religious  instruction ;  with,  of  course,  the  spiritual 
good  of  the  children  as  the  chief  object.  Thus  Moravian  school  work 
in  Pennsylvania  had  its  beginning.  This  first  attempt  was  made  by 
Zinzendorf's  daughter,  the  Countess  Benigna,  with  Magdalena  Miller 
— later  married  to  the  missionary  John  William  Zander — and  Anna 
Desmond — later  the  wife  of  the  missionary  John  Hagen — as  her 
assistants.  Three  men,  Anton  Seififert,  Zander  and  George  Neisser 
were  also  connected  with  the  enterprise  in  one  way  or  another.  This 
school  was  transferred  to  Bethlehem  on  June  28  and  became  the 
nucleus  of  the  first  school  for  girls  there.  At  the  sixth  conference 
it  was  decided  that  another  circular  should  be  issued.  This  was  done 
by  Bechtel  on  June  5,  inviting  parents  to  another  conference  on  the 
subject  to  be  held  at  Bethlehem,  June  24-25.  It  was  accompanied 
by  an  official  request  from  Zinzendorf  to  the  justices  in  all  the  town- 
ships, to  bring  the  invitation  to  the  notice  of  all  the  most  sensible 
Germans  known  to  them  in  their  respective  jurisdictions. 

When  the  seventh  conference  opened  in  the  house  of  Edward 
Evans  in  Philadelphia,  an  unusually  large  number  of  persons 
appeared,  not  only  because  it  was  the  last  such  gathering  for  a  sea- 
son, but  because  something  out  of  the  ordinary  was  expected.  In 
the  opening  session  Zinzendorf  formally  announced  the  arrival,  on 
June  7  at  Philadelphia,  of  the  Bethlehem  colonists  who  were  anxiously 
awaited.  This  large  accession  to  the  settlement  in  the  Forks  of  the 
Delaware,  to  the  preparation  for  which  allusion  has  been  made  sev- 
eral times  in  these  pages,  and  which  figured  so  prominently  in  con- 
nection with  the  regular  organization  of  Bethlehem  and  the  develop- 
ment of  its  first  religious  and  industrial  activities,  calls  for  more 
notice  at  this  juncture  than  an  abrupt  introduction  upon  its  arrival 
in  Philadelphia.  It  was  the  fifth  and  largest  of  successive  companies, 
-up  to  that  time  sent  to  other  countries  from  Germany  by  the  Breth- 
ren, in  pursuance  of  the  colonization  policy  inaugurated  by  Zinzen- 
dorf in  1734.  The  general  purpose  was,  in  view  of  their  uncertain 
situation  in  Saxony,  as  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  to  provide  for 
the  Moravian  immigrants — for  they  preferred  colonization  to  disper- 
sion; and  to  further  his  evangelistic  plans  by  a  method  that  would 
establish  new  centers  to  work  out  from,  where  there  seemed  to  be 
a  field,  and  where  favorable  terms  were  offered  by  governments,  or 
could  be  secured.    There  is  an  interesting  connection  between  these 


I06  A    HISTORY    OF    HETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

successive  colonies  in  that  they  all  contributed  eventually  to  the  per- 
sonnel of  Bethlehem  at  its  regular  organization. 

The  first  was  that  to  the  Island  of  St.  Croix  in  1734.  The  second 
was  one  to  the  Duchy  of  Holstein,  the  same  year — abandoned  in 
1736,  on  account  of  ecclesiastical  and  political  difficulties,  and  trans- 
ferred in  1737  to  the  royal  division  of  Holstein,  where  conditions 
seemed  more  favorable,  and  some  of  the  first  colonists,  with  others, 
founded  Pilgerruh.  The  third  was  that  to  Georgia  in  1735.  The 
fourth  was  one  to  Holland,  where,  in  the  Barony  of  Ysselstein,  the 
short-lived  settlement  of  Heerendyk  was  established  in  1736;  some 
of  the  first  company  sent  to  Holstein  furnishing  part  of  the  nucleus. 
Pilgerruh  did  not  flourish,  for  some  of  the  colonists  were  unsuitable 
persons,  and  complications  in  the  matter  of  terms  and  conditions 
again  appeared.  An  attempt  to  get  the  work  properly  established 
by  recruits  of  reliable  people  on  new  terms  in  1740  came  to  naught, 
and  Pilgerruh  was  abandoned.  Some  of  the  new  colonists  destined 
for  that  place,  with  certain  of  the  previous  Holstein  settlers,  were 
then  chosen  for  the  Pennsylvania  colony  which  was  to  join  the  rem- 
nant from  Georgia,  and  the  others  who  had  followed  them  to  Penn- 
sylvania, in  establishing  the  first  American  center.  Their  number 
was  to  be  augmented  by  selected  persons  from  Germany  and  Switzer- 
land, and  finally  by  a  few  from  England.  Thus  the  company  was 
gradually  formed. 

It  was  to  consist  mainly  of  young  married  couples  and  of  single 
men ;  and  various  professions,  handicrafts  and  lines  of  experience  in 
practical  life  were  to  be  represented.  Especially  were  they  to  be 
people  of  well-tested  Christian  character  and  of  spiritual  enthusiasm, 
who  would  be  not  only  a  salt  among  the  people  where  they  located, 
but  all  available,  in  some  way,  in  the  propagation  of  the  gospel — dis- 
tinctly understood  to  be  the  main  purpose  for  which  the  settlement 
was  founded.  The  final  selection  of  these  colonists  was  completed 
in  December,  1741.  The  rallying-place  from  which  they  started — at 
that  time  the  most  notable  center  of  the  Brethren  in  Europe — was 
Herrnhaag,  a  settlement  in  the  Wetterau,  in  south-western  Germany, 
founded  in  1738  and  abandoned  at  a  perilous  internal  and  external 
crisis  in  1750.  The  name  recalls  a  noble  beginning,  inspiring  but 
then  melancholy  associations  and  a  tragic  end,  opening  and  closing 
an  epoch  of  unhealthy  exuberance,  when  the  Church  let  extravagant 
tendencies  run  to  excess  and  gave  its  detractors  a  perpetual  theme. 
They  left  Herrnhaag,  December  19,  1741,  and  proceeded  to  Marien- 


1742.  107 

born,  a  neighboring  old  castle — originally  a  convent — in  possession 
of  the  Church  under  lease,  and  for  a  number  of  years  an  important 
seat  of  activity.  There  they  were  joined  by  another  contingent  ant', 
had  final  interviews  with  the  responsible  heads,  with  the  Countess 
Zinzendorf  and  with  Spangenberg,  who  had  been  making  arrange- 
ments in  England  for  their  voyage  and  had  hastened  over  to  Ger- 
many to  give  them  important  directions.  He  returned  to  England 
in  advance  of  them.  The  whole  company  set  out  from  Marienborn, 
December  20,  for  Holland. 

There  were  twenty-two  married  people — twelve  men  and  ten 
women — and  nineteen  single  men.  Two  of  the  latter  only  accom- 
panied them  to  the  sea-board.  They  traveled  in  seven  bands,  each 
having  its  leader  and  constituting  a  mess  in  fare  and  quarters.  Their 
first  considerable  halt  was  at  the  settlement  Heerendyk,  in  Holland, 
where  the  last  squad  arrived,  January  4,  and  the  future  Superintendent 
of  the  single  men,  who  had  come  another  way,  joined  them.  From 
there  they  started  two  days  later  for  Rotterdam,  where  on  February 
9  they  boarded  the  English  sloop,  the  Samuel  and  James,  which,  after 
a  tedious  and  uncomfortable  sail,  landed  them  at  London  on  Satur- 
day morning,  February  24.  English  friends  escorted  them  to  their 
lodgings  in  Little  Wild  Street,  where  they  were  quartered  in  groups 
of  six  and  seven,  in  several  adjacent  houses. 

On  February  26,  at  a  memorable  meeting  in  the  Moravian  chapel 
in  Fetter  Lane,  presided  over  by  Spangenberg,  at  which  about  three 
hundred  persons  were  assembled,  the  colony  was  temporarily  organ- 
ized for  the  voyage  under  the  name  Seegemeim — Sea  Congregation,  or 
Ship  Congregation  or  Ocean  Church.  Peter  Boehler,  who  had  been 
doing  important  work  in  England  since  he  left  America  a  year  before, 
and  had  shortly  before  this  been  married  and  appointed  with  his  wife, 
an  English  woman,  Elizabeth  Hopson,  to  accompany  this  colony  to 
Pennsylvania,  now  joined  them,  with  six  married  couples  and  four 
single  men  from  England.  George  Piesch,  a  son-in-law  of  Father 
Nitschmann  of  Bethlehem,  and  one  of  the  three  men  sent  to  Suri- 
nam in  1735,  who  had  latterly  been  one  of  Spangenberg's  chief  assist- 
ants in  England,  was  called  to  be  their  general  conductor  on  the 
voyage.  The  colony,  thus  completed,  consisted  of  fifty-six  persons, 
besides  Piesch — sixteen  married  couples,  two  married  men  without 
their  wives,  and  twenty-two  single  men.  Under  the  special  organi- 
zation, as  an  ocean  church,  Boehler  was  chaplain,  with  two  assistants 
in  spiritual  oversight  among  the  married  people,  and  one  for  the 


I08  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

single  men ;  while  his  wife  was  the  general  spiritual  counselor  for 
the  women.  His  chief  assistant  was  the  Rev.  Paul  Daniel  Bryzelius, 
a  Swede,  and  a  theological  graduate  of  the  University  of  Upsala, 
who  had  entered  into  connection  with  the  Brethren,  and  was  selected 
to  labor  in  the  Lutheran  department  of  their  American  work.  He 
was  an  unstable  man  who  later  forsook  them,  when  the  Lutheran 
Church  was  regularly  organized  in  Pennsylvania,  and  eventually  went 
over  to  the  Anglican  Church.  Other  offices  to  which  various  persons 
were  appointed  for  the  voyage  were  those  of  general  monitor,  to 
watch  over  the  observance  of  regulations,  both  among  the  married 
people  and  the  single  men ;  steward  and  general  dispenser ;  nurses 
and  cook.  Prayer-bands  were  also  formed  to  maintain  the  custom 
of  "hourly  intercession"  day  and  night,  which  was  instituted  at  Herrn- 
hut  in  1727,  after  the  manner  of  the  Acoemctae — the  praying  watchers 
of  the  fifth  century,  mentioned  in  the  letters  of  Theodoret. 

At  the  conclusion  of  that  memorable  meeting  of  February  26^ 
Spangenberg  drew  attention  to  the  watchword  for  that  day,  in  the 
collection  of  daily  texts,  and  based  an  impressive  closing  address  on 
it.  The  passage  was  from  Esther  4:16,  "If  I  perish,  I  perish."  In 
addition  to  the  common  hazards  of  ocean  travel,  which  were  then 
greater  than  in  modern  times,  peculiar  perils  awaited  them,  because 
the  Atlantic  was  infested  with  privateers,  by  which  Spain  and  France 
were  harrassing  England  in  those  times  of  war.  Many  of  these 
crews  were  made  up  of  pirates,  hardened  in  all  cruelties  and  vil- 
lainies. The  colony,  moreover,  was  going  to  sail,  not  under  convoy, 
but  alone  and  without  any  defenses  on  board. 

Their  ship  was  an  English  vessel  of  the  build  and  rig  known  as  a 
"snow"  or  "snaw,"  and  was  called  the  Catherine.^  She  had  been  pur- 
chased for  £600  and  specially  fitted  up  to  transport  this  colony.    Cap- 

8  Some  writers  give  February  27  as  the  date  of  this  organization  of  the  Sea  Congregation. 
This  is  an  error. 

9  The  Catherine  was  registered  in  the  name  of  George  Stonehouse  of  Buttermeer,  in  the 
County  of  Wilts,  formerly  Vicar  of  Islington,  for  a  time  in  association  with  the  Brethren, 
and  an  officer  of  the  Society  for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel,  founded  by  them  in  1741. 
He  was  a  man  of  property,  and  his  wife,  who  became  a  regular  member  of  the  Moravian 
Church,  and  rendered  it  valuable  service,  was  possessed  of  large  means.  She  furnished  the 
money  to  purchase  the  vessel  At  Philadelphia  the  Catherine  was  sold  by  Samuel  Powell, 
agent,  under  power  of  attorney  from  Stonehouse  to  Boehler.  The  subsequent  fate  of  this 
snow  is  not  known.  Out  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sale,  the  Society  for  the  Furtherance  of  the 
Gospel,  organized  in  Pennsylvania  by  Spangenberg  in  1745,  received  ^^300,  in  accordance 
with  provision  in  the  letter  of  instruction  sent  to  Boehler  by  Stonehouse. 


1742.  I09 

tain  Thomas  Gladman,  a  man  of  much  experience  and  adventure  on 
the  sea,  who  had  been  in  the  employ  of  George  Whitefield  and  had 
navigated  his  sloop  which  conveyed  Boehler  and  the  last  Georgia 
colonists  from  Savannah  to  Pennsylvania  in  1740,  and  at  this  time 
was  intimately  associated  with  the  Brethren  in  England,  took  com- 
mand of  the  vessel,  with  a  mate,  a  boatswain  and  six  sailors. 

On  Friday,  March  16,  the  vessel  left  the  dock  and  slowly  moved 
down  the  Thames.  She  lay  at  Gravesend  over  Sunday.  Spangen- 
berg  and  his  wife,  who  had  accompanied  the  colonists  that  far,  took 
final  leave  of  them  on  Monday  morning,  Alarch  19,  and  then  the 
Catherine,  with  her  ocean  church  and  its  conductor — fifty-seven  breth- 
ren and  sisters — together  with  the  captain  and  crew,  sixty-six  souls, 
on  board,  sailed  off  into  the  channel.  Passing  out  of  sight  of  land 
finally  on  March  23,  she  was  headed  nearly  southward,  as  it  was 
deemed  advisable  to  take  a  far  southerly  course.  April  7,  they 
reached  the  Island  of  Madeira  and  put  into  the  harbor  of  Funchal. 
The  novel  sight  of  tropical  verdure  was  enjoyed;  a  cloister,  contain- 
ing a  shrine  constructed  of  skulls  and  bones,  was  visited  by  some  who 
went  ashore,  and  the  state  of  the  ignorant  people  under  the  rule  of 
the  Padres  was  deplored;  various  articles  of  provision  were  taken 
aboard;  empty  water  casks  were  filled;  and  on  April  10,  in  the  midst 
of  great  excitement  and  tumult  in  the  harbor,  caused  by  the  approach 
of  two  suspicious  looking  large  vessels  which  at  first  refused  to  be 
interrogated  from  the  English  men-of-war  there  lying,  the  little 
Catherine,  unobserved  by  any,  in  the  hubbub,  lifted  anchor,  set  sail 
and  quietly  proceeded  on  her  way.  Several  severe  storms  were 
weathered  and  imminent  peril  from  privateers  was  more  than  once 
encountered,  but  the  hand  that  rules  the  wind  and  waves,  and  foils  the 
designs  of  men,  when  those  in  question  have  a  further  destiny  to  fulfill, 
was  held  over  the  light  and  defenseless  bark,  and  no  evil  befell  her. 

With  all  possible  regularity  the  discipline  and  round  of  services 
required  under  the  organization  that  had  been  instituted  were  main- 
tained, as  if  they  were  settled  ashore.  Good  health;  good  habits; 
cheerful,  contented  hearts;  wholesome  and  abundant  food  and  good 
cooking;  a  Christian  captain  and  orderly  respectful  sailors;  were 
conditions  which,  under  the  Divine  blessing,  combined  to  render  the 
voyage  vastly  different  from  the  common  experience  of  emigrant 
ships  in  those  times.  During  the  days  on  the  ocean,  Boehler  took  occa- 
sion to  give  the  colonists  much  valuable  information  on  the  topogra- 
phy, history,  population  and  the  political  and  ecclesiastical  peculiarities 


no  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,  PENNSYLVANIA. 

of  the  country  for  which  they  were  bound ;  about  the  experiences  and 
situation  of  those  who  had  preceded  them  to  Pennsylvania ;  the 
beginnings  in  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware ;  the  varying  attitude  of 
dififerent  classes  in  the  Provinces  towards  the  Brethren  and  their 
undertakings  ;  and  other  instructions  that  would  serve  to  prepare  them 
for  their  new  life,  surroundings  and  duties.  The  German  members 
of  the  colony  endeavored  to  learn  all  the  English  they  could  from 
their  English  brethren,  and  many  leisure  hours  were  occupied  in 
adding  to  their  stock  of  information  from  books  with  which  they  were 
supplied. 

With  a  single  exception,  they  were  all  people  who  had  enjoyed  at 
least  some  slight  school  advantages,  and  besides  Boehler  and 
Bryzelius,  who  were  university  men,  there  were  a  few  of  considerable 
general  education.  Some  also  made  use  of  their  handicrafts  during 
the  voyage  to  enable  all  to  land,  well  supplied  with  clothing  and  shoes 
in  good  condition ;  and  others  took  turns  at  various  duties  about  the 
ship,  in  view  of  the  small  crew  she  carried. 

After  occasional  soundings  for  several  days,  in  the  midst  of  almost 
continuous  fog,  they  had  their  first  glimpse  of  land — the  Long  Island 
coast — on  May  i8.  After  much  precarious  effort  in  waters  unfamiliar 
to  the  captain,  and  piloted  part  of  the  remaining  way  by  another 
vessel,  the  captain  of  which  proved  to  have  been  a  Sabbatarian  of 
Pennsylvania,  quite  familiar  with  the  neighborhood  of  Herrnhaag  and 
Marienborn,  they  put  in  at  New  London,  Conn.,  on  May  23.  There, 
at  sunrise  the  next  morning,  several  of  the  men  placed  a  shrouded 
infant  form  into  a  rude  coffin,  lowered  it  into  a  boat,  rowed  ashore 
with  it  and  laid  it  in  a  grave  in  the  sand  which  they  marked  with  a 
stone ;  while  sisters  on  board  tenderly  nursed  and  comforted  the 
mother.  This  death  of  the  child  of  Michael  and  Johanna  Maria 
Miksch,  born  May  19,  was  the  only  sad  incident  of  the  voyage. 

At  New  London  some  repairs  had  to  be  made  to  the  Catherine,  and 
on  May  26,  eighteen  single  men  and  six  married  men  of  the  colony, 
in  accordance  with  arrangements  made,  boarded  the  sloop  of  the 
Sabbatarian  captain,  to  proceed  in  advance  to  New  York.  John  Philip 
Meurer  who  has  left  an  interesting  diary  of  the  journey  from 
Herrnhaag  to  Philadelphia,  was  one  of  these.  Therefore  the  incidents 
of  the  remaining  journey  to  New  York  which  are  on  record,  relate  to 
the  company  on  board  this  sloop.  At  New  Haven  their  arrival  created 
consternation  at  first,  for  the  people  were  in  constant  dread  of  Spanish 
privateers  prowling  along  the  coast,  and  were,  just  then,  excited  by  the 


1/42.  Ill 

report  of  the  capture  of  fifteen  English  vessels  not  far  away.  Their 
fears  were  soon  allayed.  Students  of  Yale  College  escorted  these 
"Moravians"  to  their  buildings,  where  they  produced  one  of  the 
controversial  publications  issued  by  those  clerics  who  were  so  zealous 
to  save  the  world  from  the  hand  of  Zinzendorf.  At  New  Greenwich 
another  panic  was  caused  by  the  appearance  of  this  foreign  vessel 
with  so  many  men  on  board ;  and  even  when  they  explained  who  they 
were,  some  people  were  afraid  to  sell  them  bread  and  milk. 

On  May  30,  seven  of  the  party  who  were  EngHshmen  went  ashore 
near  New  Greenwich  and  traveled  the  remaining  distance  to  New 
York  afoot,  to  escape  the  danger  of  being  impressed  by  a  British  war 
ship,  in  the  high-handed  fashion  followed  under  stress  of  the  times. 
The  Germans  were  not  subject  to  this.  Later  that  day,  the  sloop 
anchored  at  New  York,  and,  to  the  astonishment  of  those  on  board, 
the  Catherine  was  there  ahead  of  them.  The  repairs  at  New  London 
were  finished  sooner  than  had  been  expected  and  the  snow  made 
a  quicker  run  to  New  York  than  the  sloop,  arriving  there  on  the 
morning  of  May  30. 

Before  the  close  of  that  day,  the  entire  colony ;  those  who  remained 
on  the  Catherine,  the  seventeen  who  reached  New  York  on  the  sloop, 
and  the  seven  who  had  gone  ashore,  were  reunited  on  board  their 
own  vessel. 

While  they  lay  at  New  York,  some  members  of  Boehler's  former 
association  there,  with  many  other  friends,  went  aboard  to  greet  him 
and  welcome  the  colony;  and  not  a  little  sensation  was  created  in 
other  quarters  by  their  arrival,  as  all  manner  of  wild  rumors  circulated 
about  this  new  lot  of  alleged  conspirators  against  the  King  and  the 
Protestant  religion,  in  regard  to  whom  their  vigilant  pastors  had  so 
solemnly  warned  the  people.  Sundry  Germans  of  the  city  went  aboard 
to  scrutinize  the  members  of  this  ocean  church,  and  expressed  their 
surprise  at  the  difiference  between  them,  in  the  matter  of  bodily 
condition  and  spirits,  and  their  poor  countrymen  who  landed  from 
common  crowded  emigrant  ships,  after  a  voyage  of  privation,  sickness 
and  cruelty  at  the  hands  of  brutal  sea  captains,  whose  main  purpose 
was  to  make  all  the  money  they  could  by  selling  off  their  pauper 
cargoes  as  "redemptioners"  for  their  passage  money. 

Once  more  the  sails  were  unfurled  on  May  31,  for  the  final  stage  of 
the  journey  to  Philadelphia.  This  last  stage  was  a  trying  and  critical 
one.  The  captain  took  the  inside  course  close  to  shore,  preferring 
the  peril  of  reefs  and  sand  banks  to  that  of  privateers  outside.     Fog 


112  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

and  adverse  wind  prevailed  nearly  all  the  way,  and  they  crept  along, 
continually  casting  the  lead,  in  order  not  to  run  upon  unex- 
pected shoals.  The  coast  was  unfamiliar  to  the  captain  and  they  had 
no  pilot.  Therefore  they  lay  to  of  nights.  On  June  4,  they  rounded 
Cape  May  and  sailed  up  into  the  mouth  of  the  Delaware  River.  Then 
the  captain  took  on  a  pilot.  At  night  a  terrific  storm  burst  upon 
them.  An  accident  broke  the  cable  and  they  lost  their  anchor.  That 
night,  when  so  near  their  journey's  end,  they  were  in  greater  peril 
than  at  any  time  on  the  voyage.  One  diarist  says  that  "the  prince  of 
the  power  of  the  air  once  more  tried  what  he  might  yet  do  to  them." 
The  next  day,  after  fishing  many  hours  for  the  lost  cable  and  anchor, 
they  found  them  more  than  a  mile  from  where  the  vessel  lay.  Boehler, 
meanwhile,  was  set  ashore  and  proceeded  afoot  to  Philadelphia  to 
announce  their  arrival.  The  following  day  they  proceeded  up  the 
channel  of  the  river,  the  width  of  which  one  journal  compares  to  that 
of  the  Rhine.  Thursday,  June  7,  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  they 
reached  the  city.  Pyrlaeus,  Buettner  and  Rauch  rowed  out  to  the 
Catharine  to  welcome  them.  ''Many  people  came  aboard,  thinking 
that  we  were  for  sale,"  says  Meurer  in  his  journal,  and  then  notes  what 
he  had  learned  about  the  traffic  in  "redemptioners" — 50  to  yo£  paid 
the  captains  as  a  release  for  one  and  another,  then  bound  three  to  five 
years  to  work  it  out;  "some  being  treated  well  and  others  ill."  He 
adds :  "A  ship  from  England  lay  alongside  of  us  with  young  Irish 
people,  men  and  women,  for  sale."  Those  who  were  on  the  look-out 
for  profitable  "servants"  were  disappointed  when  they  boarded  the 
Catherine  and  inspected  the  likely  men  and  women  on  her  deck,  for 
they  were  not  "for  sale."  It  can  be  assumed  as  certain  that  not  a  man 
or  woman  who  belonged  to  the  Brethren's  Church  in  Europe  ever 
landed  in  America  as  a  redemptioner.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
were  cases  in  which  the  Brethren  furnished  money  to  release  other 
persons  who  were  under  such  indenture,  to  deliver  them  from  bonds 
that  were  inflicting  spiritual  or  bodily  injury  upon  them.  Some  such 
became  faithful  members  of  the  Church,  as  well  as  worthy  citizens, 
and  were  the  ancestors  of  highly-respected  families  who  could  honor 
their  character  and  energy  rather  than  regard  their  poverty  and  dis- 
advantage as  a  stigma.  Generally  speaking,  it  merits  admiration 
that  so  many,  even  when  deceived  and  imposed  upon  by  avaricious 
men  who  by  misrepresentation  led  them  into  the  toils  of  that  bad 
system,  were  neither  crushed  in  spirit  nor  brutalized  by  it;  but  had 
the  manhood  and  womanhood  to  rise  superior  to  the  draw-backs  of 


1742.  113 

their  beginning  in  Pennsylvania,  and  prove  themselves  worthy  of  a 
place  among  its  substantial  and  respectable  Christian  yeomanry. 

It  was  Ascension  Day,  according  to  the  old  calendar,  when  the 
"Sea  Congregation"  reached  Philadelphia,  and  Zinzendorf  was  preach- 
ing in  the  Lutheran  meeting-house.  After  the  service  he  went  aboard 
to  greet  them.  The  next  day  the  German  members  of  the  colony 
went  with  their  captain  to  the  State  House  to  go  through  the  form 
of  qualification  under  the  laws  of  the  Province.  The  Governor  and 
Council  were  in  session  and  the  matter  was  soon  disposed  of.  When 
the  preHminary  explanations  had  been  made  and  the  oath  of  allegi- 
ance read  to  them,  Boehler  stated  their  scruples  about  taking  an 
oath  and  their  readiness,  nevertheless,  to  be  held  fully  amenable  and 
subject  to  the  same  penalty  as  violators  of  an  oath,  if  found  trans- 
gressing in  any  particular.  They  were  then  required  to  repeat  a 
form  of  afifirmation,  and  sign  the  customary  two  documents,  one  for 
the  crown  and  the  other  for  the  proprietary  government.  There- 
upon they  were  dismissed.  A  few  busily  occupied  days  followed. 
Their  arrival  attracted  much  attention.  They  came  into  contact  with 
warm-hearted  friends,  with  inquisitive  gossips  and  with  men  of  preju- 
diced and  sinister  mind.  Their  interest  was  awakened  by  the  sight 
of  Indians,  soon  after  they  landed.  Zinzendorf  took  one  particular 
Indian  aboard  the  Catherine  to  see  them  before  they  had  transferred 
their  quarters  from  the  ship.  Meurer  tells  of  him  in  his  journal  as  one 
who  "had  been  thoroughly  converted,"  whose  name  was  Johannes.  This 
was  none  other  than  that  most  distinguished  of  all  the  Indian  con- 
verts of  the  Moravian  Church,  whom  Ranch  had  baptized  the  pre- 
vious April,  and  named  John — Wasamapah,  who  had  been  called  Job 
by  the  traders ;  which  name,  found  in  some  early  reports  phonetically 
spelled  as  pronounced  by  the  German  tongue  untrained  to  English, 
was  mistaken  for  an  Indian  name,  was  so  put  into  print,  and  gave 
rise  to  the  absurdity,  since  perpetuated,  of  calling  him  Tschoop. 

The  married  people  of  the  colony  left  the  ship  on  June  8.  The  single 
men  continued  to  have  their  quarters  on  board  until  Whitsunday, 
June  17,  when,  having  gotten  all  of  their  effects  into  a  ware-house, 
they  also  took  final  leave  of  the  Catherine.  Meanwhile,  on  Sunday. 
June  10,  at  a  meeting  of  the  whole  company  in  Zinzendorf's  house, 
they  were  given  many  new  instructions  and  directions,  in  view  of 
important  steps  soon  to  follow.  On  that  day  the  whole  company 
attended  services  in  the  Lutheran  meeting-house  in  Philadelphia,  and 
in  the  Reformed  church  in  Gerniantown.  At  the  former  place.  Zin- 
9 


I  14  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

zendorf  preached  the  last  sermon  to  the  Lutherans  before  leaving 
Philadelphia  to  engage  in  other  activities ;  at  the  latter,  they  took 
communion  with  the  congregation.  At  the  interview  had  with  them 
on  that  day  Zinzendorf  asked  them  each  to  write  a  personal  state- 
ment of  faith  and  spiritual  experience,  to  be  presented  with  their 
appHcation  for  admission  to  the  Pennsylvania  Synod.  These  were 
in  readiness  for  consideration  and  action,  together  with  a  complete 
register  of  the  members  of  this  colony  and  of  all  others  counted  as 
connected  with  the  Brethren  in  Pennsylvania  prior  to  their  arrival, 
when  they  were  formally  announced  by  Zinzendorf,  as  already  stated, 
in  the  opening  session  of  the  Synod  on  June  13.  When  the  question 
of  their  admission  in  a  body,  as  representatives  of  a  Church  now  seek- 
ing recognition  as  having  a  formal  existence  in  Pennsylvania,  came 
up,  these  personal  communications  were,  for  the  most  part,  read  to 
the  Synod.  The  conductor  of  the  colony,  George  Piesch,  appeared 
and  vouched  for  the  good  character  of  all  of  them,  and  for  their  com- 
mendable conduct  during  the  voyage.  This  terminated  his  ofificial 
responsibility  in  connection  with  them,  and  he  returned  to  Europe 
soon  after.  Boehler,  as  spiritual  overseer  on  the  voyage,  with 
two  men  who  had  been  his  assistants  under  their  temporary  organi- 
zation as  an  ocean  church,  were  also  present  and  confirmed  the  tes- 
timony of  Piesch.  The  names  of  all  who  were  regarded  at  that  time 
as  composing  the  whole  body  of  people  in  Pennsylvania  belonging 
to  the  Association  of  the  Brethren  and  to  be  connected  with  its  first 
organized  center  at  Bethlehem — where  the  Moravian  Church  within 
the  Association,  as  explained  in  the  preceding  pages,  was  now  to 
have  a  recognized  footing  among  the  religions  of  Pennsylvania — 
were  then  read  in  the  Synod.  The  record  states  that  the  number  was 
a  hundred  and  twenty. ^° 

1°  No  copy  of  the  list  is  extant,  but  at  least  107  of  the  names  can  be  verified  beyond  ques- 
tion. Besides  the  Sea  Congregation  of  56  and  the  40  in  Pennsylvania,  December  17-II, 
(Chap.  IV,  note  10)  the  missionaries  Rauch  and  Hagen,  now  with  them,  Abraham  Buenin- 
ger  who  came  with  Hagen  from  Georgia  in  February,  the  West  India  missionaries  Weber 
and  wife  and  Israel,  the  printer  Henry  Miller  and  Rauch's  four  baptized  Indians  were  un- 
doubtedly included.  The  remaining  13  were  from  among  the  following  accessions  of  Penn- 
sylvania people,  some  of  whom  were  at  this  time  only  candidates  and  were  formally  admitted 
to  the  communion  after  organization  at  Bethlehem:  four  baptized  by  Zinzendorf  at  German- 
town —  Herman  and  Anna  Maria  Bonn,  March  19  ;  Elizabeth  and  Johanna  Leinbach,  May 
17;  Daniel  Oesterlein,  the  first  single  man  admitted  at  Germantown  ;  Jacob  Detweiler 
(Dudweiler)  who  went  as  a  missionary  to  the  West  Indies  ;  Magdalena  Miller  and  Margaret 
Disman    (Desmond)    already   mentioned;    Elizabeth    Braun  of  Tulpehocken ;    Magdalena 


1742.  115 

Their  admission  to  membership  in  the  Synod  was  decided  b}-  a 
formal  vote,  and  then  all  who  were  awaitin^^  the  result  were  escorted 
into  the  hall.  After  prayer  by  a  trustee  of  the  Synod.  Henry  Antes 
addressed  them  in  the  name  of  this  body.  The  official  record  reads : 
"Henry  Antes  testified  in  the  name  of  all,  that  the  undenominational 
(unpartJicyiscJic)  Synod  of  Pennsylvania  recognized,  in  general,  the 
arriving  old  Aloravian  Church  as  a  true  Church  of  the  Lamb  ;  in  par- 
ticular, its  ministers  as  brethren  and  fellow-laborers ;  but,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  fundamental  rules  of  the  Synod,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
Church,  in  itself,  as  independent,  and,  within  its  own  limits  and  regu- 
lations, with  which  the  Synod  never  meddled,  as  inviolate ;  and  wished 
that  the  grace  of  the  Lamb  might  rule  over  them."" 


Wend  of  Germantown;  Esther  Robins,  a  Quakeress,  married  at  Bethlehem  to  Froehlich 
and  baptized  with  the  additional  name  Mary ;  Judith,  Mary  and  Susan  Benezet  who,  with 
their  father,  were  formally  admitted  as  communicants  at  Bethlehem  in  September.  Thomas 
Hardie,  mentioned  in  a  preceding  chapter,  was  also  in  fellowship  with  the  Brethren  at  Beth- 
lehem at  this  time.  A  certain  Valentine,  one  Buerger  and  Adam  Hinter,  "servants" 
{K)iechte)  among  the  Bethlehem  population  in  June,  were,  like  Detweiler,  redemptioners 
released  by  the  Brethren.  Some  others,  whose  formal  reception  to  communicant  membership 
occurred  later  in  the  year,  may  possibly  have  been  enrolled  as  such  prospective  members 
In  the  absence  of  a  list,  it  cannot  therefore  be  ascertained  with  certainty  which  13  out  of 
this  group  of  persons  were  counted  in  the  120  on  June  13.  The  mistake  of  giving  120  as 
the  membership  of  the  Sea  Congregation  has  often  appeared  in  print,  and  is  even  made  in 
several  historical  sketches  of  Bethlehem  prepared  for  anniversary  occasions  and  preserved 
in  the  archives.  This  was  evidently  caused,  in  the  first  instance,  by  inexact  language  in  the 
original  printed  report  of  this  seventh  Synod.  It  is  stated  that  after,  the  arrival  of  the  Sea 
Congregation  had  been  announced,  ''the  names  of  the  brethren  and  sisters  who  were  to  begin 
the  Church  settlement  at  Bethlehem  were  again  read,  120  in  number."  Then  the  report 
adds  :  "  When,  after  ascertaining  the  opinion  of  all  the  members  present,  the  Trustees  and 
Bro.  Henry  Antes  granted  them  admission,  they  all  entered  the  room  together,  and  presented 
themselves  before  the  Trustees."  Thus  the  words  ''they  all"  could  be  taken  as  referring  at 
the  same  time  to  the  120  just  mentioned  and  to  the  newly  arrived  colonists  who  did  enter  in 
a  body.  Some  of  the  others  may  have  joined  them  in  this  formality,  but  it  is  certain  that  not 
all  of  the  120  were  there.  It  may  be  added  that  some  former  Georgia  colonists  included 
became  alienated  separatists  and  did  not  resume  connection  with  the  Church.  Cranz,  B>  ildir 
Historie.  §  loi,  states  the  matter  correctly — "they  (the  Sea  Congregation)  together  with  the 
brethren  and  sisters  previously  there,  I20  in  all." 

"This  translation  of  the  exact  words  is  given  because  of  the  persistent  distortion  to 
which  they  have  been  subjected  by  unfriendly  writers.  A  recent  historian,  referring  to  the 
arrival  of  "a  shipload  of  120  Moravian  emigrants  destined  for  Bethlehem,"  and  lo  their 
joining  the  -Synod  as  "completing  the  supremacy  of  the  Moravians  in  the  movement,"  has 
this  :  "  Antes  too  was  now  quite  carried  away,  and  declared  in  this  conference  that  the 
Synod  acknowledged  the  Moravians  as  the  true  church,  thus  committing  the  Congregation 
of  God  in  the  Spirit  to  the  Moravians."     Such  a  perversion  of  meaning  is  not  surprising 


Il6  A    HISTORY   OF   BETHLEHEM,   PEXX5VLVAS1A. 

Ziiuendorf,  as  Moderator  of  the  SxTiod.  made  an  address  to  them, 
in  keeping  w-ith  the  occaidon.  and,  in  the  absence  of  Bisihop  X::>.''> 
mann.  Anton  Stiffen,  the  first  Mora\-ian  ordained  in  Anier ,:.... 
resf>oiKled  to  the  \velcN>rae  in  behalf  of  the  Moravian  Church.  .i:.a 
then  offered  prayer.  After  these  formaliries  the  S\-nod  hac!  .^  less 
public  sessdon  in  Zinrendorf s  dwelling,  at  which  an  accoun:  of  :he 
organization  and  vo>-age  of  the  Sea  Congregation  was  given,  and 
A-arioais  repons  of  e\-ange'"-  itv  in  Europe  were  read.     In  the 

afternoon  the  S>"nv>d  assc. .   a  lovefeast  provided  by  the  Sea 

Congregation  on  board  the  Cathrrijiw.  There  were  a  handled  and 
twenty  persons  presen: — a  singular  coincidence  with  the  nmnber 
announced  in  the  morning  as  composing  the  Brethren's  Qraich  in 
Pennsylvania.  The  closing  session  of  Tune  14  was  held  in  die  Lnth- 
eran  :•  .  'x>use  ir  :  "ng,     Ziniendorf  set  forth,  in  an  dab- 

orate  >e,  the  ..  .-  1  between  three  chnrck-conoqitions : 

the  Church  of  God  in  the  Spirit,  consisting  of  the  true  childreii  of 
God  amoQg  aU  Kv   ^  <hq»  indtqtaident  oi  thdr  bounds 

and  differences;  th:  ^  .       .     ^^neral  confessional  ^visions,  with 

the  kind  of  nnity  in  ^th  and  fellowship  to  be  fostered  on  Ais  basis ; 
and  special  o»rganired  -  ;    ^  of  genuine  Christians  within 

the  religions,  tc*  repr:..    :  ..:>  spiritual  body  in  a  risiUe 

model.  This  latter  conception  is  that  which  he  subsequently  sought 
to  imfold  and  exemp»3ify  in  exclusive  church  settlements — Ortsgp- 
•iTMirw,  At  the  conclusion  of  this  session,  announcexnent  was  made 
that  the  Synod  would  resoh-e  itself  into  a  quarterly  confereiice  of 
ministers,  to  assemble  at  different  placets  as  has  be^i  noted  in 
another  connection,  A  syllabus  of  commumcations  from  repuresen- 
latives  of  the  several  religions  in  the  S\~nod.  relating  to  their  general 
state  and  .irds  each  other  and  towards  the  whole^  had 

been  forr/ ...  .  :r  leading  thoughts  were  Wended  in  a  g^oieial 

letter  to  the  Christian  pnbHc  of  Pennsylvania,  This  was  adc^ted, 
and  Henry  Antes,  who  had  issued  the  circular  calhng  the  first  coi»- 

v^tesi  jtiwnd  ia  jvsxjiels  ssnag  frem  dK^  lieX  utd  disa  cf  tibe  sBift-ZoaendHf  rmifMQBi.  tnt 
ts  ItsrdllT  to  be  caqiecKd  w  d«  F"f^  ^  s>ct«r  Busaosr  T>r<Y.    "^  JV  tne  dMBr^""  aKiuB; » 

cva  js  a  cn»  ck«RJk„  ^rUmMI  aAainNis  k  «>  be  jitf^  trae  <k»oh.  wiikli  woaM  exdade  Ids 
owxL    TW  staftMMM  meutt  dot  w  ong^  evaB^^eScal  fiot^  »»i  sfiric  awi  extendi  K<q«. 

wx  «  ^diusasMK  UKXN*^  <ar  b«KskaI  s««t,  cr  iztcvdaerass  ooofisx.  It  is  w<«  aeaesagT  to  ■■»- 
rqpwseM  n  evkr  to  eaylasiae  deaffsv>T3LL 


174^'  117 

ference,  was  appointed  to  s^gii  this  dosing  address  to  the  people  at 

large,    Tliis  he  did  in  the  presence  of  the  do     -       -'         \: 

Jtme  15.     This  act,  and  the  signing  of  :.  - 

witnesses  condnded  the  proceedings,  and  the  members  dispersed. 

This  final  document  \\-as  issued  as  *nhe  letter  of  the  >  of 

the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  in  Pennsyl\-ania  to  the  wh.  ,r\\" 

Its  opening  salutation  \\-as:  "Belox-ed  PennsvK-ania/'  It  closed  with 
this  sentence :  "These  are  the  words  of  the  Church  of  the  Lord  to  all 
its  members,  hidden  and  known,  and  all  whom  the  Lord  our  GvhI 
will  yet  call  to  it.  Lord  have  mercy  upon  Zion,  for  the  time  is 
come."  (Ps-  102:13.)  In  the  body  of  the  letter  occur  three  passages 
that  have  been  even  more  misinterpreted  and  distorted  than  the 
words  of  Antes  in  welcoming  the  Moravian  Church  to  representation 
in  the  S\-nod.     The  first  is  the  following:  "Today  at  '  '  \ 

church  of  the  Lord  has  been  seen  and  recognized  in 
Every  member  of  the  same  has  accredited  it  as  such  before  us.  Its 
seat  for  the  time-being  is  Bethlehem.  The  little  groupie  in  Phila- 
ddphia,  Gemiantown.  Oley,  Frederick  Towntship.  who  wait  tor  the 
redemption  of  Israel,  have  entered  into  the  most  cordial  union  with 
them."  This  refers  to  the  Sea  Congregation.  It  is  called  a  visible 
church  of  the  Lord  in  the  sense  of  the  third  church-conception 
presented  by  Zinzendorf  in  his  discourse  referred  to  above,  and 
the  intimation  that  it  was  the  first  such  in  Philadelphia  means  that 
it  was  the  first  that  embodied  those  characteristics  that  were  had 
in  mind  by  the  S\-nod  as  marking  such  a  congregation.  The  second 
passage  so  much  misinterpreted  is  this:  "We.  all  together,  make  up 
the  body  oi  Jesus,  in  Pennsylvania."  Some  writers  have  treated  of 
this  as  if  it  were  a  daim  made  by  the  Mora\-ian  Church.  The  statement 
emanated  from  the  S>Tiod.  as  representing  the  Church  of  Gt.Al  in  the 
Spirit,  in  the  sense  of  the  first  church-conception  set  forth  in  Zin- 
zendorf's  address.  Its  members  belonged  to  the  various  religions 
and  the  S>-nod  had  before  spoken  of  it  as  "His  body,  the  fullness 
of  Him  that  filleth  all  in  all."  The  third  of  these  much  perverted 
•passages  is  that  which  closes  the  following  paragraph:  "We  will, 
according  to  the  wisdom  that  the  Lord  will  vouchs;afe.  continue  this 
church  conference  every  quarter  year  in  all  quietness.  Our  members, 
all  outwardly  called  and  inwardly  known  in  the  Spirit,  will  render 
assistance.  \Mioso  is  on  the  Lord's  side,  let  him  come  unto  us." 
l^Ex.  32:26.1  Onlv  bv  the  most  willful  distortion  of  these  words, 
can  thev  be  taken  as  an  utterance  of  the  Moravian  Church,  or  a 


IlS  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

call  to  follow  the  new  colony  to  Bethlehem.  It  was  simply  the 
closing  appeal  of  the  Synod  to  sincere  and  earnest  people  throughout 
Pennsylvania  to  join  the  alliance,  support  the  Synod  and  co-operate  in 
the  furtherance  of  its  objects. 

Noble  ideals  were  advanced  in  these  attempts,  but  the  time  was 
not  ripe  for  their  successful  propagation  at  large,  even  in  generally 
affecting  the  tone  and  manner  of  denominational  relations.  What 
was  intended  to  be  an  ircnicon,  intensified  bitterness  and  contention 
in  many  quarters.  The  combination  of  disadvantages  was  too  strong 
to  be  overcome,  even  if  the  prevailing  spirit  of  the  time  had  not  been 
so  utterly  at  variance  with  any  such  movement.  The  personal 
adversaries  of  Zinzendorf  left  no  means  untried  to  thwart  his  efforts. 
Many  persons  were  unable  to  comprehend  what  he  was  aiming  at. 
Others  were  unwilling  to  believe  in  the  sincerity  of  his  motives. 
Certain  oddities  of  disposition,  manner  and  speech  on  his  part, 
made  the  whole  undertaking  seem  a  mere  oddity  to  many  matter- 
of-fact  men  who  looked  on  from  the  outside,  so  that  it  did  not  appeal 
to  them.  Some  looked  upon  him  as  a  kind  of  knight-errant,  even 
calling  him  a  Don  Quixote,  in  religious  adventure.  There  were 
also  defects  of  far-fetched  plan  and  over-wrought  method,  with 
an  almost  kaleidoscopic  presentation  of  ideas  and  views  precipitated 
from  his  teeming  store.  The  finesse  of  the  astute  diplomate — for  this 
was  among  his  qualities  by  nature  and  training — withdrawn  from  the 
service  of  an  earthly  king  and  consecrated  to  that  of  his  heavenly  King, 
presumed  too  much  in  expecting  that  every  subtile  line  of  thought 
and  action,  clear  to  him,  would  be  equally  clear  to  crude,  unschooled 
commoners ;  especially  with  designing  persons  on  the  alert  to  set 
everything  he  said  or  did  in  a  sinister  light  before  the  unsophisticated. 
But  the  effort  stands  as  a  grand  testimony  against  that  unholy  strife 
of  schools  and  parties  which  had  become  the  mania  of  the  doctors, 
as  well  as  of  wild  sectarians  and  perverse  separatists,  to  the  disgrace 
of  Protestantism  and  the  injury  of  religion.  It  stands  also  as  a 
prophecy  of  better  conditions  slowly  developing  in  these  times,  when 
those  who  fondly  cherish  the  old  feuds  can  no  longer  make  the  war 
of  creeds  and  sects  popular. 

Before  further  movements  at  Bethlehem  are  followed,  a  list  of  the  members  of 
the  Sea  Congregation,  now  conspicuous  in  the  foreground,  given  in  alphabetical 
order,  with  a  few  brief  personal  notes,  may  bring  this  chapter  to  a  close. 


1742.  119 

MARRIED    PEOPLE. 

Almers,  Henry  and  Anna  Rosina,  m.n.  Schuepge.  They  served  at  Beth- 
lehem until  January,  1743,  then  located  as  evangelists  and  teachers  on  Staten  Island 
and  Long  Island,  laboring  there  mainly  until  April,  1745,  when  they  returned  to 
Europe  with  Boehler. 

BiscHOFF  (Bishop),  John  David  and  Catherine,  m.n.  Pech.  They  were 
among  the  important  early  evangelists,  serving  in  the  Indian  mission  and  in  country 
charges,  besides  performing  various  duties  at  Bethlehem.  Bischoff  was  ordained 
in  1749,  was  transferred  to  North  CaroHna  in  1756  and  died  there,  at  Bethania,  in 
1763.     His  wife  died  at  Bethlehem  in  1778. 

Boehler,  Peter  and  Elizabeth,  m.n.  Hopson.  From  1737  to  1764.  when  he 
returned  finally  to  Europe  to  become  a  member  of  the  general  executive  board  of 
the  Church,  Boehler  gave  four  terms  of  service  to  the  work  in  America,  and,  next  to 
Spangenberg,  was  the  most  eminent  leader.  He  became  a  bishop  in  1748.  He  died 
at  London,  April  27,  1775.  His  grave  is  in  the  old  Moravian  cemetery  in  Chelsea. 
His  son,  Lewis  Frederick,  was  also  a  minister  of  the  Church  in  America,  and  died 
at  Bethlehem  in  181 5.  His  grand-daughter,  Fredericka  Boehler,  who  died  at  Beth- 
lehem in  1859,  was  his  last  descendant.  Rev.  Francis  Boehler,  in  Pennsylvania- 
1752  to  his  death  at  Lititz,  Pa.,  in  1806,  was  his  brother.  An  extended  sketch  of 
the  career  of  Bishop  Peter  Boehler  is  given  in  Volume  II,  Transactions,  Moravian 
Historical  Society,  and  a  Life  of  Peter  Boehler,  by  Rev.  J.  P.  Lockvvood,  (Wes- 
leyan,)  was  published  in  London  in  1868. 

Brandmiller,  John.  From  Basle,  commonly  designated  "bookkeeper"  in  early 
records,  was  also  a  printer,  like  others  of  the  name  at  Basle.  He  made  the  first 
attempts  at  printing  in  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware  in  1763-67  at  Friedensthal,  near 
Nazareth.  Several  of  his  imprints  yet  extant  are  great  rarities.  (See  Pa.  Mag.  of 
Hist,  and  Biogr.,W,  249.)  He  was  ordained,  1745,  and  did  faithful  service  at 
various  stations.  His  wife,  Anna  Maria,  came  to  Pennsylvania  in  1743  and  died  at 
Bethlehem  in  1776.     He  met  an  accidental  death  at  Bethlehem  in  1777- 

Brucker,  John  and  Mary  Barbara.  He  was  ordained  at  New  York,  1743, 
by  Zinzendorf  just  before  his  return  to  Europe.  He  entered  missionary  service.  May 
1743,  in  the  Danish  West  Indies,  where  this,  his  first  wife  died,  November  follow- 
ing, and  where,  with  intervals  of  furlough,  he  figured  as  one  of  the  chief  mission- 
aries until  his  death  there  in  1765. 

Bryzelius,  Paul  Daniel  and  Regina  Dorothea,  m.n.  Schilling.  Gen- 
eral facts  concerning  him  have  appeared  in  the  text.  He  was  considered  in  deacon's 
orders  as  a  Lutheran  candidate  and  was  ordained  a  presbyter  in  1743.  To  1745  he 
was  an  assistant  minister  at  Bethlehem  at  intervals  and  itinerated.  His  chief  field  was 
among  the  Swedes  in  New  Jersey.  He  left  the  Church  in  1760.  Their  dauyjhter. 
Anna  Regina,  was  the  first  child  born  at  Bethlehem— July  16,  1742— and  was 
baptized  the  same  day  by  Zinzendorf. 

Harten,  George  and  Elizabeth,  m.n.  Eichmann.  They  were  employed 
in  various  capacities  at  Bethlehem  and,  for  a  .season,  in  charge  of  externals  in  con- 
nection with  school  work  at  Tulpehocken  and  elsewhere.  Records  of  their  later 
career  are  not  at  hand. 


120  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 


DIE 

Taglichen 

LOOSUNGEN 

DER 

Bfuder-Gememe 

FUR  DAS  JAHR 

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Gedrukt  bey  Bethlehem  in  dcr  Fork  Dellawar. 
Bey  Johann  Brandmullcr,  MJDCCJ.3SVU. 


1742.  121 

HussEY,  Robert  and  Martha,  m.n.  Wilkes.  An  English  farmer  who  did 
faithful  service  in  the  common  interests.  He  accompanied  the  evangelist  Schnell  on 
a  tour  afoot  to  Georgia  in  1743,  and  in  1749  was  appointed  to  the  charge  of  the 
agricultural  affairs  of  the  school  at  Oley.  He  also  served  as  a  lay- evangelist.  He 
died,  1775,  at  Bethlehem.     His  wife  died  there,  1790. 

Meyer,  John  Adolph.  He  was  physician  of  the  colony  and  the  first  regular, 
accredited  physician  in  the  Lehigh  Valley.  His  father,  under  whom  he  studied,  had 
been  a  physician,  a  university  graduate.  He  served  Bethlehem  and  surrounding 
region  the  first  years  in  his  profession,  as  well  as  in  spiritual  labor,  being  in  deacon's 
orders.  He  was  ordained  a  presbyter  in  1748.  He  was  the  first  warden  at  Naza- 
reth, 1744-46.  Then  he  was  stationed  at  the  school  and  home  mission  on  the  farm 
of  Antes  at  Fredericktown  till  1749.  Leaving  church  service  for  a  while,  he  lived 
in  Philadelphia.  He  located  eventually  at  Lititz,  where  he  practiced  his  profession 
during  the  Revolution,  and  where  he  died.  His  wife,  Mary  Dorothea,  sailed  from 
London  with  Neubert  and  others  who  followed  the  Sea  Congregation  and  reached 
Philadelphia  in  September.     She  died  on  the  voyage  and  was  buried  at  sea. 

MiKSCH,  Michael  and  Johanna  Maria,  m.n.  Kuehn.  He  was  a  Moravian 
from  Kunwald,  was  with  Grassman  and  Schneider  in  the  missionary  attempt  among 
the  Samoyedes  on  the  shore  of  the  Arctic  Ocean,  1737.  He  rendered  efficient  service 
in  the  external  work  at  Bethlehem,  Gnadenhuetten  on  the  Mahoni,  Nazareth  and 
Gnadenthal,  and  accompanied  itinerants  on  many  journeys.  His  wife  and  he  died 
at  Gnadenthal,  she  in  1786  and  he  in  1792.  They  were  the  parents  of  the  child 
born  on  the  voyage,  died  and  buried  at  New  London,  May  24. 

Powell,  Samuel  and  Martha.  He  was  a  brazier  and  bell-founder  from 
Whitechurch,  Shropshire,  England.  He  rendered  varied  and  valuable  service  to  the 
Church  in  Philadelphia,  at  Bethlehem  and  at  the  Indian  Mission,  Gnadenhuetten  on 
the  Mahoni,  in  external  matters.  He  cast  the  bell  for  the  mission  chapel  at  Gnaden- 
huetten in  1747.  He  was  landlord  of  the  Crown  Inn  south  of  the  Lehigh  at  Beth- 
lehem, October  1745 — May  1746,  and  there  had  charge  of  a  general  book  depository 
opened  by  the  Society  for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel.  After  this  term  of  ser- 
vice he  returned  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  died  1762. 

Powell,  Joseph  and  Martha,  m.n.  Pritchett.  He  was  a  brother  of 
Samuel  and  hailed  from  the  same  place.  He  itinerated  some  years  as  a  lay-evange- 
list in  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  New  York  and  Maryland  and  was  ordained,  1756. 
In  1759  he  and  his  wife  with  John  Levering  and  wife,  went  to  Jamaica,  W.  I.,  as 
missionaries.  Returning  after  six  years  they  served  in  Maryland  until  1772.  His 
wife  died  at  Bethlehem,  1774.  Finally,  after  a  few  months  of  home  missionary 
work  in  New  York  and  Connecticut,  he  died,  1774,  at  the  station  Sichem,  in  Duchess 
Co.,  N.  Y.  The  monument  to  his  memory  and  that  of  Bruce,  the  missionary,  has 
been  mentioned  in  Chap.  III. 

Rice,  Owen  and  Elizabeth.  He  was  from  Haverfordwest,  Wales.  He  did 
conspicuous  service  as  an  itinerant  in  English  parts  of  Pennsylvania,  in  New  Jersey, 
New  York,  the  New  England  colonies,  and  as  English  preacher  in  Philadelphia 
and  at  Bethlehem.  During  intervals  of  residence  there,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  he  com- 
bined the  practice  of  medicine  and  minor  surgery,  as  assistant  to  the  regular  physi- 


122  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

cian,  with  his  labor  in  the  gospel,  having  acquired  considerable  experience  and 
skill  in  this  respect.  He  was  ordained  in  1748  and  was  the  first  settled  Moravian 
pastor  in  New  York  City,  1750-54.  In  1754  he  returned  to  Europe  and  served 
numerous  congregations  in  England  and  Ireland,  until  his  death,  at  Gomersal  in 
Yorkshire,  in  1785. 

Sensemann,  Henry  Joachim  and  Anna  Catherine,  m.n.  Ludwig.  A 
baker  by  trade,  he  first  served  the  settlement  in  this  and  various  other  capacities,  and 
was  the  first  time-keeper  and  bell  ringer.  1743,  he  and  his  wife  entered  missionary 
service  among  the  Indians,  and  in  1755  were  serving  as  stewards  at  Gnadenhuetten 
on  the  Mahoni,  when  savages  destroyed  the  mission  and  she  was  one  of  those  who- 
perished.  In  1766  he  and  his  second  wife,  Christina,  m.n.  Rubel,  entered  the  mis- 
sion service  on  the  Island  of  Jamaica,  \V.  I.  He  was  ordained  in  1749.  He  died 
in  consequence  of  a  fall  from  the  piazza  of  the  mission-house  at  Carmel,  Jamaica 
in  1774.  Gottlob  Senseman  the  missionary  to  the  Indians  who  died  at  Fairfield, 
Canada,  in  1800,  was  his  son. 

Tanneberger,  Michael  and  Anna  Rosina.  They  were  among  the  Mora- 
vians of  the  colony.  He  was  a  shoemaker  and  served  the  Bethlehem  community  at 
his  trade,  and  in  other  secular  employments,  until  his  death,  in  1 744.  His  widow  was 
married  to  John  George  Endter  and  went  with  him  as  missionary  to  the  Arawacks 
of  Guiana,  South  America.     Her  third  husband  was  Jonas  Nilsen. 

Turner,  John  and  Elizabeth.  He  hailed  from  London.  She  was  a  native  of 
Wales.  They  were  employed  in  connection  with  the  second  school  opened  by  the 
Brethren  in  Germantown  in  1746  in  the  house  of  John  Bechtel.  There  they  both 
died  in  1749,  he  in  April  and  she  in  May. 

Wahnert,  David  and  Mary  Elizabeth.  He  was  cook  for  the  Sea  Con- 
gregation, and  was  famous  as  the  faithful  attendant  of  a  number  of  subsequent 
colonists  on  the  voyage  across  the  ocean.  His  wife  died  in  1751  and  he  was  mar- 
ried in  1753  to  the  widow  Rosina  Pfahl,  m.n.  Hiickel.     He  died  at  Herrnhut  in  1765. 

Yarrell,  Thomas  and  Ann,  m.n.  Hopson.  They  were  English  members  of 
the  colony  and  returned  to  England  in  1766.  He  was  ordained  in  1755  after  serving^ 
some  years  as  a  lay-evangelist.  He  was  stationed  as  minister  in  Newport,  R.  I., 
and  New  York  City.  Later  he  served  various  congregations  in  England  and  Scot- 
land. 

single  men. 
Andrew.  One  of  the  first  converts  in  St.  Thomas,  commonly  spoken  of  as^ 
"Andrew  the  Negro,"  {Andreas  der  Mohr).  He  accompanied  Zinzendorf  from 
St.  Thomas  to  Europe  in  1739,  and  was  brought  to  Pennsylvania  to  labor  among 
negroes  as  a  witness  of  the  power  of  the  gospel.  At  Bethlehem  he  was  married 
to  Mary  Magdalene,  vice-eldress  of  the  negro  congregation  in  St.  Thomas,  brought 
to  Pennsylvania  by  the  missionary  Loehans  in  November,  1742.  He  and  his  wile 
went  to  Europe  with  Zinzendorf  in  1743.  In  1744  he  died  at  Marienborn.  He 
figures  among  the  18  "first  fruits"  of  Moravian  missions  from  various  nations 
who  had  entered  into  rest  in  1747,  depicted  in  a  painting  executed  that  year  by  order 
of  Zinzendorf  and  known  as  "the  picture  of  the  first  fruits"  {das  Erstlingsbild).     It 


1742.  123 

is  preserved  at  Herrnhut,  and  reduced  copies  in  oil  are  at  Zeist,  Holland,  and  in 
the  archives  at  Bethlehem.  Another  negro,  Andrew,  also  spoken  of  as  "Andreas 
der  Mohr  "  is  sometimes  confused  w^ith  him.  This  Andrew,  No.  2,  was  presented 
by  Thomas  Noble,  of  New  York,  to  Spangenberg,  was  baptized  at  Bethlehem  in 

1746,  was  married  to  Magdalena,  alms  Beula,  formerly  belonging  to  Charles  Brock- 
den  of  Philadelphia.     They  died  at  Bethlehem;  he,  1779,  she,  1820. 

Endter,  John  George.  In  1745,  married  the  widow  of  Michael  Tanneberger 
and  went  as  missionary  to  the  Arawacks  of  Berbice,  Guiana,  South  America. 

Gambold,  Hector.  Later  called  Ernest,  from  Wales,  was  married,  1743,  to 
Eleanor  Gregg,  of  New  York,  was  ordained  in  1755,  labored  in  the  ministry  in 
Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  and  New  York,  was  the  first  settled  Moravian  pastor  on 
Staten  Island  in  1763,  and  died  at  Bethlehem  in  1788.  His  son  John  Gambold 
was  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the  Cherokee  mission. 

Heydecker,  John  George.  Entered  the  itinerant  service  in  Pennsylvania  and 
died  in  Falkner's  Swamp  in  September,  1742.  He  was  the  first  one  of  the  colony 
who  died.     His  remains  were  interred  at  Bethlehem. 

Heyne,  John  Christopher.  Was  employed  in  school  work  at  several  places  in 
Pennsylvania.  He  married  Margaret  Schaeffer,  of  Tulpehocken.  He  also  served 
as  an  assistant  minister  under  license  at  intervals.  He  and  his  wife  severed  con- 
nection with  Bethlehem  in  November,  1750,  and  removed  to  Tulpehocken. 

Huber,  John  Michael.  Was  appointed  an  assistant  elder  at  Bethlehem  under 
the  primitive  organization,  married  the  widow  Catherine  Rose  (Chapter  III,  note  5), 
started  alone  to  St.  Thomas  as  assistant  missionary  in  1747,  and  perished  at  sea. 

Kaske,  George.  Married  Elizabeth  Funck  of  Pennsylvania,  went  as  missionary 
to  Berbice,    South  America,  in  1745,  was  ordained  while  back  in  Bethlehem  in 

1747,  left  the  mission  under  political  oppression  in  1752  and  returned  to  Pennsyl- 
vania.    He  died  at  Nazareth  in  1795. 

LisCHY,  John  Jacob.  Of  Swiss  Reformed  connection,  married  Mary  Benezet  of 
Philadelphia,  itinerated  over  a  large  area  among  the  German  Reformed  population, 
having  been  ordained  in  1743  by  Bishop  Nitschmann.  He  broke  with  the  Brethren 
in  1747,  became  their  bitter  enemy,  issued  two  publications  against  them  abound- 
ing in  slanderous  misrepresentations,  was  admitted  to  the  ministry  of  the  Reformed 
Church  from  which  he  was  eventually  deposed  for  irregularities,  and  died  on  his 
farm  in  York  County,  Pa.,  in  1781. 

Meurer,  John  Philip.  The  diarist  of  the  Sea  Congregation,  entered  evange- 
listic service,  was  ordained  in  December,  1742,  served  at  different  country  stations, 
married  (1744)  Christina  Kraf^t  who  died  in  1757  and  was  buried  in  the  church-yard 
used  by  the  Brethren  in  Donegal  Township,  Lancaster  County,  where  the  inscription 
on  her  gravestone  was  one  of  the  last  of  that  period  legible.  Meurer  died  at 
Bethlehem  in  1760. 

Moeller,  Joseph.  A  gardener,  at  which  occupation  he  served  many  years  at 
Bethlehem  and  at  Nazareth  and  Gnadenthal.  He  married  Catherine  Koch  in  1745. 
They  both  died  at  Bethlehem,  he  in  1778  and  she  in  1798. 


124  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Okely,  John.  From  Bedford,  England.  He  married  Johanna  Robins  of  Phila- 
delphia in  1743,  and,  as  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth  Home  of  New  York  in  1745.  He 
engaged  in  itinerant  ministry  in  parts  of  Pennsylvania  and  was  ordained  in  175 1. 
He  is  best  known  as  scrivener  and  conveyancer  at  Bethlehem,  figuring  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  in  much  public  business.  He  was  commissioned  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace  in  1774,  and,  for  a  while,  was  an  Assistant  Commissary  in  the  service  of  the 
Continental  Army  in  the  Revolution.  Estrangement  with  the  authorities  at  Beth- 
lehem, on  account  of  official  procedures  on  his  part  detrimental  to  the  interests  of 
the  Church,  led  to  his  withdrawal  with  his  third  wife,  Margaret,  widow  of  Matthew 
Graeff,  of  Lancaster,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  1780.  He  died  in  Lancaster 
County  in  1792. 

Okely,  William.  Ship  carpenter  and  sailor,  a  brother  of  John,  remained  in 
Pennsylvania  until  1748,  when,  under  Capt.  Garrison,  he  was  one  of  the  crew  of  the 
church  ship,  Irene,  on  her  first  voyage  to  Europe.  After  six  years  in  this  service — 
doing  duty  in  the  line  of  his  trade  at  Bethlehem,  during  sojourns  here  at  intervals — 
he  returned  to  Europe  in  1754. 

Post,  Christian  Frederick.  A  Prussian  and  originally  a  joiner  by  trade,  was 
the  well-known,  indefatigable,  somewhat  eccentric  missionary  to  the  Indians,  whose 
peculiarly  important  services  to  the  government  of  Pennsylvania  in  treating  with 
the  western  Indians,  at  a  most  critical  juncture  in  1758,  made  his  name  celebrated 
in  the  history  of  the  Province.  He  was  also  with  the  company  that  made  the 
luckless  first  attempt  to  start  a  mission  in  Labrador  in  1752,  when  those  not  mur- 
dered had  to  leave  to  help  man  the  vessel.  In  1761  he  undertook  the  first  mission 
in  the  Tuscarawas  Valley,  Ohio,  and  the  following  year  initiated  John  Heckewelder 
into  that  work.  In  1764  he  went  to  the  Moskito  Coast  to  start  an  independent 
mission,  and,  after  two  protracted  sojourns  there — visiting  Bethlehem  in  1767 — he 
located  in  Germantown,  Pa.,  in  1784.  His  final  labors  were  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  clergy.  He  died  at  Germantown  in  1785,  and  was  there 
buried  m  the  "Lower  Graveyard,"  where,  about  1840,  a  marble  slab  with  an  in- 
scription reciting  his  career  was  placed  upon  his  grave.  He  was  thrice  married. 
His  first  two  wives  were  Indian  women ;  his  idea  being  that  this  would  facilitate  his 
efforts.     He  was  never  ordained  in  the  Moravian  Church. 

Pezold,  John  Gottlieb.  Was  one  of  the  most  devoted  and  valuable  men  of 
his  time,  both  in  evangelistic  activity  and  in  official  counsel.  From  1 742-1 753  he  was 
general  superintendent  of  the  work  of  the  single  men  in  America.  He  was 
ordained  in  1748.  Returning  to  Europe  in  1753,  he  brought  over  a  colony  of  single 
men  in  1754.  After  that  he  was  chaplain  and  spiritual  overseer  of  the  Single 
Brethren's  House  at  Bethlehem.  His  principal  evangelistic  efforts  in  the  Ma- 
guntsche  neighborhood  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Moravian  Church  at  Emmaus. 
While  on  an  official  visit  to  Lititz,  he  died  there  in  1762. 

RONNER,  John  Reinhold.  Was  ordained  in  1743,  married  Elizabeth  Fissler,  of 
Philadelphia,  labored  in  many  places  in  Pennsylvania  up  to  1750,  when  he  went 
with  his  wife  to  St.  Thomas,  W.  I.,  as  missionary.  In  1755  they  returned  to  Beth- 
lehem where  he  died  in  1756.  His  wife,  after  further  years  of  service  as  a  deacon- 
ess, mainly  in  New  York,  died  at  Bethlehem  in  1771. 


1742.  125 

Schneider,  George.  One  of  the  native  Moravians  of  the  colony,  was  employed 
for  a  while  in  itinerant  service  and  particularly  in  the  external  affairs  of  several  schools. 
He  married  Gertrude  Peterson,  of  Long  Island,  in  1746.  In  subsequent  years  he 
was  connected  with  the  agricultural  interests  at  Nazareth  and  Bethlehem.  He  died 
in  1774  and  his  wife  in  1803,  both  at  Bethlehem. 

SCHNELL,  Leonard.  Labored  as  an  itinerant  lay-evangelist  in  various  neighbor- 
hoods, besides  engaging  in  various  duties  at  Bethlehem  from  time  to  time,  until  1748, 
when  he  was  ordained  to  the  regular  ministry.  In  1751  he  severed  his  connection  with 
the  Brethren  and  then  ministered  some  time  to  the  Lutherans  in  the  Maguntsche 
and  Saucon  neighborhoods.  One  of  his  notable  exploits  was  an  evangelistic  tour 
afoot  to  Georgia  in  1743. 

Seidel,  Nathanael.  The  most  important  man  among  these  Single  Brethren. 
He  was  the  son  of  a  Bohemian  emigrant  in  Silesia  and  therefore  in  close  affinity  with 
the  native  Moravians.  During  the  early  years  of  his  career  in  Pennsylvania  he  was 
one  of  the  most  zealous  and  untiring  itinerants  among  whites  and  Indians,  and  the 
many  long  journeys  he  made  afoot  were  remarkable.  He  later  made  perilous  and 
exhausting  journeys  to  the  West  Indies  and  Surinam.  He  was  ordained  a  deacon 
before  he  came  to  Pennsylvania,  a  presbyter  in  1748  and  a  bishop  in  1758.  He 
was  the  successor  of  Bishop  Spangenberg  in  general  superintendence  of  Moravian 
work  in  America  in  which  position  he  stood  until  his  death.  He  was  also  one  of 
the  succession  of  nominal  proprietors  of  all  the  estates  of  the  Church  under  the 
authorities  at  Bethlehem.  His  wife,  whom  he  married  in  1760,  was  a  daughter  of 
George  Piesch,  conductor  of  the  Sea  Congregation — Anna  Johanna  Piesch,  a  grand- 
daughter of  Father  Nitschmann.  Bishop  Seidel  died  at  Bethlehem  in  1782.  A 
full  sketch  of  his  career  is  given  in  Vol.  II,  Transactions  of  the  Moravian  Histor- 
ical Society.     His  widow  died  at  Nazareth. 

Shaw,  Joseph.  One  of  the  English  members,  who  was  to  have  studied  for  the 
Church  but  was  obliged  by  ill-health  to  abandon  it.  He  served  as  teacher  first 
among  the  Indians,  and  then  at  Walpack  and  Dansbur>'  in  the  Minisinks  among 
white  settlers,  doing  evangelistic  work  there  also,  1745-47.  There  his  first  wife, 
Mary  Jones,  of  Philadelphia,  died.  Having  been  ordained  in  August,  1747,  Shaw, 
with  his  second  wife,  Mary  Heap,  of  Philadelphia,  started  with  Huber  for  St. 
Thomas  to  enter  missionary  service,  and  with  him  they  were  lost  at  sea  in  October. 

Werner,  Christian.  Was  employed  as  sick-nurse  in  schools,  at  farm-work, 
and  as  a  care-taker  and  watchman  about  the  church  premises  at  Bethlehem.  He 
married  Anna  Maria  Brandner  who  with  Neubert  and  others  followed  the  Sea  Con- 
gregation to  Pennsylvania  in  September,  1742.  He  died  at  Bethlehem  in  1783. 
His  wife  preceded  him  in  1760. 

Wiesner,  George.  Returned  with  Zinzendorf  to  Europe  in  1743  as  an  atten- 
dant on  the  voyage. 

WiTTKE,  Matthew.  Was  employed  mainly  m  agricultural  work  at  the  stations 
on  the  Barony  of  Nazareth  and  at  Friedensthal.  He  and  Wiesner  seem  to  have  been 
the  only  two  members  of  the  colony  who  figured  as  "  illiterate  "  to  the  extent  of 
having  to  "  make  their  mark  "  in  lieu  of  writing  their  names,  in  the  Stale  House  at 
Philadelphia,  when  they  arrived. 


126  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

It  may  be  added  that,  under  the  system  of  the  time,  all  of  those  who  served  as 
itinerants,  or  were  stationed  for  brief  periods  at  different  places,  were  employed  at 
Bethlehem  during  intervals,  at  various  duties,  some  in  laboring  at  their  trades 
others  at  whatever  work  was  most  pressing,  from  time  to  time,  and  that  they  were 
able  to  do. 

Adolph  Meyer,  Joachim  Sensemann  and  Daniel  Neubert,  who  was  to  come  with 
them,  but  first  arrived  in  September,  were  among  the  people  connected  with  the 
Holstein  attempts  and  with  Heerendyk  in  Holland. 

Of  the  following  members  of  this  colony,  descendants  of  the  name  are  known, 
living  at  Bethlehem  or  elsewhere :  David  Bishop,  Michael  Miksch,  Owen  Rice, 
Joachim  Sensemann,  Joseph  Moeller. 


CHAPTER     VI. 


From  the  Organization  to  the  Return  of  Spangenberg. 

1742— 1744. 

On  June  15,  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Pennsylvania  Synod, 
Anton  Seiffert,  with  several  of  the  new-comers  who  were  carpenters, 
hurried  o&  to  Bethlehem  to  help  Father  Nitschmann  and  his  few 
assistants  complete  the  necessary  work  at  the  Community  House. 
On  Whit-Sunday,  June  17,  the  colony  assembled  in  Germantown  at 
a  lovefeast  in  the  house  of  the  clock-maker  Endt,  where  the  first 
"Conference  of  Religions"  had  been  held.  It  was  occupied  at  this 
time  by  Gotthard  Demuth  and  Augustine  Xeisser  who  had  worked  at 
his  trade  with  Endt. 

On  Whit-Monday,  thirty-five  of  them  started  together  for  the 
Forks.  Boehler  and  his  wife,  with  all  of  the  English  members  of 
the  colony,  and  Bryzelius  and  his  wife,  remained  temporarily  in  Phil- 
adelphia, where  Boehler  took  the  place  of  Pyrlaeus  who  went  along 
to  Bethlehem.  That  company  reached  Skippack  in  the  evening  and 
remained  there  over  night.  At  four  o'clock  the  next  morning  they 
were  again  on  the  way  to  Falkner's  Swamp.  When  they  reached 
the  home  of  Henry  Antes  they  were  greatly  fatigued,  especially  the 
women,  being  unused  to  such  exertion  after  so  many  weeks  on  ship- 
board, and  the  weather  being  very  warm.  Antes  provided  wagons 
to  convey  the  women  and  several  of  the  less  able-bodied  men  over 
the  next  stage  of  the  journey  to  Joseph  ^Mueller's  in  the  Great  Swamp, 
where  they  arrived  in  the  course  of  the  day  on  the  20th,  and  were 
overtaken  by  the  wagon  from  Philadelphia  with  their  heavy  luggage. 
They  made  an  early  start  from  Mueller's  on  the  21st  and  at  half-past 
ten  o'clock  the  first  detachment,  the  single  men  with  one  of  the 
wagons,  reached  Bethlehem.  The  wife  of  Bishop  Xiischmann  was 
given  a  place  on  the  wagon  with  the  luggage.  Hymns  of  thanksgiving 
were  sung  while  they  crossed  the  Lehigh,  and  Count  Zinzendorf,  who 

127 


128  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

with  several  other  persons  had  preceded  them  on  horseback,  welcomed 
them  on  the  other  side  of  the  stream.  The  rest  of  the  colony  arrived 
at  noon.  A  bountiful  meal  was  in  readiness,  and  with  grateful  hearts, 
almost  forgetting  their  weariness  under  the  exhilaration  of  the  hour, 
they  enjoyed  the  first  hospitality  of  the  House  of  Bread. 

The  next  day  was  devoted  simply  to  bodily  rest.  The  proceedings 
connected  with  their  establishment  at  the  place,  the  opening  of  the 
new  epoch  and  the  first  organization  of  the  people  for  communal 
life  and  for  religious  and  secular  activity,  began  on  the  23d.  It  was 
Saturday,  and  was  observed  as  a  Gemeintag} 

The  day  must  have  been  fully  occupied  with  the  various  meetings, 
of  which  there  were  seven.  Count  Zinzendorf  presided  at  all  of  them. 
The  first  was  the  consecration  of  their  place  of  worship  in  the  Com- 
munity House.  In  his  dedicatory  prayer  the  Count  prayed  "that 
the  congregation  there  gathered  might  be  a  blessing  to  the  country 
and  that  their  place  of  prayer  might  be  the  Saviour's  dwelling-place 
where  His  devoted  people  would  go  in  and  out."  For  nine  years  that 
impretentious  chapel  on  the  second  floor  of  the  Community  House 
was  the  place  of  worship  and  general  assembly-room  of  the  settle- 
ment. There,  not  only  numerous  hours  of  earnest  prayer,  by  people 
whose  lives  were  devoted  to  great  efforts  in  the  cause  of  Christ,  and 
precious  occasions  of  spiritual  fellowship,  refreshment  and  edification 
were  passed,  but  many  important  deliberations  on  enterprises  that 
extended  to  many  regions  of  the  country  and  even  across  the  seas 
were  held ;  councils  with  deputations  of  Indians  from  various  quarters 
took  place,  and  one  after  another  red  man  and  woman  of  the  forest 
rescued  from  heathenism  and  won  by  the  love  of  Jesus,  was  baptized 
into  His  death.  Its  hallowed  associations  deserve  to  be  perpetuated 
by  some  fit  use  of  the  place. 

At  the  second  service  a  sermon  was  preached  by  Zinzendorf.  At 
the  third,  Gottlieb  Haberecht,  who  had  repented  of  his  defection  to 
the  Ephrata  brotherhood,  and  Matthias  Seybold,  who  had  likewise 
repented  of  his  temporary  indifTerence  to  covenant  obligations,  were 
formally  restored  to  full  fellowship.  At  the  fourth  gathering  of  the 
day,  Zinzendorf  addressed  the  people  in  reference  to  the  object  of 
founding  Bethlehem  as  a  missionary  center ;  explaining  that  it  was 
not  to  be  a  place  for  persons  to  locate  in  at  ease,  as  some  inhabitants 
of  Herrnhut  erroneously  thought  of  that  place.    He  also  gave  them 


I  On  Gemeintag,  see  note  under  Chapter  IV. 


1742 1744-  129 

an  exposition  of  the  various  church-types  presented  in  the  Seven 
Churches  of  Asia,  (Rev.  2,  3).  The  fifth  session  was  devoted  to  a 
general  review  of  the  work  of  the  Brethren  in  all  places,  up  to  that 
time,  a  retrospect  of  the  seven  Pennsylvania  Synods,  and  an  eluci- 
dation of  all  the  varied  general  and  special  offices  in  the  Church,  as 
then  instituted.  At  the  sixth  session,  correspondence  and  reports 
from  missionaries  in  many  places  were  read,  and  one  of  the  women 
who  had  been  taken  into  church  fellowship  from  Pennsylvania,  was 
confirmed.  The  seventh  service  was  evening  prayer  which  closed 
the  day. 

The  next  day,  June  24,  was  Trinity  Sunday,  according  to  the  old 
English  calendar.  There  was  preaching  at  ten  o'clock  by  Andrew 
Eschenbach,  to  which,  as  on  all  occasions  of  public  preaching  from  the 
beginning,  any  people  from  near  or  far  who  chose  to  come  were 
welcomed.  Later  in  the  day,  a  general  council  of  all  the  people  was 
held,  at  which  the  first  steps  were  taken  in  a  definite  organization. 
A  primary  division  of  the  hundred  and  twenty  persons  announced  on 
June  13,  was  made  into  two  large  companies.  One  was  called  the 
pilgrim  or  itinerant  congregation ;  the  other  the  home  or  local  con- 
gregation— Pilgergemcine  and  Hausgemeinc.  Eighty  persons  were 
actually  present,  according  to  lists  preserved.  The  selection  of 
persons  for  one  or  the  other  division  was  made,  in  some  cases  in 
accordance  with  their  expressed  preference,  in  other  cases  by  lot, 
at  their  request. 

Those  in  the  first  division  were  to  devote  themselves  to  evan- 
gelistic work  among  Indians  and  white  people,  adults  and  children, 
according  to  arrangements  to  be  made  from  time  to  time.  The  others 
were  to  "tarry  by  the  stuff"  (I  Sam.  30:24).  They  were  to  develop 
the  material  resources,  erect  buildings,  provide  sustenance  for  the 
"pilgrims,"  care  for  their  necessities  as  they  went  and  came;  and, 
at  the  same  time,  spiritually  keep  the  fire  burning  on  the  home  altar. 
Subsequently,  transfers  were  often  made  from  one  division  to  the 
other,  as  circumstances  required.  Many  would  be  among  the  pil- 
grims for  a  season  and  then  a  while  with  the  home  congregation. 
All  were  expected,  during  their  sojourn  at  Bethlehem,  to  lend  a  hand 
at  any  necessary  work  they  could  do.  The  pilgrims  were  classified 
under  designations  in  which  Zinzendorf  revealed  a  fondness  for 
striking  novelties,  Hke  those  which  appear  in  some  quite  modern 
systems  of  religious  activity.     Thus,  in  the  further  organization  of 


/ 

130  A    HISTORV'    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

their  work,  one  corps  were  the  "Fishers"  (Alatt.  4:19),  a  kind  of 
"look-out  committee"  traversing  different  neighborhoods  to  seek 
places  in  need  of  attention,  note  open  doors  and  get  into  personal 
touch  with  people.  Another  corps  making  periodical  tours  together, 
visiting  from  house  to  house  in  circuits,  received  the  name,  "the 
Pennsylvania  Wheel,"  in  allusion  to  Ezekiel  i  :i5,20, — also  "the  Penn- 
sylvania Chariot,"  (Acts  8:26-39). 

Special  itineraries  were  mapped  out  for  these  corps  which  they 
were  to  complete  in  a  fixed  time,  after  which  they  were  to  return  and 
re])ort.  When  places  opened  for  more  localized  work,  permanently 
or  for  protracted  seasons,  two  further  classes  of  laborers  were  organ- 
ized among  those  who  were  regular  ministers,  or  at  least  were  best 
qualified  for  public  speaking.  Those  of  one  class  had  an  assigned 
circuit.  The  others  settled  at  one  place,  concentrating  their  effort. 
They  were  spoken  of  as  the  "traveling  preachers"  and  the  "stationed 
preachers" — Landprediger  and  die  auf  Posten. 

Those  who  were  to  do  missionary  work  among  the  Indians  were 
selected  from  time  to  time,  with  a  view  to  their  fitness  in  various 
respects  for  this  particular  work.  Those  who  were  to  devote  their 
special  attention  to  the  children  were  likewise  carefully  selected.  As 
arrangements  were  perfected,  a  superintendent  of  each  of  these 
departments  was  appointed  and  he  was  called  the  Elder  of  that  corps 
of  workers.  Thus,  in  connection  with  the  work  among  the  Indians, 
the  ol^ce  of  Hcidcnaeltcstcr  was  instituted.  Elder  of  the  Work  among 
the  Heathen.  Over  the  children's  department  stood  two  Kindereltcrn 
— parents.  This  developed  system  was  only  germinal  in  the  arrange- 
ments made  at  first,  on  June  24. 

At  that  general  meeting  on  Trinity  Sunday  there  was  a  thorough 
discussion  of  the  question  what  course  to  pursue,  both  as  a  principle 
and  as  a  matter  of  expediency,  in  reference  to  the  observance  of 
the  First  Day  and  the  Seventh  Day. 

The  Sabbath  question,  in  this  sense,  was  a  more  conspicuous  one 
among  the  religionists  of  the  country,  both  German  and  English,  at 
that  time,  than  is  now  commonly  known.  Some  Sabbatarians  merely 
maintained  that  the  Divine  command  in  reference  to  the  seventh 
day  could  not  properly  be  ignored  or  transferred  to  the  first  day,  and 
therefore  kept  Saturday  holy,  but  did  not  obtrude  their  disregard 
of  the  first  day.  Others,  more  fanatical,  like  the  extreme  wing  of 
the  Ephrata  fraternity,  took  pains  to  desecrate  Sunday,  and  even 
reviled   its    observance,    as    having   a   heathen    origin,    and    applied 


1742- 1744  131 

opprobrious  epithets  to  it.  The  terms  used  for  the  two  days,  in 
connection  with  these  deHberations  were  Sabbath  (seventh  day)  and 
the  Lord's  Day  (first  day).  There  was  no  discussion  in  reference  to 
observing  the  Lord's  Day  or  not.  This  was  taken  for  granted,  in 
accordance  with  general  Christian  tradition  and  the  law  of  the 
Province.  The  question  was  whether  to  observe  also  Saturday  as 
Sabbath,  and  in  what  manner,  and  what  distinction  to  make  between 
the  character  and  significance  of  the  two. 

Saturday,  as  the  Sabbath,  was  distinguished  as  a  day  of  rest  and 
spiritual  communion — Ruhc  iind  Bcttag.  Sunday,  as  the  Lord's  Day, 
was  to  be  the  day  for  preaching,  public  worship  and  instruction — 
Lchrtag.  As  a  matter  of  principle,  two  general  considerations  weighed 
in  favor  of  such  an  observance  of  Saturday.  One  was  that  rest  of 
body  and  mind  on  the  seventh  day  kept  the  Divine  example  and 
ordinance  sacred,  which  were  older  than  the  Mosaic  law.  It  was 
argued  therefore  that  they  could  thus  be  applied  to  man  and  beast 
without  any  thought  of  Old  Testament  legalism.  It  should  be 
observed  by  them  therefore,  not  as  Jews  or  Judaizers,  but  as  human 
beings  ;  not  obeying  a  command,  but  using  a  benefit  conferred.  When 
the  objection  was  raised  that  sacrifices  were  also  older  than  the 
Mosaic  law,  the  answer  was  that  there  was  a  wide  difference  between 
sacrifices  and  the  Sabbath.  Sacrifices  had  been  done  away  with  in 
the  sacrifice  of  Jesus,  the  supreme  anti-type,  whereas  the  anti-type  of 
the  Sabbath  is  the  future  sabbatical  state,  the  rest  that  remaineth  to 
the  people  of  God,  yet  to  be  consummated  and  yet  looked  forward 
to  by  Christians. 

The  other  general  consideration,  commending  Saturday  as  a  day 
of  communion  and  prayer,  was  the  fact  that  the  body  of  Christ  rested 
in  the  tomb  over  the  Sabbath,  and  that  all  who  are  buried  with  Him 
by  baptism  into  death  may  on  that  day  suitably  cherish  the  com- 
munion of  saints  in  the  church  that  waiteth  for  Him  and  in  that 
which  is  around  Him  ;  keeping  fellowship  in  spirit  at  the  tomb  where 
his  flesh  rested  in  hope.  Therefore  on  this  day  of  rest  and  prayer, 
the  observance  of  Gcrncintag,  and  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Com- 
munion had  been  established  before  in  Europe. 

Viewed  from  the  stand-point  of  expediency,  two  special  consider- 
ations were  advanced  in  favor  of  such  an  observance  of  the  seventh 
day.  One  was  the  position  of  the  Sabbatarian  sects.  They  would 
be  deprived  of  "the  monopoly  of  a  certain  righteousness  in  which 
they  boasted,"  and  would  be  conciHated  by  this  degree  of  respect 


132  A    HISTORY    OF   BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

for  their  ideas.  The  other  was  the  fanciful  notion  that,  if  it  appeared 
that  the  Indians  really  were  descendants  of  the  lost  tribes  of  Israel, 
it  might  be  necessary  to  lead  them  back  to  their  ancestral  religion, 
in  its  main  features,  and  out  of  that  to  the  gospel.  Therefore,  it 
would  be  suitable  to  restore  the  Sabbath.  The  distinctive  Old  Testa- 
ment covenant  rite  corresponding  to  the  New  Testament  baptism  was 
also  alluded  to.  These  far-fetched  ideas  were,  however,  not  applied 
in  the  method  of  evangelizing  the  Indians. - 

The  lingering  regard  for  the  ancient  Sabbath,  in  the  consciousness 
of  Christendom,  was  held  to  be  evident  in  the  half  holiday  observed 
in  schools,  and  the  common  disposition  to  stop  working  earlier  on 
Saturday  than  on  other  days ;  as  well  as  in  the  strict  Puritan  practice 
of  transferring  Mosaic  ideas  to  Sunday,  but  making  their  observance 
begin  at  sunset,  Saturday.  It  was  remarked  that  the  Sabbath  was 
gradually  discarded  in  Christendom,  in  breaking  with  the  externals 
of  Judaism,  and  became  obsolete  through  the  difficulty  found  in 
sparing  two  days  each  week  from  common  employment.  In  this 
connection,  the  practical  question  was  raised  whether  the  material 
interests  of  the  settlement  would  permit  such  a  Saturday  rest.  Seififert, 
the  Elder,  was  asked  for  an  opinion,  and  it  was  decided  that  matters 
could  be  so  adjusted  and  regulated.  It  was  therefore  concluded  to 
observe  Saturday,  as  proposed,  not  instead  of,  but  together  with 
Sunday.  Communion  was  to  be  celebrated  on  Saturday,  but,  for 
various  reasons,  Gemeintag  sessions  would  be  held  on  Sunday.  Later, 
Communion  was,  however,  also  transfered  to  Sunday,  as  a  rule. 

As  to  the  idea  to  be  attached  to  Sunday,  as  the  Lord's  Day,  it  was 
pointed  out  that  the  primitive  Christians  observed  it,  while  they  yet 
kept  the  seventh  as  the  Sabbath — in  honor  of  the  Resurrection  of 
Christ.  Therefore  Sunday  was  to  be  regarded  primarily  as  a  festival 
in  commemoration  of  the  Resurrection,  by  having  the  various 
meetings  for  indoctrination,  and  the  public  services  with  general 
preaching  of  the  gospel  on  that  day ;  but  without  insisting  on  trans- 
ferring the  Sabbath-conception  to  Sunday.  Two  general  reasons  for 
keeping  the  Lord's  Day  holy  were  set  forth.  One  was  due  honor 
to  Him  who  rose  the  third  day  and  due  recognition  of  the  resurrection 

2  A  scheme  of  a  method  to  approach  the  Indians,  sketched  by  Zinzendorf  in  twenty-five 
brief  paragraphs  in  a  logical  order  of  progress,  was  adopted  as  the  general  plan,  and  is  an 
interesting  study.  It  is  found  in  the  Buedingsche  Sammhmgen,  Volume  III,  pp.  90-91,  and 
bears  the  title  AfethoJus  der  Wildcn  Bekehrung — Method  of  converting  the  savages. 


1742 1744-  133 

as  the  triumphant  completion  of  the  atonement,  with  which  all  the 
articles  of  Christian  faith  stand  or  fall.  The  other  was  due  obedience 
to  the  civil  law  w^hich  commands  cessation  of  work,  and  regard  for 
common  Christian  sentiment  which  venerates  the  Lord's  Day  as  the 
holy  day  of  the  week. 

In  putting  these  discriminating  ideas  into  practice  in  the  religious 
and  social  life  of  Bethlehem,  difficulty  was  experienced  later  in  two 
respects.  Some,  not  clear  on  the  rationale  of  the  plan,  were  disposed 
to  follow  the  Sabbatarians  in  substituting  Saturday  for  Sunday  as 
the  one  holy  day.  Others,  less  devout  and  conscientious,  used  the 
liberty  the  law  permitted  on  Saturday,  but  then,  abusing  the  principle 
laid  down  that  Sunday  was  not  to  be  viewed  as  the  Mosaic  Sabbath. 
violated  the  civil  law,  gave  offence  to  puritanical  neighbors,  and 
caused  the  impression  that  the  Brethren  were  Sabbatarians.  Such 
infractions  were  peremptorily  dealt  with  by  the  village  authorities. 
It  may  be  added  that  after  a  few  years  this  double  holy  day  became 
impracticable  and  entire  cessation  of  labor  on  Saturday  was  not  main- 
tained. 

At  the  meeting  on  June  24  the  idea  was  broached  of  building  cabins 
at  half-mile  intervals  along  the  road  to  Nazareth,  to  be  occupied  for 
a  season  by  persons  who  were  to  go  out  into  the  Indian  country  as 
missionaries.  This  was  to  induct  them  into  the  isolated  life  they 
would  have  to  lead.  It  would,  at  the  same  time,  increase  the  number 
of  domiciles  for  the  temporary  use  of  resting  itinerants,  and  would 
be  a  step  towards  the  close  connection  between  Bethlehem  and  Naza- 
reth that  was  in  contemplation.  Some  such  cabins  were  subsequently 
built  at  different  spots  for  make-shift  use,  but  not  on  the  road  to 
Nazareth. 

On  Monday,  June  25,  Count  Zinzendorf  and  his  daughter,  with 
several  other  persons,  visited  the  spot  where  the  settlement  had 
been  commenced  on  the  Barony  of  Nazareth,  remaining  most  of  the 
day.  On  that  occasion,  as  it  seems,  he  had  an  interview  with  Captain 
John  and  the  Indians  of  Welagameka  who  were  yet  there,  demon- 
strating how  possession  was  nine  points  of  the  law.  Subsequent  pro- 
ceedings showed  that,  whatever  efforts  he  may  have  made  with  the 
redoubtable  captain,  they  were  fruitless.  Meanwhile  George  Neisser, 
Secretarv,  with  his  assistants,  was  getting  the  written  work  of  those 
days,  classified  lists  of  names  and  the  like,  into  shape  for  the  final 
meeting  of  that  evening. 


134 


A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 


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A    PAGE   OF   THE    BETHLEHEM    DIARY, 


136 


A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 


All  the  eighty  persons^  present  at  these  important  proceedings 
assembled  in  the  evening,  and  engaged  in  one  of  those  services  of 
song — Siiigstinidoi — which  Zinzendorf  had  made  so  popular.  On  this 
occasion  the  first  organization  was  completed  and  the  arrangements, 
so  far  as  they  were  perfected,  put  into  operation.     Certain  local 


3  Mention  of  persons  at  Bethlehem,  June  25,  1742,  found  at  different  places  in  the  records 
show  slight  discrepancies.  In  some  cases  names  are  included  of  individuals  who  did  not 
arrive  until  several  days  later.  In  others,  persons  are  mentioned  who  certainly  were  not 
there.  Very  careful  examination  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the  following  list  is  probably 
accurate : 

MARRIED    PEOl'LE. 

Aimers,  Henry  and  Rosina. 

Bischoff,  John  David  and  Anna  Catherine. 

Brandmiller,  John. 

Brucker,  John  and  Mary  Barbara 

Demuth,  Gotthard  and  Regina. 

Harten,  George  and  Elizabeth. 

Meinung,  Abraham  and  Judith. 

Meyer,  John  Adolph. 

Miksch,  Michael  and  Johanna  Maria. 

Nitschmann,  Rosina. 

Senseman,  Henry  and  Anna  Catherine. 

Seybold,  Matthias  and  Anna  Maria. 

Tanneberger,  Michael  and  Anna  Rosina. 

Wahnert,  David  and  Mary  Elizabeth. 

Weber,  George  and  Mary  Elizabeth. 

Zeisberger,  David  and  Rosina. 

Zinzendorf,  Nicholas  Lewis. 


SINGLE  MEN. 
Andrew,  the  Negro. 
Boehner,  John. 
Bruce,  David. 
Bueninger,  Abraham. 
Detweiler,  Jacob. 
Endter,  John  George. 
Eschenbach,  Andrew. 
Haberecht,  Gottlieb. 
Hagen,  John. 
Hardie,  Thomas. 
Hey  decker,  George. 
Heyne,  John  Christopher. 
Huber,  John  Michael. 
Israel,  Christian  Gottlieb. 
John,  Wasamapa  (Indian). 
Lischy,  John  Jacob. 
Meurer,  John  Philip. 


Moeller,  Joseph. 
Mueller,  John. 
Neisser,  George. 
Oesterlein,  Daniel. 
Pezold,  John  Gottlieb. 
Post,  Christian  Frederick. 
Pyrlaeus,  John  Christopher. 
Ranch,  Christian  Henry. 
Ronner,  John  Reinhold. 
Schnell,  Leonard. 
Seidel,  Nathanael. 
Seiffert,  Anton. 
Werner,  Christian. 
Wiesner,  George. 
Wittke,  Matthew. 
Zander,  John  William. 
Zeisberger,  David,  Jr. 


Somers,  Benjamin. 

James, 

Valentine, ) 

^  (  servants. 
,  Guerge,    ) 

SINGLE  WOMEN. 

Braun,  Elizabeth. 

Benezet,  Judith. 

Benezet,  Mary. 

Benezet,  Susan. 

Disman,  Anna  Margaret. 

Hummel,  Johanna. 

Magdalena,  Negio  girl. 

Miller,  Johanna  Magdalena 

Nitschmann,  Anna. 

Robins,  Esther. 

Wend,  Mary  Magdalena. 

Zinzendorf,  Benigna. 


1742 1744-  137 

officials  were  announced  and  the  various  bands,  or  classes  into  which 
the  population  was  divided — each  with  a  leader — for  the  cultivation 
of  intimate  fellowship  and  for  mutual,  spiritual  helpfulness,  were  read. 
There  were  eight  such  classes  for  the  home  congregation  and  eleven 
for  the  itinerants.  Among  the  eight,  were  two  of  married  couples, 
one  of  widowers  and  married  men  whose  wives  were  not  with  them, 
one  of  women  thus  alone  and  four  of  single  men.  Among  the 
itinerants  there  were  one  of  married  couples,  one  of  married  men 
alone,  five  of  single  men  and  four  of  single  women.  Zinzendorf — his 
wife  not  being  present — placed  himself  in  a  class  with  Brandmiller, 
Adolph  Meyer  and  the  Indian  John  Wasamapah  ("Tschoop")  who 
were  similarly  situated,  together  with  Father  Nitschmann  who  was  a 
widower.  In  connection  with  that  evening  service  Zinzendorf 
preached  a  sermon  on  the  watchword  for  that  day — the  anniversary 
of  the  presentation  of  the  confession  of  Augsburg,  June  25,  1530 — 
"Strong  is  thy  dwelling  place  and  thou  puttest  they  nest  in  a  rock," 
Numbers  24:21.  It  was  rich  in  suggestive  meaning  for  the  new 
settlement  in  connection  with  the  day  on  which  its  organization  was 
consummated,  and  which  eventually  became  fixed  as  the  anniversary 
day  of  Bethlehem. 

The  first  distinct  section  of  the  period  now  under  review  is  that 
from  the  organization  of  the  settlement  to  the  departure  of  Count 
Zinzendorf  for  Europe.  Those  were  months  of  enthusiastic  and,  in 
some  features,  confused  activity.  All  was  at  a  formative  stage.  Many 
arrangements  were  temporary  and  subject  to  change,  as  circumstances 
required,  from  week  to  week.  Much  in  the  organization  of  govern- 
ment and  work,  was  only  tentative.  No  fixed  model  was  being 
followed,  for  the  situation  was  unique  and  required  the  origination  of 
plans  and  methods.  With  all  this,  Zinzendorf's  independence  of 
ecclesiastical  conventionality,  propensity  to  experiment  with  novelties 
in  method,  and  his  adaptation  of  many  local  plans  to  the  frequent 
changes  he  made  in  general  plans,  helped  to  keep  things  in  flux. 
Much  was  wanting,  in  external  appointments,  to  carry  out  the  ideas 
in  mind  for  the  place.  In  the  communal  arrangements,  fine  ideals 
of  religious,  social  and  industrial  order  struggled  for  the  mastery 
with  the  difficulties  of  a  large  company  of  people  massed  in  two 
rough  unfinished  buildings  which  would  seem  hardly  adequate  for 
one  fourth  the  number,  in  the  actual  dwelling-room  they  afforded. 

Around  them  were  primitive  back-woods  conditions,  quite  new  to 
bv  far  the  most  of  them,  to  which  they  needed  first  to  be  trained. 


138  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Under  these  circumstances,  a  discipline  almost  military  had  to  prevail 
in  many  respects,  in  order  to  meet  the  practical  difficulties  of  the  case 
and  preserve  the  standard  of  general  morals  that  had  been  set.  The 
ideas  and  purposes  of  the  enterprise  made  it  a  dififerent  task  from 
that  of  ordinary  beginnings  of  the  kind.  All  the  diversified  operations 
carried  on  at  many  points,  moreover,  were  so  inseparable  from  the 
life  and  order  of  Bethlehem,  that  it  is  impossible  to  treat  the  latter 
apart  from  them. 

Hardly  anything  in  the  scenes  of  those  months  was  without  relation 
to  what  was  going  on  at  many  another  place.  The  main  matters  to 
be  noticed  in  sketching  that  time  can  be  best  presented,  not  by 
following  the  course  of  things  chronologically  as  they  occurred,  for 
this  would  require  a  substantial  reproduction  of  diaries  and  official 
minutes,  which  would  be  only  a  jumble  of  facts,  but  by  classifying 
these  matters  somewhat  and  thus  reviewing  them. 

The  general  organization  and  offices  embodied  a  few  rudimental 
ideas  which,  with  all  the  changes  of  form  and  name  in  subsequent 
years,  lay  at  the  roots  of  the  elaborate  system  that  was  eventually 
established.  The  patriarchal  idea  of  the  Eldership  was  attached  to 
the  control  of  things.  The  name  Elder  was  used  for  both  the 
executive  and  pastoral  head.  There  was  an  Elder  of  the  whole  congre- 
gation and  one  for  each  of  its  several  divisions.  Women  were  chosen 
as  general  and  special  Eldresses  of  the  female  membership.  But,  at 
the  same  time,  the  principle  of  conferential  government  and  collegiate 
administration,  with  both  ordained  and  unordained  men  and  also 
women  participating,  was  established.  The  various  deliberative  and 
administrative  bodies  were  called  conferences. 

The  word  Helper  was  associated  with  Elder  in  connection  with 
such  bodies,  and  the  term  Helpers'  Conference  came  into  vogue. 
Along  with  these  terms  the  German  words  Vorstchcr  and  Dicncr  were 
brought  into  use  from  the  beginning.  They  corresponded,  in  the 
application  made  them,  to  the  English  terms  Warden  and  Steward. 
The  boards  in  charge  of  this  class  of  duties  were  composed  of  men 
and  women  jointly.  Thus  arose,  in  the  course  of  that  summer  a 
Dicncr-Collcgiuui — a  board  of  stewards  with  a  Vorstchcr  or  Warden 
at  the  head,  along  with  the  Helper's-Conference,  having  the  Elder  of 
the  congregation  at  the  head. 

These  rudiments  of  organization  have  survived  to  modern  times 
both  in  the  general  government  of  the  Brethren's  Church  and  in  the 
organization  of  its   single   settlements   and   congregations.      Herein 


1742 1744-  139 

the  precedent  of  Herrnhut  was  followed.  A  peculiar  office,  which 
existed  in  Europe,  in  connection  with  the  whole  and  with  each  congre- 
gation, was  that  to  which  Zinzendorf  gave  the  name  Charnicr.  This 
was  introduced  at  Bethlehem,  in  elaborating  the  original  organization. 
It  consisted  in  a  quiet,  general  watching  and  direction  of  all  arrange- 
ments and  activities,  both  spiritual  and  external,  by  persons  who 
made  themselves  specially  familiar  with  all  principles  and  regulations. 
They  were  subordinate  officially  to  the  Elder,  but  were  at  liberty  to 
admonish  every  board,  functionary  and  private  person.  Zinzendorf 
called  it  "the  most  necessary  and  indispensable  office"  under  the  con- 
ditions then  existing;  "the  key  to  keep  the  clock  running."  David 
Bishop  and  his  wife  were  the  first  who  were  entrusted  with  this 
office  at  Bethlehem,  and  all,  from  Anton  Seiflfert,  the  Elder  of  the 
congregation,  and  Father  Nitschmann,  the  General  Superintendent 
of  external  work,  down  to  the  stable  boys  and  scullions  were  supposed 
to  take  it  kindly,  if  reminded  of  a  defect  by  them. 

A  later  office,  then  spoken  of  as  desirable,  but  not  at  once  insti- 
tuted, was  that  called  Gcmeinrichter.  It  was  to  compensate  for  the 
absence  of  a  local  civil  magistrate  and  police.  Henry  Antes,  after 
he  located  at  Bethlehem  several  years  later,  became  the  first  Gcmein- 
richter. A  Richtcr  Collegium  was  developed,  out  of  which  finally  arose 
the  Aufscher  Collegium — Board  of  Supervisors — which  existed  until 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  at  Bethlehem,  as  in  European 
church  settlements.  Although  the  appointment  of  such  an  official 
was  deferred,  the  great  desirability  of  a  proper  acquaintance  with  the 
civil  law,  and  with  their  rights  and  duties  under  it,  was  realized; 
especially  as  some  confusion  existed  from  the  start  about  the  juris- 
diction of  the  several  nearest  Justices  of  the  Peace — Nathaniel  Irish, 
on  the  Saucon  Creek,  was  the  nearest  Justice — and  conflicting  orders 
which  they  seem  to  have  received  about  matters  from  several  quarters. 
Therefore  it  was  decided  in  September  to  procure  a  copy  of  the  laws 
of  the  Province  which  George  Neisser,  secretary  and  scrivener,  was 
to  study  carefully,  in  order  to  be  their  counsellor-at-law. 

On  the  fourth  of  July  a  Sacristan  was  appointed.  The  first  such 
functionary  was  John  Brandmiller.  With  him  was  associated  a  corps 
of  men  and  women  to  perform  various  duties  about  the  place  of 
worship.  They  were  called  Saaldiencr  instead  of  Kircliendicncr — Sac- 
ristan— as  commonly  in  German ;  because,  in  those  days,  the  place  of 
worship  among  the  Brethren  was  spoken  of  as  the  Saal — hall,  and  in 
English,  chapel,  instead  of  Kirche— church.     This  gave  rise  later  to 


140  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

the  custom  among  English  Moravians,  when  the  absurdly  literal  ren- 
dering of  German  terms  into  English  was  in  vogue,  of  calling  the 
Sacristans  "chapel-servants ;"  while  at  Bethlehem,  in  the  days  of  Ger- 
man and  English  amalgamation,  the  barbarism  '^Dicncrs''  came  into 
use.  This  department  of  service  was  elaborated  by  adding  a  corps 
of  persons  to  do  duty  in  the  common  refectory — the  Tischdiciicr,  and 
another  to  act  as  cicerones — the  Fremdendiencr.  These  latter  were 
made  very  necessary  by  the  ill-mannered  freedom  with  which  all 
kinds  of  persons  entered  and  strolled  about  the  apartments,  prying 
into  everything. 

Eight  men  and  seven  women  were  appointed  in  July  as  nurses, 
under  the  direction  of  the  physician  of  the  settlement,  Dr.  Adolph 
Meyer,  who  organized  them  for  systematic  duty.  He  employed  cer- 
tain of  them  as  assistants  in  the  dispensary  and  at  collecting  medicinal 
herbs  and  roots  for  his  primitive  pharmacy  in  the  Community  House. 
July  15,  the  first  systematic  postal  arrangements  were  organized,  with 
George  Neisser  as  first  postmaster ;  Pyrlaeus  in  Philadelphia  and 
Antes  in  Frederick  Township,  having  charge  at  the  other  ends.  The 
first  four  postilions  were  Abraham  Bueninger,  John  Philip  Meurer, 
George  Schneider  and  Andrew  the  Negro.  Their  stopping-places 
were  to  be  Benezet's  in  Philadelphia,  Henry  Holstein's  in  Falkner's 
Swamp  and  Bechtel's  in  Germantown ;  and  weekly  tours  were 
arranged.  Later  in  the  year  another  class  of  messengers  called 
Landbotcn  were  appointed,  to  visit  the  districts  and  stations  where 
evangelists  labored,  and  bring  stated  reports  to  Bethlehem.  In  con- 
nection with  the  oversight  of  this  branch  of  service  and  keeping  lists 
and  records  of  the  personnel  in  all  local  and  itinerant  departments, 
along  with  the  diary  of  current  events,  Neisser  was  also  authorized 
to  prepare  and  keep  in  order  a  complete  catalogue  of  the  congre- 
gation, local  and  itinerant.  Supervisors  and  foremen  were  appointed 
over  the  different  sets  of  hands  employed  at  the  various  industries, 
and  there  were  responsible  custodians  of  the  different  classes  of 
materials,  supplies,  implements  and  tools.  The  herding  of  the  cattle, 
carrying  water  from  the  spring  for  household  use  and  other  such 
Hghter  duties  were  committed  to  infirm  men  and  to  boys,  with  some 
one  in  charge  of  each  such  department. 

The  established  daily  routine  left  nobody  unemployed  at  any  time, 
unless  sick,  except  during  the  hours  of  necessary  sleep ;  and  the 
esprit  de  corps  assiduously  cultivated,  proceeded  from  the  central  idea 
of  doing  everything  as  a  service  to  the  Lord.     It  is  significant  that 


1742 1744-  HI 

one  of  the  first  features  of  the  daily  order  established — only  two  days 
after  the  organization — was  the  division  of  the  entire  congregation 
into  prayer-bands,  to  maintain  the  "hourly  intercession"  that  had 
been  introduced  in  Herrnhut  in  1727,  referred  to  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  in  connection  with  the  regulations  of  the  Sea  Congregation. 
These  were  the  nineteen  classes  of  June  25,  thus  specially  organized 
for  prayer-turns.  The  hours  extended  from  five  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing to  midnight,  and  all  took  their  assigned  turns,  from  Count  Zin- 
zendorf  to  Andrew  the  Negro.  From  midnight  to  five  o'clock,  the 
night-watch — a  man  in  the  chapel,  a  woman  in  the  women's  dormi- 
tory and  another  man  outside,  patrolling  the  premises — did  duty, 
watching  and  praying.  They  called  out  the  hours  until  the  bell, 
procured  July  i  and  hung  July  6  to  a  tree  near  the  house,  was  used 
for  this  purpose.  Joachim  Senseman  was  the  first  time-keeper  and 
bell-ringer.  Saturday  nights  the  watch  was  kept  by  one  of  the  bands 
organized  on  June  25.  This  was  called  Bandemvache.  They  closed 
the  watch  on  Sunday  morning  by  going  out  to  the  newly-opened 
graveyard  and  singing  a  hymn  in  commemoration  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion. Returning,  they  sang  morning  hymns  at  the  dormitory  doors, 
and  finally  engaged  in  prayer  together  in  the  chapel,  opening  thus 
the  da3^'s  round  of  devotions.  This,  and  other  such  highly-wrought 
religious  arrangements,  characteristic  of  the  first  fervor  of  the  new 
organization,  were  only  temporary. 

The  first  thing  each  day  was  general  morning  prayer  after  rising, 
and  the  last  thing  before  retiring  at  night  was  evening  prayer.  This 
usually  took  the  form  of  a  song-service.  The  hours  for  devotions, 
meals  and  labor  were  announced  by  the  time-keeper.  The  labor  to 
be  performed  each  day  was  determined  the  preceding  day,  and  the 
work  apportioned.  Announcements  of  all  kinds  for  the  succeeding 
day  were  made  at  each  evening  meal,  so  far  as  they  concerned  all 
in  common.  Naturally,  the  eating  and  sleeping  arrangements,  the 
management  of  the  culinary  department,  and  other  such  features  of 
the  domestic  economy,  were  subjected  to  minute  and  rigid  regula- 
tions, to  maintain,  in  such  crowded  quarters,  that  order  and  decorum 
which  the  high  tone  of  the  settlement  demanded. 

The  method  of  entrance  and  sitting  in  the  chapel  was  also  carefully 
regulated  from  the  beginning,  and  no  little  difficulty  was  experienced 
in  the  effort  to  train  the  uncouth  throngs  that  gathered  from  far  and 
near  to  public  services.  As  to  the  services,  as  held  at  the  beginning 
— in  this  matter  there  were  many  subsequent  changes — one  Sunday's 


142  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA 

order  may  be  given :  Morning  prayer,  breakfast — all,  old  and  young, 
partaking  together — House  Conference,  to  arrange  daily  routine, 
German  preaching,  dinner  for  residents  and  guests,  English  preach- 
ing, catechization,  an  address  by  the  Indian,  John  Wasamapah 
("Tschoop"),  a  sermon  for  afternoon  callers,  Bible  exposition,  quar- 
ter hour  meetings  by  the  dilTerent  divisions  known  as  "choirs,"  singly, 
vesper  service,  usually  consisting  of  singing  exclusively,  the  evening 
meal,  evening  prayer  for  the  single  men,  and  then  the  customary 
prayer  hours  until  midnight.  Formidable  as  this  appears,  the  nice 
system  applied,  the  extreme  brevity  of  most  of  these  services  and 
the  fervent  devotion  which  prevailed  caused  such  a  program  to  be 
less  burdensome  to  the  flesh  than  might  be  supposed. 

During  the  several  months  that  followed  the  organization,  first 
occasions  occurred  for  every  kind  of  special  religious  service  and  rite 
in  the  ritual  of  the  Church,  and  these  have  interest  also  as  notable 
incidents  of  those  weeks.  The  first  funeral  took  place  on  June  2^. 
It  was  that  of  John  Mueller,  a  young  man  of  Rhinebeck,  N.  Y., 
who  had  accompanied  the  missionary  Ranch  to  Bethlehem,  and 
had  died  on  June  26.  Count  Zinzendorf,  with  Christian  Froehlich, 
strolled  into  the  woods  north-east  of  the  Community  House  and 
selected  a  spot  at  which  Froehlich  dug  the  grave.  In  conducting 
the  funeral,  Zinzendorf  consecrated  the  ground  as  the  "God's  acre" 
of  the  settlement — the  present  historic  old  cemetery.  It  was  at  first 
often  called  Bethlehem's  "Hutberg,"  after  the  hill  of  that  name  on 
which  the  cemetery  of  Herrnhut  is  situated.  The  first  funeral  of  a 
neighbor,  outside  of  Bethlehem,  held  by  the  Brethren  was  that,  on 
July  28,  of  their  friend,  Isaac  Martens  Ysselstein,  who  died  July  26. 
Boehler  conducted  the  service  in  English  at  the  house  of  the  family, 
on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  and  his  body  was  interred  on  his  farm. 
The  site  of  his  grave  is  unknown,  but  the  dust  of  this  good  Hollander 
probably  reposes  beneath  the  rumble  of  massive  machinery,  or  the 
heat  of  glowing  furnaces,  or  the  thunder  of  passing  trains.  The 
first  member  of  the  Sea  Congregation  who  died  was  John  George 
Heydecker,  on  September  10,  in  Falkner's  Swamp,  while  on  an 
evangelistic  tour.  The  funeral  was  conducted  by  Zinzendorf,  Sep- 
tember 12.     This  was  the  second  interment  at  Bethlehem. 

The  first  marriage  ceremony  w^as  performed — also  by  Zinzen- 
dorf— on  July  8.  It  was  that  of  the  missionary  John  William 
Zander  and  Johanna  Magdalene  Mueller.  The  first  birth  and 
baptism     occurred    July     16,     a     daughter    of     Bryzelius     and    his 


1742 1744-  143 

Vv'ife.  The  name  Anna  Regina  was  given  the  child  in  baptism 
by  Zinzendorf  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day.  The  first  adult 
baptized  at  Bethlehem  was  a  Quakeress  of  Philadelphia  who  had  been 
married  to  Froehlich  on  July  lo.  Her  name  was  Esther  Robins, 
and,  in  baptizing  her  on  July  17,  Zinzendorf  gave  her  the  additional 
name  ]\Iary.  The  first  ordination  was  that  of  Zander  on  August  9, 
performed  by  Bishop  Xitschmann  and  Zinzendorf.  Five  presbvters 
present  joined  in  the  imposition  of  hands,  and  the  certificate  Zander 
took  with  him  to  Berbice  was  endorsed  by  twenty-seven  witnesses. 
The  first  baptism  of  Indians  at  Bethlehem  took  place  on  September 
15.  There  were  two  of  them.  The  first  was  Wanab,  also  called 
Gabriel,  who  was  baptized  by  Zinzendorf  and  given  the  name  David. 
The  second,  Tassawachamen,  was  baptized  by  Buettner  and  named 
Joshua.  At  the  same  time  a  white  man  of  Oley,  Joseph  Bull,  was 
baptized  by  Eschenbach  and  given  the  additional  name  John.  This 
man  figured  later  very  conspicuously  in  connection  with  the  missions 
among  the  Indians.  He  married  an  Indian  wife  and  was  called  by 
the  Indians  Shebosh,  the  name  by  which  he  became  most  generally 
known.  The  following  details  of  this  interesting  ceremony  are  on 
record. 

The  candidates  were  seated  in  the  center  of  the  chapel  on  three 
chairs.  Three  men  stood  back  of  them  and  those  who  were  to 
perform  the  baptism  took^  their  places  on  either  side  of  Seififert  the 
Elder  who  sat  at  the  table  and  led  the  singing.  In  front  of  the  can- 
didates was  placed  a  tub  of  water  covered  with  a  large  white  cloth. 
Just  before  the  baptism  the  men  who  stood  behind  them  removed 
the  blankets  of  the  Indians  and  the  blouse  worn  by  the  white  man, 
and  they  all  knelt  on  the  edge  of  the  white  cloth  at  the  tub  of  water. 
Zinzendorf.  Buettner  and  Eschenbach  at  the  same  time  drew  near, 
each  with  a  bowl  in  his  hand,  and  dipped  water  out  of  the  tub.  At 
the  moment  when  the  appropriate  words  of  the  appointed  verse  were 
being  sung,  Zinzendorf  repeated  the  names  of  the  three  and  said:  "We 
baptize  you  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost." 
Thereupon  the  water  was  poured  on  the  heads  of  the  three.  During 
the  continuance  of  the  singing,  Seififert  and  the  helpers  approached 
and  joined  in  the  imposition  of  hands;  after  which  the  baptized  men 
took  their  seats  again,  the  blankets  and  blouse  were  replaced  and 
the  service  was  concluded  with  benisons  sung  by  the  congregation. 

A  special,  informal  service  worthy  of  note  was  held  on  July  7.  in 
the  uncleared  woods  a  short  distance  to  the  east  of  the  Connnuniiy 


144  ^    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

House.  It  marked  the  first  step  towards  the  erection  of  the  next 
large  building  of  the  settlement,  which  however  was  not  proceeded 
with  until  two  years  later,  on  account  of  other  building  operations 
meanwhile  deemed  more  urgent.  It  was  decided  to^  build  a  large 
house  as  a  common  home  for  the  single  men  of  the  settlement.  Count 
Zinzendorf,  planning  the  location  of  the  dififerent  classes  of  buildings 
had  in  view,  selected  the  site  for  this  house.  On  that  day  the  founda- 
tion lines  were  staked  ofif  and  in  the  afternoon  the  single  men  pro- 
ceeded to  clear  the  spot.  The  work  was  gone  at  in  a  cere- 
monious manner.  All  who  were  then  at  Bethlehem  assembled 
on  the  ground.  Zinzendorf  delivered  a  brief  discourse,  a  prayer 
was  offered  and  the  young  men  sang  a  hymn  that  had  been 
written  for  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  Single  Breth- 
ren's House  at  Herrnhaag  in  1739.  Then  they  went  at  their 
task  with  enthusiasm.  The  building  which  eventually  arose  there  is 
the  oldest  part  of  the  present  Sisters'  House,  the  south-west  corner. 
The  most  urgent  task,  so  far  as  the  erection  of  buildings  was  con- 
cerned, was  the  enlargement  of  the  Community  House.  Even  the 
original  building  was  not  finished  when  the  colony  arrived  in  June. 
During  the  first  five  months  of  the  year  1742,  almost  every  man  and 
woman  who  could  be  used  by  Zinzendorf  in  the  spiritual  labor  he  was 
inaugurating  at  many  points,  was  called  away  from  Bethlehem,  and 
hardly  any  were  left  to  go  on  with  the  external  work.  When  Bishop 
Nitschmann  was  commissioned  to  visit  St.  Thomas,  and  Father 
Nitschmann  was  left  almost  without  assistance,  he  sent  an  appeal  for 
more  help,  which  was  considered  at  the  fifth  Conference  of  Religions 
in  April.  The  colony  was  expected  soon  from  Europe,  quarters  had 
to  be  provided  and  the  time  for  spring  sowing  had  come.  Father 
Nitschmann  knew  that  they  must  not  only  have  shelter,  but  also  a 
prospect  of  bread  for  the  coming  winter.  The  answer  returned  him 
was  that  the  spiritual  sowing  took  precedence,  and  rather  than  with- 
draw people  from  this  work,  things  might  lie  fallow  at  Bethlehem 
and  Nazareth  another  year,  and  bread  be  bought.  Thus  Zinzendorf's 
evangelistic  enthusiasm,  with  an  almost  reckless  disregard  of  the 
material  necessities  of  the  hour,  overruled  the  master  builder's  prac- 
tical sense — but  then,  if  the  hour  of  need  came,  Zinzendorf  would  buy 
the  bread.  On  August  12  it  was  decided  to  commence  this  addition 
at  the  east  end  of  the  Community  House  at  once.  On  September 
19  the  corner-stone  was  laid  with  suitable  solemnities.  This  addi- 
tion was  completed  on  August  22,  1743,  when  it  was  taken  posses- 


1742 1744-  145 

sion  of,  and  an  entire  rearrangement  of  apartments  and  domestic 
order  was  effected.  During  the  first  months  passed  in  the  original 
part  of  the  building,  many  necessary  features  yet  wanting  were  grad- 
ually added,  such  as  setting  in  windows,  building  partitions,  laying 
permanent  floors  and  building  chimneys ;  and  during  the  first  weeks 
even  the  carpenters'  shop  had  to  remain  in  the  building  until  a  little 
log  house  was  erected  for  this  purpose. 

Already  at  this  crude  stage  the  first  specimen  of  decorative 
art  at  Bethlehem  was  put  in  place  in  the  chapel  of  the  Com- 
munity House  on  July  3.  It  was  evidently  the  wotk  of  Zin- 
zendorf's  secretary,  John  Jacob  Mueller,  who  was  also  an  artist, 
as  stated  in  a  preceding  chapter.  He  arrived  at  Bethlehem, 
June  28,  with  some  other  persons,  in  a  wagon  from  Philadel- 
phia. He  probably  then  brought  this  piece  of  ecclesiastical  orna- 
mentation with  him — no  doubt  hastily  painted  before  he  left  the  city. 
It  was  a  picture  of  Christ  bearing  His  cross.  It  was  placed  against 
the  south  wall  of  the  chapel,  in  the  center,  behind  the  table  and  chair 
of  the  ofificiating  minister.  Connected  with  it,  to  the  right  and  left, 
and  extending  to  the  four  sides  of  the  room  as  a  border  under  the 
rough  ceiling,  were  running  inscriptions  in  German  in  three  sections, 
elaborating  variations  of  the  first  two  lines  of  the  well-known  hymn 
of  the  Church  which  begins,  in  English,  "The  Saviour's  blood  and 
righteousness  my  beauty  is,  my  glorious  dress ;"  together  with  the 
first  two  lines  of  another  German  hymn  of  the  time,  addressed  to  the 
Lamb  slain.  Thus  the  first  attempt  at  any  kind  of  decoration  fast- 
ened attention  upon  the  central  theme  of  speech  and  song  and  was 
utilized  as  an  object-lesson  for  visiting  Indians. 

In  that  chapel,  moreover,  the  first  tile  stove  of  the  settlement  was 
set  up  in  October.  It  had  been  brought  from  the  kiln  of  Ludwig 
Huebner,  the  potter  "in  the  Swamp."  He  came  to  Bethlehem  to  put 
it  in  place  and  then  later  became  a  resident.  In  the  latter  part 
of  July  a  large  force  of  men  commenced  work  at  a  commodious  barn 
which  had  become  a  necessity.  It  was  raised,  October  15.  The 
needs  of  the  settlement  now  required  the  enlargement  of  facilities  for 
transportation  and  agricultural  work.  Seybold  was  sent  out,  the  lat- 
ter part  of  July,  to  purchase  additional  horses.  He  returned  on 
August  20  with  four  from  Esopus,  in  New  York.  At  the  same  time, 
a  threshing-floor  was  constructed  by  another  set  of  men,  for  now 
their  first  harvest  was  to  be  gathered.  July  16,  they  began  to  cut 
grain  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth.     The  ingathering  of  this  first  rye 


146  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

and  wheat  grown  on  their  land  was  the  occasion  of  special  thanks- 
giving. While  the  men  were  mowing  oats,  a  few  days  later,  some 
of  the  women,  the  record  states,  pulled  flax  "at  the  Schweitzer's." 
This  is  the  first  written  history  of  the  locality  now  called  Fountain 
Hill,  for  that  Schweitzer  was  Conrad  Ruetschi  the  squatter,  whose 
peaceable  withdrawal  from  the  "Simpson  tract,"  a  little  later,  when 
it  became  the  property  of  the  Brethren,  was  brought  about  with 
some  difBculty,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Indians  on  the  Nazareth  land. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  and  during  the  autumn  of  1742 
several  other  small  log  houses  were  erected  to  serve  pressing  needs. 
In  one  of  them  a  room  was  fitted  up  for  the  care  of  men  taken  sick ; 
women  being  accommodated,  when  ill,  in  the  Community  House. 
Very  primitive  was  that  first  hospital  of  Bethlehem  presided  over 
by  Dr.  Meyer.  Another,  built  in  September,  contained  a  room  in 
which  to  serve  meals  and,  when  necessary,  lodging  to  strangers  who 
could  not  be  admitted  to  the  guest-room  of  the  Community  House. 
This  first  approach  to  a  hotel  at  Bethlehem  was  of  importance. 

The  question  of  building  a  regular  tavern  somewhere  near  was  dis- 
cussed already  at  a  meeting  on  July  11.  It  was  thought  of  not  only 
as  a  general  public  convenience,  but  also  as  a  measure  of  self-defense, 
over  against  the  intrusion  and  imposition  to  which  the  settlers  were 
constantly  subjected,  often  by  very  undesirable  visitors,  and  some- 
times even  by  persons  bent  on  evil  purpose.  Zinzendorf  did  not 
favor  the  idea  of  the  Brethren  doing  this  officially,  and  thought 
it  should  be  left  to  the  private  enterprise  of  some  neighbor.  It  may 
be  added,  in  this  connection,  that  the  first  attempt  at  such  a  public 
tavern  was  made  in  the  summer  of  1743,  on  the  Ysselstein  farm  south 
of  the  Lehigh,  by  John  Adam  Schaus,  at  this  time  miller  on  Cedar 
Creek  in  the  Maguntsche  neighborhood,  at  whose  house  Zinzendorf 
passed  the  last  two  days  of  July,  1742,  while  on  his  first  tour  in  the 
Indian  country. 

Gottlieb  Demuth,  one  of  the  Georgia  colonists,  already  men- 
tioned several  times,  who  had  been  living  a  few  miles  away  in 
the  Saucon  Valley,  removed  to  Bethlehem  at  this  time,  and 
one  of  the  small  houses  built  in  September  was  for  his  accom- 
modation. He  was  wanted  for  important  work  in  connection  with 
building  and  agriculture  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth ;  for  now 
developments  were  to  proceed  on  the  Barony.  Building  operations 
had  not  yet  been  resumed  there,  but  some  land  had  been  put  under 
cultivation,  there  was  hope  of  a  peaceable  settlement  with  the  Indians, 


1742 1744-  147 

and  now  a  project  had  come  into  Zinzendorf's  mind  in  connection 
with  that  domain  which  essentially  afifected  plans  for  Bethlehem.  On 
July  17  the  entire  English  contingent  of  the  Sea  Congregation  arrived 
at  Bethlehem  from  Philadelphia,  and,  July  31  to  August  2,  they 
removed  to  Nazareth  and  took  up  their  quarters  in  the  log  house 
built  by  the  pioneers  in  the  Autumn  of  1740.  Before  leaving  Beth- 
lehem they  were  organized — ^July  24 — rwith  David  Bruce  as  their 
Elder,  John  Hagen  as  Warden  and  Elizabeth  Wahnert  as  Eldress, 
temporarily,  with  assistants. 

Zinzendorf  had  been  pondering  a  variety  of  complications  that 
might  arise  under  the  personal  liberties  and  rights  people  were 
given  by  the  laws  of  the  Province,  in  connection  with  the 
attempt  to  organize  a  regular  church  settlement  at  Bethlehem, 
after  the  model  of  those  in  Europe.  The  reception  of  people 
from  the  population  of  Pennsylvania  as  members  of  such  a  settle- 
ment was  a  matter  that,  to  his  mind,  threatened  such  complications 
especially.  The  settlement,  to  be  what  was  contemplated,  would 
have  to  claim  authority  under  law  to  enforce  its  own  peculiar 
regulations  within  its  own  limits.  One  of  these  would  necessarily 
be  the  right  to  expel  persons  from  the  place,  who  could  no  longer 
be  tolerated.  In  cases  of  resistance,  if  persons  should  be  disposed  to 
test  their  rights  under  the  civil  law,  it  seemed  probable  that  no  special 
concessions  that  could  be  secured  under  the  constitution  of  the 
Province,  would  give  the  authorities  of  the  village  power  that  the 
Courts  would  sustain,  if  conviction  of  offenses  of  which  the  law  took 
cognizance  did  not  stand  against  the  individuals.  Even  in  this  case, 
everything,  beyond  mere  exclusion  from  church  membership,  would 
have  to  be  left  to  the  law  to  be  dealt  with,  and  its  penalties  would 
not  include  compulsion  to  quit  the  place — the  one  thing  that  in  the 
local  regulations  of  the  settlement  would  be  considered  the  most 
desirable  disposition  to  be  made  of  persons  inimical,  in  principle  and 
conduct,  to  its  institutions.  This  reasoning  led  him  to  the  thought 
that  on  the  Barony  of  Nazareth,  with  the  right  of  Court  Baron  and 
views  of  frankpledge — if  these  were  made  use  of  and  rendered 
operative  by  the  necessary  legal  process — the  kind  of  local  control 
had  in  mind  could  be  maintained  under  the  laws  of  the  Province. 
Such  supposable  complications,  and  such  jeopardy  to  the  character 
and  purpose  of  the  settlement  would  not  then  arise. 

Therefore  he  conceived  the  idea  that,  after  all,  it  might  be  better 
to  have  the     Nazareth  manor  in  view  for  the  church  village — Orts- 


148  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

gcriieiiic — and  let  Bethlehem  be  utilized  in  a  special  way  as  a  school 
center  and  headquarters  of  the  extensive  work  among  the  children 
of  Pennsylvania  which  he  thought  of  developing.  With  this  idea 
was  connected  the  transfer  of  these  English  colonists  to  Nazareth, 
as  a  nucleus.  It  seemed  more  expedient  to  have  that  settlement 
assume  an  English  character  at  the  beginning,  under  the  English 
laws  bearing  upon  the  case.  When  they  located  at  Nazareth,  the 
regular  EngHsh  preaching  that  had  been  commenced  at  Bethlehem, 
July  8,  ceased  temporarily,  for  now  people  from  the  neighborhood 
who  came  to  English  services  could  attend  there.  But  very  soon 
this  entire  scheme  was  abandoned. 

On  September  16-17,  important  revisions  were  made  in  the  organ- 
ization of  Bethlehem.  Six  different  plans  were  worked  out  and 
considered,  and  one  of  these,  which  would  open  the  way  for  the 
establishment  of  such  a  church  village  there,  like  Herrnhut,  in  process 
of  time,  was  adopted.  It  was  drawn  by  lot  from  among  the  six. 
From  that  day  the  destiny  of  Bethlehem  to  become  the  chief  settle- 
ment and  the  administrative  center  of  all  Moravian  work  in  America 
was  fixed.  This  was  adhered  to,  although  eventually  Nazareth 
became  such  a  church  village  also.  The  first  week  in  October,  the 
ephemeral  Nazareth  English  settlement  came  to  an  end,  and  on 
October  8,  all  who  made  up  its  personnel — excepting  a  few  to  be 
employed  in  the  English  itineracy — returned  to  Philadelphia,  where, 
on  the  I2th,  they  organized  as  a  little  house  church,  to  prosecute 
city  mission  work,  and  await  further  developments. 

The  Nazareth  post  being  again  vacant,  Matthias  Seybold  and  his 
wife,  on  October  16,  removed  to  the  place  to  temporarily  guard  the 
property.  When  they  went  to  Philadelphia  a  few  weeks  later  to  sail 
for  Europe,  they  were  succeeded  in  the  solitary  duty  at  Nazareth  by 
Michael  Miksch  and  his  wife,  who  remained  until  January  30,  1743, 
when  they  were  relieved  by  Gottlieb  Demuth  and  wife.  Miksch 
returned  to  Bethlehem  and  occupied  the  historic  original  log  house, 
the  place  in  which  Demuth  had  lived  for  a  while,  and,  before  him, 
the  Zeisbergers,  from  the  beginning  to  the  middle  of  August,  1742. 

In  the  midst  of  these  shifting  plans,  the  work  among  the  children, 
which  had  been  in  view  as  one  of  the  most  important  departments  of 
activity,  remained  in  a  chaotic  state  and  made  but  little  progress 
during  1742.  No  parents  "from  the  Townships"  responded  to  the 
second  circular  sent  out  by  John  Bechtel  on  June  6,  inviting  them  to 
meet  at  Bethlehem,  June  24-25,  for  consultation  on  the  subject.     It 


1742 1744-  149 

was  thought  that  the  urgent  farm  work  of  the  season  kept  some 
from  commg  who  would  otherwise  have  been  there.  It  was  decided 
therefore  on  July  17,  to  adopt  a  different  course,  and  send  persons 
about  the  country  to  talk  with  the  people  on  the  matter.  Meanwhile, 
on  June  28,  the  children  of  the  Germantown  school,  opened  May  4, 
were  brought  to  Bethlehem,  in  care  of  Gotthard  Demuth  and  wife, 
Johanna  Hummel  and  Elizabeth  Braun,  who  had  been  sent  to 
Germantown  for  the  purpose.  They  were  quartered  somewhere  in 
the  crowded  Community  House,  and  put  in  the  care  of  several 
appointed  persons.  The  Countess  Benigna  and  other  young  women 
seem  to  have  then  continued  to  devote  attention  to  the  instruction 
of  the  girls.  The  boys,  under  temporary  care  of  several  men  by  turns, 
were  reorganized  on  July  19  and  taken  charge  of  by  the  Elder,  Anton 
SeilTert,  assisted  by  Dr.  Adolph  Meyer,  when  not  engaged  in 
professional  duties,  with  George  Neisser,  who  had  been  in  connection 
with  the  school  when  it  was  founded  in  May,  and  now  was  entrusted 
with  so  many  kindred  functions,  serving  as  their  special  instructor ; 
which  duty  he  had,  as  it  seems,  performed  before  this  reorganization, 
from  the  time  of  their  arrival.  He  may,  therefore,  quite  properly, 
be  given  the  distinction  of  having  been  the  first  school-master  of 
Bethlehem.  This,  indeed,  is  the  designation  he  gave  himself  when 
he  assumed  the  publication,  on  August  10,  of  the  reply,  sketched  by 
Zinzendorf — discussed  and  officially  adopted  by  the  Bethlehem 
authorities — to  the  outrageous  utterances  of  Dominie  Boehm's  letter 
of  warning  to  the  people,  already  referred  to.  That  reply  was 
endorsed:  "Published  by  George  Neisser  of  Sehlen  in  Moravia, 
school-master  at  Bethlehem,  cum  approbatione  Superior  urn, ''  with  the 
imprimatur  of  John  Brandmiller,  giving  authority. 

Local  circumstances  made  it  difficult  to  continue  that  little  board- 
ing-school for  girls  during  the  ensuing  autumn  and  winter,  and  on 
August  20,  the  three  girls  who  lived  in  Germantown  were  returned 
to  their  homes.  The  boys'  school  was  continued.  On  September  28, 
some  other  children  of  parents  in  Philadelphia  and  elsewhere,  who 
were  not  members  of  the  Church,  were  also  taken  home,  and  only  a 
few  belonging  to  Moravian  families  were  left. 

The  general  subject  of  school  work  was  discussed  again  at 
a  session  of  the  Pennsylvania  Synod  held  in  Fredericktown. 
October  15,  where  the  scheme  to  establish  a  general  boarding-school 
for  boys  in  Philadelphia  and  one  for  girls  at  Germantown  was 
adopted.      But   this   plan   was   not   then   carried   out   on   account   of 


150  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

practical  difficulties.  As  a  result  of  canvassing  and  proper  explan- 
ations in  various  neighborhoods,  many  parents  would  at  that  time 
have  availed  themselves  of  such  opportunities,  in  spite  of  the  absurd 
calumnies  that  continued  to  be  circulated,  in  order  to  foster  prejudice. 
Evidences,  sometimes  distressing  and  sometimes  ludicrous,  of  such 
suspicion  and  ill-will  on  the  part  of  Bethlehem's  neighbors  in  the 
"Irish  settlement"  appear  from  time  to  time.  While  these  neighbors 
were  not,  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  among  those  who  circulated 
the  grosser  slanders  current  in  some  quarters,  their  opposition  to 
"the  Moravians"  was  significant  to  the  minds  of  people  at  a  distance, 
for,  being  near  neighbors,  they  were  supposed  to  know  them.  This 
opposition  shown  by  these  sturdy  pioneers  of  the  Forks  seems  to 
have  arisen  mainly  from  exaggerated  fears  of  local  aggression  and  of 
plans  for  supremacy  on  the  part  of  the  Brethren,  and  from  the 
prejudice  that  had  been  awakened  by  the  utter  incompatibility  of 
theological  conception  and  general  religious  cult.  The  genius  of  a 
Zinzendorf,  and  that  of  a  Knox  or  a  Calvin  fostered  among  these 
settlers,  were,  doctrinally  and  socially,  as  well  as  racially  considered, 
at  opposite  poles  of  the  Christian  circuit,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that 
time  was  needed  to  bring  the  representatives  of  the  two  into  any 
kind  of  sympathetic  touch. 

While  the  Brethren,  under  their  system  cultivated  a  certain 
kind  of  exclusiveness,  especially  in  reference  to  their  affairs — 
and  people  are  usually  suspicious  of  social  or  religious  organizations 
about  which  they  cannot  find  out  much — these  neighbors,  as  well 
as  those  in  other  directions,  had  evidences  enough  of  the  good-will 
of  the  Bethlehem  people  and  of  their  desire  to  be  correctly  understood 
in  all  matters  of  which  people  had  a  right  to  expect  infa'rmation. 
This  desire  led  to  the  introduction  of  English  preaching  directly 
after  the  organization  of  Bethlehem.  People  who  might  be  served 
in  that  way  were  given  the  benefit  of  it,  and  opportunity  was  afforded 
for  all  to  hear  what  the  doctrines  of  the  Brethren  really  were.  This 
also  induced  them  to  set  Sunday  dinners,  at  first,  before  all  who 
gathered  from  a  distance,  whether  well  or  ill-disposed,  out  of 
resources  far  from  abundant.  Not  the  least  of  the  services  rendered 
by  Bethlehem  to  its  surroundings,  from  the  time  of  its  organization 
on,  consisted  in  the  stated  tours  made  by  its  physician  over  an 
extensive  region,  from  the  Minisinks,  even  beyond  the  Delaware, 
down  to  Durham. 


1742 1744-  15' 

One  of  the  causes  some  of  the  men  at  Bethlehem  unwit- 
tingly gave  their  Calvinistic  neighbors  to  say  harsh  things  about 
them,  had  an  aspect  almost  comical.  While  the  word  Sabbath, 
according  to  old  German  usage,  meant — and  quite  correctly 
— the  seventh  day,  to  the  minds  of  the  Bethlehem  people,  these 
neighbors,  like  all,  then  and  now,  who  follow  Puritan  tradition  in 
this  matter,  called  Sunday  the  Sabbath.  The  German  and  the  Scotch 
idea  about  the  manner  of  Sunday  observance  differed.  Those  neigh- 
bors, ever  vigilant  and  seeking  an  occasion  for  censure,  accused 
certain  Brethren  of  "Sabbath  breaking."  These,  when  they  heard  it, 
supposed  that  the  degree  of  honor  they  were  paying,  for  reasons 
already  explained,  to  the  seventh  day,  or  Sabbath,  in  addition  to  the 
first  day,  was  not  giving  satisfaction  to  their  exacting  neighbors. 
Therefore,  at  first,  in  trying  to  conciliate  them  and  remove  the 
stumbling-block,  they  rested  yet  more  carefully  on  Saturday,  while 
it  did  not  occur  to  them  that  they  must  take  more  pains  to  conform 
to  Puritanical  views  of  the  Lord's  Day.  Hence  their  well-meant 
efiforts  only  made  matters  worse.  At  last  it  became  clear  to  them 
that  the  Sabbath  breaking  of  which  they  were  accused  had  reference 
to  Sunday,  and  they  were  admonished  by  the  Elder  to  give  more 
heed  to  their  ways  on  that  day.  In  all  particulars,  they  were  com- 
pelled to  be  very  circumspect,  for  they  were  under  the  close  scrutiny 
of  critics,  from  every  standpoint,  among  the  throngs  who  visited 
Bethlehem,  inspecting  everything  and  holding  inquisition.  The  naive 
and  the  less  prudent  among  them  had  to  be  cautioned  often  about 
being  over-communicative,  entering  into  discussions  and  trying  to 
explain  everything  about  which  questions  were  asked. 

Some  canards  afloat  were  traced  to  the  gossip  of  certain 
unprincipled  and  ungrateful  redemptioners  employed  at  Bethlehem, 
who  wished  to  entertain  the  curious  with  embellished  accounts  of 
things,  and  even  circulated  malicious  falsehoods,  out  of  revenge, 
when  they  were  discharged  for  unseemly  conduct.  It  was  then  insisted 
upon  by  Zinzendorf  that  this  class  of  employes  be  dispensed  with, 
and  that,  in  future,  if  the  Brethren  released  any  more  such  persons 
from  a  hard  bondage,  they  be  simply  set  free  to  go  their  own  way. 
He  broached  the  idea  of  rather,  in  order  to  procure  the  needed 
"servants,"  purchasing  slaves  among  whom  missionaries  were 
laboring  in  St.  Thomas,  and  then  freeing  and  regularly  hiring  them. 
He  added:  "We  may  thus  also  show  a  certain  author  who  has  written 
a  work  against  slaverv,  our  manner  of  dealing  with  the  negroes." 


152  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Occasional  strolling  bands  of  Indians  were,  during  the  first  weeks 
after  the  organization  of  the  place,  the  most  interesting  of  all  the 
visitors.  About  the  middle  of  July,  some  such  were  escorted  into  the 
chapel,  where  some  of  the  Brethren  entertained  them  with  instru- 
mental music,  and  then  tried  to  speak  to  them  about  the  Saviour — 
probably  showing  them  the  picture  that  had  been  placed  against 
the  wall — and  sang  hymn^  for  them.  On  that  occasion  the  thought 
of  sending  some  one  to  live  among  the  savages  to  learn  their 
language  was  discussed.  This  was  shortly  before  Count  Zinzendorf's 
first  journey  into  the  Indian  country,  on  which  he  started  with  a 
selected  company  on  July  24.  Two  days  before  that,  he  made  the 
proposition  to  Henry  Aimers  that  he  devote  himself  to  this  under- 
taking, and  he  was  at  once  ready  to  do  so,  but  for  some  reason  this 
plan  was  not  carried  out. 

That  first  tour  of  the  Count  was  chiefly  important  in  the  covenant 
he  made  with  the  representatives  of  the  Six  Nations  whom  he  met 
at  Conrad  Weiser's  in  Tulpehocken  on  August  3.  There  he  received 
from  them  the  famous  belt  of  Wampum,  which  he  took  to  England, 
and  in  1743,  passed  over  to  Spangenberg,  who  brought  it  back  to 
Pennsylvania  and  made  important  use  of  it.  On  that  occasion  the 
Count,  in  turn,  gave  those  chiefs  a  token  by  which  they  might  iden- 
tify any  of  his  brethren  who  came  among  them,  for  they  would  have 
a  duplicate  to  authenticate  themselves.  It  was  a  seal  inscribed  with 
the  words  Jesus  Jehovah,  to  be  stamped  in  wax. 

He  returned  to  Bethlehem,  August  7  and,  three  days  later.  Set 
out  on  his  second  tour,  from  which  he  returned,  August  30.  This 
journey  was  through  parts  of  New  York  and  extended  to  Ranch's 
mission  at  Shekomeko.  He  had  his  daughter  and  Anna  Nitschmann 
with  him,  besides  Anton  Seififert  and  several  attendants.  On  this 
journey  he  was  arrested  by  a  constable  on  the  charge  of  "breaking 
the  Sabbath,"  becavise  some  spies  found  him  writing  in  his  tent  on 
Sunday  evening.  He  was  taken  before  a  village  "squire"  and  fined 
six  shillings.  Constable  and  justice  got  their  fees  and  certain 
preachers  had  a  new  text  to  use  against  the  Moravians,  and  so  all 
were  made  happy. 

The  accounts  given  of  these  tours  at  Bethlehem  awakened 
the  greatest  enthusiasm  for  the  extensive  plans  of  missionary 
work  among  the  red  men  of  the  forest  that  were  now  being 
discussed.  His  final  Indian  tour  on  which  he  started,  September 
21 — by  far  the  longest  and  most  perilous — was  that  to  the  upper 


1/42 1744-  153 

Susquehanna  and  into  the  Wyoming  Valley  which  was  then  a  terra 
incognita  to  white  men,  excepting  perhaps  an  occasional  venturesome 
trapper  or  trader.  On  that  journey  he  encountered  heathenism  and 
savagery  in  their  darkest  colors,  endured  not  only  very  great 
privation  and  hardship  but  imminent  peril  of  his  life,  for  the  fierce 
tribes  of  those  regions,  among  whom  he  there  ventured,  were  a 
different  kind  of  men  from  the  Indians  of  the  lowlands.  Conrad 
Weiser  joined  his  party  at  Tulpehocken  and  was  with  them  on  part 
of  the  tour.  They  visited  the  large  Indian  town  of  Shamokin,  met 
the  famous  Madame  Montour  at  Ostonwakin,  and  passed  twenty 
days  among  the  treacherous,  blood-thirsty  Shawanese  of  Wajomik, 
where  no  white  man  had  before  set  foot.  There  occurred  the  incident 
recorded  by  Martin  Mack,  who  was  with  Zinzendorf — and  so  often 
repeated  with  variations — in  which  the  Shawanese  were  said  to  have 
been  impressed  by  the  thought  that  the  Great  Spirit  was  protecting 
him  and  that  he  had  a  charmed  Hfe.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  hand  of 
God  was  held  over  him  in  protection  against  them — far  more  dang- 
erous than  the  serpents.  Mack's  unembellished  narrative  is  the 
following:*  "The  tent  was  pitched  on  an  eminence,  one  fine  sunny 
day,  as  the  Disciple  sat  on  the  ground  within,  looking  over  his  papers 
that  lay  scattered  about  him,  and  as  the  rest  of  us  were  outside,  I 
observed  two  blowing  adders  basking  at  the  edge  of  the  tent.  Fearing 
that  they  might  crawl  in,  I  moved  toward  them,  intending  to  dispatch 
them.     They  were,  however,  too  quick  for  me,  slipped  into  the  tent, 


4  The  translation  of  Mack's  statement  given  by  W.  C.  Reichel,  Memorials  of  the  Moravian 
Church,  p.  io6,  has  been  followed.  The  Disciple  — der  Junger  —  was  the  name  given  in 
later  years  to  Zinzendorf.  In  a  collection  of  verses  written  by  the  Count  at  that  period 
are  some  treating  of  American  experiences — among  them  two  relating  to  this  famous  journey. 
One  verse  alludes  to  this  incident — to  the  serpents  and  to  the  fiction  of  the  Indians  about  the 
silver  ore : 

Des  Zeltes  erster  Ruheplatz 

Das  waren  Dorn  und  Disteln, 

Der  dritte  ein  verborg'ner  Schatz, 

Wo  Blaseschlangen  nisten. 

Two  others  yet  more  graphically  depict  the  situation  : 

Dort  in  der  Fiache  Wajomick, 
Auf  einem  wiisten  Ackerstiick. 
Wo  Blaseschlangen  nisteten, 
Und  ihre  Balge  brusteten  ; 

Auf  einem  silbererznen  Grund, 
Wo's  Leibes  Leben  misslich  slund, 
Da  dacliteii  wir  :   wir  .siihen  gern, 
Das  wiirde  eine  Stadl  des  llerrn. 


154  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

and,  gliding  over  the  Disciple's  thigh,  disappeared  among  his  papers. 
On  examination  we  ascertained  that  he  had  been  seated  near  the 
mouth  of  their  den.  Subsequently  the  Indians  informed  me  that  our 
tent  was  pitched  on  the  site  of  an  old  burying-ground  in  which 
hundreds  of  Indians  lay  buried.  They  also  told  us  that  there  was 
a  deposit  of  silver  ore  in  the  hill  and  that  we  were  charged  by  the 
Shawanese  with  having  come  for  silver  and  for  nothing  else." 

Zinzendorf  and  some  of  his  party  got  back  to  Bethlehem  on 
November  8,  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  much  exhausted  but  filled 
with  more  fervent  zeal  than  before  for  the  conversion  of  the  savages. 
On  November  12,  a  long  awaited  missionary  conference  was  held 
at  Bethlehem,  at  which  the  Count  unfolded  the  extensive  and 
systematic  scheme  for  carrying  on  this  work  that  he  had  matured. 
His  vivid  account  of  the  experiences  made  among  the  Shawanese, 
instead  of  deterring  men  and  women,  had  the  eflfect  of  increasing 
the  number  of  volunteers  for  this  service  to  fifteen.  This  interest 
had  been  heightened  by  the  baptism  of  the  two  Indians  from  Sheko- 
meko  on  September  15,  already  described.  Another  kind  of  relation 
to  representatives  of  this  race,  which  has  been  referred  to  several 
times,  was  the  cause  of  perplexity  and  annoyance  rather  than  of 
enthusiasm  at  this  time.  Captain  John  and  his  band  were  yet  lingering 
at  Nazareth.  The  missionary  Rauch  and  the  Indian  Elder  John 
Wasamapah,  on  July  2,  and  Joseph  Powell  with  David  Zeisberger, 
on  July  5,  had  interviewed  them,  to  effect  their  voluntary  withdrawal, 
but  to  no  purpose ;  although  the  latter  were  armed  with  an  order 
from  Governor  Thomas  for  their  ejectment  sent  to  the  authorities 
at  Bethlehem  by  Justice  Irish  on  July  3.  Zinzendorf,  in  com- 
municating with  the  Governor  about  it,  had  been  disposed  to  pay  their 
demands  in  order  to  bring  matters  to  a  peaceable  conclusion  and 
hold  the  good  will  of  the  Indians,  but  the  strong  objection  of  the 
Government  prevented  him  from  doing  this. 

It  was  insisted  upon  that  the  law  must  be  enforced,  and  that  such  a 
precedent  would  be  injurious.  The  objection  was  the  more  firm 
because,  as  was  plainly  intimated,  white  neighbors,  inimical  both  to 
the  Governor  and  to  the  Moravians,  were  encouraging  Captain  John 
in  his  stand.  In  July  came  the  peremptory  command  to  the  Delawares 
to  leave  the  Forks,  issued,  with  supercilious  contempt,  by  the  chiefs 
of  the  Six  Nations  at  Philadelphia — those  chiefs  whom  Zinzendorf 
met  and  treated  with  on  August  3.  Tatemy  and  Captain  John,  on 
December    i,    secured    permission    from    the    Government,    on    the 


1742 1744-  155 

ground  of  being  avowed  Christians,  to  individually  remain  in  the 
neighborhood,  but  it  was  insisted  upon  that  the  others  must  leave. 
Zinzendorf  also  secured  tacit  consent  to  pay  them  something  for  the 
rude  improvements  they  had  made,  having  been  led,  in  an  interview 
he  had  with  Captain  John  when  he  started  on  his  first  journey  into 
the  Indian  country  in  July,  to  believe  that  this  would  secure  their 
peaceable  departure,  after  the  ultimatum  they  had  from  the  Iroquois 
chiefs,  and  would  prevent  revengeful  feelings  on  their  part  towards 
the  Brethren  as  owners  of  the  land. 

December  26,  1742,  Zinzendorf  once  more  went  to  Nazareth,  just 
before  he  finally  left  Bethlehem,  and  succeeded  in  bringing  the 
negotiations  to  an  amicable  conclusion.  He  agreed  to  pay  the  Indians 
for  their  huts,  a  peach  orchard  and  a  little  field  of  wheat,  the 
maximum  sum  demanded  by  them  when  they  were  yet  most  obdurate. 
It  was  to  be  paid  in  several  installments — one-third  down  on  the 
closing  of  the  agreement,  and  they  were  given  permission  to  return 
and  take  away  their  little  crop  of  Indian  corn  gathered  into  a  sod- 
covered  crib,  when  they  wanted  it.  They  promised,  on  these 
conditions,  to  depart  into  the  Indian  country,  which  they  did  before 
the  close  of  the  year.  The  written  agreement,  a  German  version  of 
which  is  extant,  was  put  into  the  hands  of  the  respected  Chief  Tatemy, 
who  became  its  custodian.  Thus  the  Brethren  at  Bethlehem, 
remaining  consistent  in  their  respect  for  the  Government  on  the 
one  hand,  and  their  benevolent  intentions  towards  the  Indians  on 
the  other,  retained  the  good  will  of  both,  and  efifected  what  neither 
the  order  of  the  Governor  nor  the  commands  of  the  Iroquois 
chiefs — the  lords  of  the  Delawares — could  have  brought  about 
amicably ;  while  those  neighbors  who  hoped  to  see  the  Moravians 
discomfited  in  the  situation  were  disappointed.  But  the  end  was 
not  yet,  for  when  the  complications  of  the  following  years  raised  up 
the  Nemesis  to  afflict  the  region,  there  was  no  discrimination  exer- 
cised by  the  blind  fury  that  swung  the  scourge. 

Plans  as  elaborate  and  comprehensive  as  those  for  the  Indian 
missions  were  matured  for  the  general  evangelistic  work  throughout 
the  country  during  that  summer  and  autumn  of  1742,  and  the 
connection  of  Bethlehem  with  many  points  was  established.  Two 
general  conferences  in  reference  to  this  work  were  held  at  Bethlehem ; 
one,  July  11-12,  and  the  other  on  November  15,  which  were  attended 
by  Antes  and  some  other  leading  members  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Synod;  besides  the  regular  session  of  this  Synod  at  the  house  of 


156  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Antes  on  October  15,  already  referred  to.  At  the  July  conference 
it  was  more  definitely  settled  than  had  been  the  case  before  on  what 
basis  the  personnel  of  this  executive  body  should  be  made  up.  It  was 
followed  by  the  formal  starting  out  of  the  largest  force  of  itinerants 
that  had  yet  been  organized.  A  result  of  the  November  conference 
was  a  clearer  classification  of  its  functions  than  had  yet  gone  on 
record.  These  were,  in  addition  to  the  Indian  missions  which 
constituted  a  distinct  department,  in  general,  five  for  the  coming 
year:  i,  to  superintend  itinerant  preaching;  2,  to  foster  the  work  at 
Fredericktown,  Germantown,  Oley,  Philadelphia  and  Tulpehocken; 
3,  to  develop  a  model  Christian  congregation  at  Bethlehem  and  later 
at  Nazareth ;  4,  to  oversee  the  Church  of  God  in  the  Spirit  and 
cultivate  the  union  of  its  members  among  all  religions ;  5,  to  get  the 
special  work  for  the  children  established.  The  active  connection  with 
so  many  points  increased  the  personal  intercourse  of  people  from 
all  quarters  with  Bethlehem,  so  that  the  number  of  visitors  from 
September  to  the  end  of  the  year  was  very  large.  At  the  end  of 
October  a  company  of  Mennonite  Brethren  made  a  formal  call.  On 
November  3,  came  Brother  Elimalech  (Emanuel  Eckerlin)  of  Ephrata 
and  remained  until  the  5th.  It  is  stated  in  the  diary  that  the  people 
of  Bethlehem  were  in  perplexity  about  the  object  of  his  visit.  Other 
Ephrata  men  came  in  December.  Conrad  Weiser  visited  the  place 
November  21.  The  name  of  John  Adam  Luckenbach,  school-master 
in  Goshenhoppen,  appears  among  the  visitors  on  December  21. 

Large  companies  came  from  Philadelphia  and  Germantown,  and 
from  many  places  about  the  country  towards  the  end  of  December. 
On  the  22nd,  thirteen  persons  were  received  as  members  of  the 
Brethren's  Church,  and  on  the  29th,  seventeen  more  were  thus 
received.  They  were  not  to  become  residents  of  Bethlehem,  but 
to  be  members  where  they  lived.  During  the  first  years  it  was  cus- 
tomary for  all  such  receptions  to  take  place  formally  at  Bethlehem, 
after  which  the  persons  returned  to  their  homes.  Among  those  who 
were  received  on  the  29th  were  live  men  from  Maguntsche  and  Sau- 
con  who  formed  the  nucleus  of  what  later  became  the  congregation 
of  Emmaus.  They  have  sometimes  been  styled  "the  Fathers  of 
Emmaus." 

The  time  of  Zinzendorf's  last  sojourn  at  Bethlehem  had  now 
come.  From  December  2  to  12,  he  had  made  one  more  tour  among 
the  settlements,  preaching  seventeen  times  at  Maguntsche,  Heidel- 
berg, Oley,  Tulpehocken  and  Lancaster,  and  had  visited  Ephrata. 


1742 1744 


3/ 


After  his  return  to  Bethlehem  his  time  was  closely  occupied  in  official 
interviews  with  Bethlehem  boards,  itinerants,  foreign  missionaries, 
of  whom  several  from  the  West  Indies  were  there,  and  with  persons 
stationed  at  various  places  in  Pennsylvania.  After  the  first  evening 
service  on  December  24,  there  was  a  missionary  conference,  at  which 
many  new  appointments,  not  only  among  the  Indians  but  in  the 
West  Indies,  were  made.  Five  districts  for  work  among  the  Indians 
were  arranged,  with  as  many  sets  of  men  associated  with  each. 
He  called  each  such  district  set  a  Hcidcn  Collegium.  Christian 
Henry  Rauch,  with  an  Indian  helper,  was  to  make  a  general  tour  of 
these  districts. 

The  vigils  of  Christmas  Eve  began  at  eleven  o'clock.  At  this 
service,  held  in  the  chapel  of  the  Community  House,  reference 
was  made  to  the  service  of  the  previous  year  in  the  little  log  house, 
"when  the  settlement  received  the  name  Bethlehem."  Special 
attention  was  drawn  to  the  watchword  of  the  Church  for  the  day : 
"The  name  of  the  city  from  that  day  shall  be  Jehovah  Shammah — the 
Lord  is  there."  (Ezek.  48:35).  AppHcation  of  it  was  made  to  Beth- 
lehem, with  the  hope  that  the  meaning  of  the  words  might  there  be 
realized.  At  this  service  the  Count  extemporized  a  chain  of  thirty- 
seven  stanzas  on  the  theme  of  the  hour  which  were  sung  with  a 
fervor  and  emotion  like  that  of  the  memorable  Christmas  Eve  service 
of  the  previous  year.  They  were  put  into  print  with  the  title,  "I)t 
der  Christnacht  zu  Bethlehem,  1742,"  and  w^ere  called  "the  Bethlehem 
Christmas  hymn,"  also  "the  Pennsylvania  Christmas  hymn."^ 

The  remaining  days  of  the  year  were  smiilarly  occupied.  On  the 
morning  of  December  31,  Zinzendorf  officiated  at  morning  prayer, 
had  all  who  were  then  in  Bethlehem  together  at  a  lovefeast,  when 
general  announcements  in  reference  to  the  order  of  things  at  the  place 
for  the  ensuing  months,  were  made,  and  then  had  special  interviews 
with  the  itinerant  and  local  ministers,  the  missionaries  to  the  heathen, 
the  company  made  up  to  go  with  him  to  Europe,  numbering  thus 
far  twenty-one  persons,  and  with  the  people  who  constituted  the 
settled,  local  congregation  at  Bethlehem,  after  which  he  celebrated 
the  Holy  Communion  with  its  elders,  wardens  and  other  officials. 


5  The  first  stanza  begins  with  the  lines : 

"  Gluckseliger  ist  uns  doch  keine  Nacht 
Als  die  uns  das  Wunderkind  hat  gebracht." 

A  few  of  these  stanzas  may  be  found  in  somewhat  altered  form  in  the  modern  German 

hymnals  of  the  Church. 


158  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Thereupon,  all  being  in  readiness  for  the  journey,  he  took  final  leave 
of  Bethlehem,  and  started  for  Philadelphia.  He  was  escorted  across 
the  river  by  nearly  all  the  people  of  the  place.  On  the  south  side 
he  paused  and  addressed  a  farewell  greeting  m  song  to  the  spot, 
went  into  the  house  of  the  Ysselstein  family  to  bid  adieu  to  them,  as 
cherished  friends,  and  then  proceeded  on  his  way  accompanied  by  a 
number  of  persons.  His  daughter,  with  some  of  the  persons  who 
were  to  accompany  him  to  Europe,  left  Bethlehem  on  New  Year's 
Day,  and  the  most  of  them  went  directly  to  New  York.  On  January 
2,  the  last  contingent  started  for  New  York  with  some  who  were 
bound  for  St.  Thomas,  W.  I.,  to  engage  in  missionary  service.  This 
company,  with  the  luggage,  was  conveyed  to  New  York  on  two 
wagons.  One  of  them  was  in  charge  of  young  David  Zeisberger  who 
was  listed  to  accompany  the  Count  to  Europe  and  be  employed  in 
church  service  there.    This  incident  proved  to  be  a  crisis  in  his  life. 

At  New  York,  when  all  were  on  board,  and  the  ship  was  on  the 
point  of  leaving  the  dock,  young  Zeisberger  was  observed  by  Bishop 
David  Nitschmann  leaning  over  the  rail  and  looking  wistfully  and 
sadly  ashore.  Inquiring  of  the  young  man  whether  he  did  not  wish 
to  go  to  Europe,  Zeisberger  declared  plainly  that  he  did  not,  but 
much  preferred  to  remain  in  America  and  labor  for  the  Lord  here. 
Without  further  ado  Nitschmann  suggested  that,  if  such  was  his 
feeling,  he  should  come  ashore  and  remain.  Acting  upon  this 
suggestion  he  at  once  left  the  ship  which  sailed  without  him.  Thus 
his  course  was  led  into  paths  on  which  he  became  the  most  distin- 
guished of  all  missionaries  among  the  Indians. 

Zinzendorf  did  not  reach  New  York  until  January  13.  He  had  a 
final  meeting  with  the  Executive  Board  of  the  Pennsylvania  Synod, 
January  8,  at  the  locality  near  Philadelphia  known  as  "the  Ridge." 
The  next  day  he  had  important  conferences  with  fellow  workers  in 
the  city,  and  on  the  evening  of  that  day,  delivered  a  parting  address 
to  a  large  gathering  of  them  in  the  house  of  John  Stephen  Benezet. 
This  address  which  treated  at  length  of  principles  and  methods  of 
work  in  Pennsylvania,  was  called  by  him  his  "Pennsylvania  Testa- 
ment," and  as  such  was  put  into  print. 

During  the  next  two  days  he  effected  an  organization,  on  a  new 
basis,  under  the  changed  conditions,  of  those  Lutheran  families  who 
preferred  to  retain  the  ministrations  of  the  Brethren  in  connection 
with  the  Pennsylvania  Synod.  He  closed  his  labors  there  by 
preaching  a  farewell  sermon  on  the  evening  of  January  11,  in  the 


1742 1744-  159 

new  church  built  at  his  expense  on  Race  Street  for  these  people  and 
dedicated  in  November. 

In  the  process  of  further  developments  this  church  with  the  congre- 
gation there  organized,  came  into  full  connection  with  the  Moravian 
Church.  On  that  evening,  in  the  midst  of  intense  emotion,  he  left 
the  church  during  the  singing  of  the  closing  hymn,  to  avoid  the 
ordeal  of  personal  leave-takings,  and  went  out  to  Frankford  where 
he  spent  the  night.  The  next  day  he  proceeded  on  his  v»'ay  to  New 
York.  Reaching  there  on  the  13th,  he  first  visited  Captain  Nicholas 
Garrison  on  Staten  Island,  with  whom  he  had  become  acquainted 
already  in  1739  in  the  West  Indies.  He  was  not  only  an  experienced 
and  able  seaman,  but  a  noble.  Christian  man.  This  interview  brought 
him  not  only  into  the  Moravian  Church,  but  into  its  service  in 
capacities  highly  important  and  conspicuous.  The  Count  wanted  this 
eminently  trustworthy  sea  captain  for  a  special  purpose.  A  second 
colony,  much  larger  than  the  Sea  Congregation  of  1742,  was  to  be 
transported  to  Pennsylvania  from  Europe  on  a  ship  to  be  purchased 
for  the  use  of  the  church.  Garrison  was  asked  to  accompany  Zinzen- 
dorf  to  Europe  and  take  command  of  this  enterprise.  He  looked 
upon  it  as  a  duty  that  had  come  to  him,  and  he  got  ready  and  went 
along  a  week  later. 

During  that  week  spent  by  Zinzendorf  in  New  York,  another 
important  conference  was  held  with  a  number  of  Brethren  who  were 
to  take  charge  of  affairs  at  Bethlehem  and  in  Pennsylvania  generally, 
and  with  missionaries  there  waiting  for  a  ship  to  St.  Thomas.  In 
connection  with  this  occasion  there  was  sorrow  in  consequence  of 
the  unexpected  death,  on  Staten  Island,  January  8,  of  the  faithful 
missionary  Valentine  Loehans  of  St.  Thomas,  who  had  been 
occupying  the  few  weeks  before  his  return  to  the  West  Indies  in 
doing  evangelistic  work  among  the  negroes  about  New  York.  John 
Brucker,  a  member  of  the  Sea  Congregation,  who  was  appointed 
to  accompany  the  West  India  missionaries  as  a  lay  assistant,  was 
ordained  at  New  York  by  Zinzendorf,  because  the  death  of  Loehans 
deprived  them  of  an  ordained  man  in  that  field.  The  arrangement 
then  made,  in  accordance  with  the  plan  of  the  November  conference, 
for  Bethlehem  and  the  work  in  Pennsylvania  was  an  ad  interim  one, 
for  the  intention  was  that,  after  the  new  American  colony  had  been 
formed  and  gotten  on  the  way,  Spangenberg  should  return  to  this 
country,  locate  at  Bethlehem  and  assume  charge  as  general  superin- 
tendent of  the  whole.     Boehler,  who  was  with  the  Count  in  New 


l6o  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSVLVANIA. 

York,  having  been  given  the  appointment  at  that  November 
conference,  was  now  installed  to  fill  this  position  during  the  interval, 
together  with  Bishop  Nitschmann  who  was  to  devote  himself  to 
developing  the  Indian  missions.  Zinzendorf  retained  the  nominal 
inspectorship  of  the  Lvitheran  department  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Synod's  work,  but  Boehler,  while  entrusted  with  the  local  oversight 
at  Bethlehem,  was  made  Vice-Inspector  of  that  Lutheran  work, 
Syndic,  or  Moderator  of  the  Synod,  and  one  of  the  four  directors 
of  the  whole.  On  Sunday,  January  20,  Zinzendorf  and  his  company 
with  Captain  Garrison  and  his  daughter  sailed  from  New  York  on 
the  ship  James,  Captain  Ketteltas,  for  London.  They  reached  England 
in  safety  on  February  17.® 

Boehler,  in  accordance  with  arrangements,  remained  a  few  weeks 
in  New  York  to  preach.  In  consequence  of  the  persistent  agitation 
of  those  ministers  who  were  carrying  on  the  crusade  against  "the 
Moravians,"  he  was  subjected  to  gross  indignity  in  being  ordered 
out  of  the  city  as  "a  vagabond"  by  the  authorities ;  and  almost  to 
personal  violence  like  that  which  Pyrlaeus  suffered  in  Philadelphia 
as  the  outcome  of  the  Rev.  J.  P.  Boehm's  similar  crusade.  A  few 
years  later  these  demonstrations  of  narrow  bigotry  and  fanatical 
intolerance  reacted  against  those  clerics,  and  made  friends  for  the 
Brethren  among  the  authorities  and  the  people  generally. 

The  ad  interim  arrangements  for  the  conduct  of  affairs  at  Bethle- 
hem lasted  longer  than  had  been  expected,  for  Spangenberg's  return 
to  America  was  delayed,  and  he  did  not  come  until  the  end  of  Octo- 
ber 1744.  During  this  interval  fewer  stirring  scenes  were  enacted 
than  while  Zinzendorf  was  in  Pennsylvania.    There  was  less  planning 

6  Besides  those  just  mentioned,  this  company  to  Europe  consisted  of  the  following  per- 
sons :  The  Countess  Benigna;  Anna  Nitschmann;  Rosina  Nitschmann,  wife  of  Bishop  David 
Nitschmann;  Magdalene  Wend,  who  in  Germany  was  married  to  Jonas  Paulus  Weiss;  Anna 
Margaret  Antes,  daughter  of  Henry  Antes,  who  in  England  became  the  wife  of  the  Rev. 
Benjamin  La  Trobe;  Joseph  Mueller  from  the  Great  Swamp,  who  in  Germany  studied  medi- 
cine somewhat  and  after  his  return  filled  a  useful  position  in  this  service,  particularly  at 
Nazareth;  Veronica  Frey,  daughter  of  William  Frey  of  Frederick  Township,  who  in  Europe 
was  married  to  Mueller;  George  Neisser,  appointed  to  help  form  and  prepare  the  next  colony 
for  Pennsylvania;  John  Jacob  Mueller,  the  Count's  secretary;  David  Wahnert  and  wife — he 
having  been  cook  of  the  Sea  Congregation,  and  serving  numerous  later  colonies  in  this  capa- 
city; Gottlieb  Haberecht,  George  Wiesner,  a  member  of  the  Sea  Congregation  returning  to 
Europe;  Andrew  Frey,  later  an  enemy  and  traducer  of  the  Brethren;  Andrew  the  Negro 
and  his  wife  Maria,  and  three  who  were  not  members,  viz.:  James  Benezet,  a  son  of  Stephen 
Benezet  of  Philadelphia;  Jesse  Leslie  of  Ephrata  and  William  Hall  of  Brunswick,  N.  J, 
There  were  two  others  whose  names  are  not  given. 


^74^ 1744-  i6i 

and  organizing  and  both  material  and  spiritual  activities  proceeded 
with  less  turmoil  and  sensation.  But  some  things  of  importance  were 
achieved  at  Bethlehem  and  on  the  Nazareth  land  in  externals.  The 
most  notable  of  these,  during  the  first  six  months  of  1743,  was  the 
building  of  a  grist  mill  at  the  foot  of  the  declivity  above  which  the 
original  house  of  the  settlement  stood.  On  January  25,  the  site  was 
selected  and  Henry  Antes,  whose  principal  business  was  that  of  a 
millwright,  olifered  to  superintend  its  construction.  He  was  assisted 
by  the  miller  John  Adam  Schaus,  already  mentioned,  who  was  now 
keeping  the  primitive  tavern  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  and  by 
Gotthard  Demuth,  who  came  from  Germantown  for  the  purpose, 
together  with  a  force  of  workmen  from  Bethlehem.  The  first  grist 
was  ground  on  June  28,  and  devout  thanksgiving  was  rendered  for 
this  valuable  acquisition.  It  was  soon  recognized  as  a  boon  also  by 
the  settlers  to  the  north  and  west  of  Bethlehem  and  in  the  Upper 
Saucon  Valley,  for  before  this  the  only  place  within  reasonable  dis- 
tance at  which  they  could  have  grain  ground  seems  to  have  been 
the  mill  of  Nathaniel  Irish  on  the  Saucon  Creek  and  that  on  Cedar 
Creek  which  Schaus  had  lately  been  operating.  Thus  began  the  his- 
tory of  Bethlehem's  famous  mill-seat  near  the  spring,  where  now  in 
the  third  mill  on  the  spot — the  second  was  built  in  1751 — while  all 
the  other  early  industries  which  there  arose  about  it  have  long  ago 
passed  away,  the  golden  grain  is  yet  ground  for  bread  by  machinery 
and  processes  of  which  those  first  builders  and  grinders  did  not 
dream.  The  miller  Schaus  was  installed  to  run  the  stones  for  a  while 
and  instruct  an  assistant.  He  was  also  associated  with  another  con- 
spicuous improvement  at  the  place  made  early  in  1743.  Ford  and 
canoes  were  no  longer  adequate  means  of  crossing  the  river,  especi- 
ally now  that  a  mill  was  to  be  built,  and  on  the  same  day  on  which 
the  site  of  the  mill  was  fixed,  a  place  for  a  ferry  was  selected  at  the 
river.  A  "fiat"  to  be  propelled  by  poling  was  built  and.  on  March 
II,  was  dragged  into  the  river  by  eight  horses  and  launched.  Schaus 
was  the  first  of  the  Hne  of  regularly  appointed  ferrymen  who  did 
Charon-service  with  this  rude  craft  and  its  successor,  after  it  was  car- 
ried away  by  a  flood  in  1746,  followed  in  1758,  by  the  rope  ferry, 
until  1794,  when  the  first  bridge  across  the  Lehigh  at  Bethlehem  was 
finished  and  opened  for  travel. 

In  August  letters  from  Europe  informed  the  executives  at  Bethle- 
hem that  the  large  second  colony  that  was  awaited  would  probably 
arrive  several  months  later.     This  occasioned  new  activity  in  projia- 


1 62  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

ration  for  further  building  enterprises.  The  time  had  now  come  to 
turn  attention  to  the  Barony  of  Nazareth,  where  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  these  colonists  were  to  locate.  Neither  hammer  nor  trowel 
had  been  lifted  upon  the  foundations  of  the  large  stone  house,  laid 
there  three  years  before,  since  the  suspension  of  the  work  in  that 
dreary  November  of  1740.  This  matter  was  the  subject  of  a  confer- 
ence on  August  27.  Four  stone  masons  arrived  from  Germantown 
on  September  28,  and  went  to  Nazareth,  with  Jacob  Vetter,  who  in 
May  had  removed  to  Bethlehem  from  Oley,  to  start  and  direct  the 
work.  The  Elder,  Anton  Seif^ert,  who  had  formerly  been  a  carpen- 
ter, assumed  the  oversight  of  the  woodwork.  October  14,  the  car- 
penters of  Bethlehem  went  in  a  body  to  Nazareth  to  raise  the  frame- 
work of  the  roof  and  begin  to  shingle  it.  But  with  all  the  energy 
now  centered  upon  the  completion  of  the  Whitefield  House,  fears 
were  expressed  that  it  would  not  be  ready  to  be  occupied  before  the 
colony  arrived. 

In  addition  to  getting  that  building  finished,  other  plans  that 
had  been  mapped  out  were  now  coming  to  light  in  steps  that 
were  taken.  Henry  Antes  suggested  to  Zinzendorf  the  idea 
of  opening  six  separate  plantations  on  the  Nazareth  land,  each  with 
its  own  complete  group  of  buildings  and  its  own  personnel  of  six 
families  conducting  a  joint  house-keeping  and  working  the  fields, 
stockyards,  dairy  and  orchard  in  the  interest  of  the  whole.  Thus 
this  fine  domain  would  be  developed  and  become  the  most  important 
source  of  support  for  the  establishment  at  Bethlehem,  and  for  the 
extensive  missionary  work.  This  general  idea  found  acceptance,  and 
the  selection  of  the  people  to  make  up  the  colony  of  1743  was  based 
on  this  plan.  Those  for  Nazareth  were  to  be  mainly  people  adapted 
for  agricultural  pursuits.  Those  for  Bethlehem,  which,  so  far  as 
externals  were  concerned,  was  to  be  the  center  of  manufacturing 
industry  and  the  place  of  trade,  were  to  be  for  the  most  part  men 
skilled  in  various  handicrafts  and  qualified  to  engage  in  business. 
Some  were  to  be  competent  as  accountants,  secretaries  and  scriv- 
eners, a  few  men  of  classical  education  were  to  accompany  them,  and 
of  the  whole  number,  as  many  as  possible  were  at  the  same  time  to 
be  persons  available  for  religious  work  when  required.  On  October 
8,  Bishop  Nitschmann,  Boehler  and  SeifTert  made  a  tour  of  inspec- 
tion over  the  Nazareth  land,  to  select  such  places  for  opening  farms, 
and  a  site  for  the  further  central  buildings  of  the  Barony.  It  is 
recorded  that  they  found  six  suitable  spots  with  copious  springs — the 


1742 1744-  163 

statement  being  added  that  springs  which  did  not  flow  all  the  year 
were  dry  at  that  time  and  those  then  found  running  could  be  relied 
upon.  The  location  of  what  after  the  lapse  of  years  came  to  be  called 
"Old  Nazareth,"  as  well  as  of  the  other  points  afterwards  opened  on 
the  Nazareth  land  may  be  traced  to  the  reconnoissance  of  that  day. 

During  those  months  of  1743,  while  further  minor  improvements 
were  being  added  in  the  village  of  Bethlehem  itself,  the  cleared 
and  cultivated  area  on  the  original  Allen  tract  was  being  extended, 
and  a  first  orchard  was  planted  with  young  apple  trees  brought  from 
Oley  on  March  27,  further  activities  were  prosecuted  on  the  south 
side  of  the  Lehigh.  It  early  became  clear  to  the  men  of  Bethlehem 
that  the  land  lying  along  the  south  bank  of  the  river  and  rising  to 
the  south-west,  where  they  traveled  the  path  to  Maguntsche,  was  too 
near  and  prospectively  too  valuable  to  not  be  added  to  their  posses- 
sions, if  this  could  be  done.  Negotiations  were  opened  with  Wil- 
liam Allen  in  February,  1743,  which  resulted  in  the  first  purchase 
across  the  river,  that  of  the  so-called  Simpson  tract  of  274  acres. 
When  the  preliminary  agreement  was  settled,  Mr.  Allen  insisted  on 
the  removal  of  the  Swiss  squatter  Ruetschi,  the  first  resident  of 
Fountain  Hill,  already  referred  to.  The  matter  was  broached  to  him 
and  he  became  much  incensed  and  called  the  Brethren  hard  names 
He  also  appealed  to  Justice  Irish  to  sustain  his  right  of  preemption 
and  option  on  the  land;  but  Henry  Antes,  being  in  Bethlehem  just 
then,  took  part  in  the  complications,  with  the  result  that  a  writ 
of  ejectment  from  Mr.  Irish  was  served  upon  the  squatter.  Dr. 
Adolph  Meyer  was  sent  over  to  face  his  wrath  and  to  tell  him  that 
the  Brethren  were  compelled,  in  accordance  with  Mr.  Allen's  stipu 
lations,  to  let  the  law  take  its  course;  but  that  they  would  give  him 
ample  time  in  which  to  move  and  would  make  him  a  present  of  the 
crop  from  two  bushels  of  oats  that  they  had  sown  on  the  land. 

Thereupon  he  was  mollified  and  agreed  to  depart  in  peace.  After 
that  the  name  of  Ruetschi  appears  no  more  in  the  local  chronicles.  In 
June  following,  another  man  comes  into  view  on  the  south  side  who 
was  associated  with  its  primitive  population  and  with  various  trans- 
actions, until  in  June,  1745,  he  yielded  to  the  demand  of  the  authorities 
at  Bethlehem  and  vacated  the  house  they  permitted  him  to  build 
in  June,  1743,  on  their  land  on  the  south  side,  "near  the  tavern"— 
Schaus's.  This  was  Anton  Albrecht  who  removed  to  Bethlehem  with 
his  family  from  "near  Philadelphia"  at  that  time  and  was  admitted 
to  church  membership,  but  became  for  some  reason  persona  non  grata 


164  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

at  Bethlehem.  In  October,  1747,  he  arose  to  importance  in  the 
neighborhood  as  the  first  constable  of  Bethlehem  Township.  Three 
useful  men  whose  names  became  conspicuous,  in  addition  to  Vetter, 
came  to  Bethlehem  at  this  time  and  were  admitted  to  regular  church 
membership.  They  were  Frederick  Hartman  from  Philadelphia, 
Franz  Blum  from  the  Saucon  Valley,  both  of  whom  were  directly 
employed  at  Nazareth,  and  the  potter  Ludwig  Huebner,  already 
mentioned.  Notwithstanding  the  hard  toil  and  the  extremely  plain 
living  in  the  matter  of  food  and  clothing,  the  course  of  things  at 
Bethlehem  during  that  time  is  referred  to  in  records  as  a  peculiarly 
peaceful  and  pleasant  one. 

One  mournful  figure,  however,  haunted  the  place.  They  had 
a  poor,  mentally  deranged  man  on  their  hands  whose  pres- 
ence disturbed  the  peace  at  times,  tried  the  nerves  of  the 
weak  and  awakened  dread  among  the  superstitious.  It  was  the 
eccentric  Englishman  Hardie,  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter. 
There  was  no  institution  to  which  they  might  take  him,  and  they 
lacked  proper  facilities  for  his  care.  In  February,  1743,  they  tried 
the  plan  of  placing  him  in  one  of  the  Indian  cabins  at  Nazareth  under 
a  special  guard,  but  he  escaped  and  wandered  down  to  Justice  Irish 
who  sent  him  back  to  Bethlehem  with  a  curt  request  in  writing — the 
paper  yet  exists — that  the  Brethren  take  better  care  of  him.  One  plan 
after  another  was  tried,  and  many  references  to  the  trouble  experi- 
enced with  him  during  fits  of  madness  occur  until  after  1745,  when  he 
left  Bethlehem.  He  later  appeared  in  the  Ephrata  community  as 
"Brother  Theodorus."  He  once  more  visited  Bethlehem  in  August, 
1754,  attired  in  his  brotherhood  garb.  His  strange  career  is  described 
in  the  Chronicle  of  that  place.  Like  dissolving  views,  the  fading  vision 
of  Thomas  Hardie  melts  into  that  which  then  appears  of  the  demented 
brother,  Conrad  Harding.  He  was,  like  the  Englishman  Hardie,  a 
man  of  some  refinement  by  birth  and  associations  and  withal  of  edu- 
cation and  piety.  He  came  with  the  colony  of  1743,  became  mentally 
deranged,  and  when  attempting  to  ford  the  Lehigh  to  go  to  a  Synod 
at  Philadelphia — having  escaped  from  those  who  tried  to  restrain 
him — was  drowned,  March  29,  1746.  The  perplexing  confusion  in  the 
references  to  these  two  unfortunate  men  is  increased  by  the  fact 
that  both  names  are  mis-spelled  in  some  of  the  German  diaries,  and 
made  more  similar ;  and  the  fact  that  one  with  the  name  Theodorus 
— the  cloister  name  given  Hardie  at  Ephrata — came  to  Bethlehem 
from  Europe  in   1750,  and  died  very  soon  after.     Doubtless  some 


1742 1744-  i65 

would  think  it  quite  a  proper  feature  that  Bethlehem,  at  that  earlv 
day,  should  have  its  mystery  among  the  characters  associated  with 
it. 

The  connection  of  Bethlehem  with  the  Indians  during  the  year 
1743  presents  nothing  that  calls  for  mention  in  these  pages  except 
that  the  project  to  have  some  one  go  into  the  Indian  country  to 
learn  the  language  of  the  people,  for  which,  at  first,  Henry  Aimers 
was  had  in  view,  was  carried  out  in  the  case  of  Pyrlaeus,  after  he 
closed  his  labors  as  preacher  for  those  Lutherans  of  Philadelphia 
whom  Zinzendorf  had  organized.  He  went  to  Tulpehocken  in  Jan- 
uary, 1743,  and,  while  conducting  the  school  there  with  his  wife, 
studied  the  Mohawk  language  under  the  guidance  of  Con- 
rad Weiser,  who  was  thoroughly  conversant  with  it.  They 
had  their  home  at  Weiser's  house.  They  returned  to  Beth- 
lehem early  in  May,  and  after  Ranch  had  gotten  back  in 
June  from  a  protracted  sojourn  in  the  Mohawk  country,  they 
went  there,  took  up  their  abode  at  Canajoharie,  the  middle  of  July, 
and  remained  there,  enduring  much  hardship  and  privation  until  in 
September.  On  February  4,  1744,  he  opened  a  school  at  Bethlehem 
for  candidates  who  proposed  to  enter  the  mission  service,  and  under- 
took to  teach  them  the  language,  the  attempt  to  procure  an  Indian 
from  Freehold  for  this  purpose  having  failed.  As  to  the  ordinary 
school  work,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  on  July  18,  1743,  John  Christopher 
Francke'^  took  ten  boys  to  Nazareth  and  there,  in  the  log  house  built 
by  the  pioneers  in  1740,  organized  a  Httle  home  school.  It  was  the 
forerunner  of  the  school  in  Nazareth  Hall,  and  was  the  first  school 
on  the  Baronv  of  Nazareth. 


7  Francke,  who  subsequently  figured  mainly  in  connection  with  school  work  and  was  or- 
dained in  1 749,  had,  with  his  wife  Christina,  arrived  at  Bethlehem  from  Europe  in  September, 
1742,  with  a  little  company  that  was  to  have  come  with  the  Sea  Congregation  but  for  some 
cause  were  left  to  follow  later.  The  others  were  Daniel  and  Rosina  Neubert  with  an 
adopted  child,  Jacob  and  Anna  Margaret  Kohn,  Martin  and  Anna  Liebisch,  Anna  Maria 
Liebisch,  Anna  Maria  Brandner  and  Michael  Schnall.  The  invalid  wife  of  Dr.  Adolph 
Meyer,  Maria  Dorothea  Meyer,  sailed  with  them,  but  died  on  the  voyage  and  was  buried  at 
sea,  off  the  banks  of  New  Foundland.  Several  of  this  company,  particularly  Neubert  and 
Schnall  who  both  became  very  useful  men  in  Pennsylvania,  had  been  actively  connected 
with  the  attempt  at  Pilgerruh  in  Holstein  and  Heerendyk  in  Holland.  Schnall  was  the 
father  of  the  missionary  John  Schnall.  They  both  ended  their  days  at  Bethlehem.  Anna 
Liebisch  was  married  at  Bethlehem  to  Anton  Seiffert  and  died  in  June,  1744.  Kohn  and 
his  wife  also  engaged  in  spiritual  service  for  a  season  but  returned  to  Europe  in  1745.  The 
others  were  likewise  conspicuously  active  people  in  various  capacities. 


l66  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

The  institution  for  girls  at  Bethlehem  was  reorganized  on  October 
19  following,  when  a  room  was  provided  for  its  use  in  the  new  eastern 
part  of  the  Community  House  then  completed. 

At  the  very  time  when  work  was  resumed  on  the  large  stone 
house  at  Nazareth,  with  a  view  to  its  use  by  the  new  colony  that  was 
expected,  the  main  body  of  that  colony  sailed  from  Rotterdam  to 
begin  the  voyage  across  the  Atlantic.  Those  who  were  to  constitute 
the  Nazareth  contingent  were  recruited  with  a  few  exceptions,  at 
Herrnhaag  and  Marienborn — thirty-three  young  couples,  of  whom 
thirty  couples  were  just  married,  twenty-four  together  at  the  latter 
place  on  May  2^.  For  some  years  they  commemorated  this  event 
by  a  lovefeast  at  Nazareth.     It  was  spoken  of  as  "the  great  wedding." 

They  proceeded  in  six  divisions  to  Holland  and  at  Rotter- 
dam, on  September  12,  they  met  the  party  from  Herrnhut,  ten 
married  couples,  one  of  them  having  an  infant  son — the 
only  child  in  the  colony — four  single  men  and  one  single 
woman.  The  men  of  this  party  were  mainly  artisans,  while 
a  few  of  them  were  men  of  good  education.  A  few  also  were 
native  Bohemians  and  Moravians.  Some  of  these  colonists  became 
regularly  ordained  ministers.  At  Rotterdam  they  found  Captain 
Garrison  waiting  with  the  vessel  he  had  purchased  in  England  and, 
with  the  valuable  aid  of  James  Hutton  of  London,  had  fitted  out  to 
transport  them.  It  was  called  the  Little  Strength.  It  was  sometimes 
spoken  of  as  the  Irene,  the  name  which  at  one  time  it  was  proposed 
to  give  it,  as  it  seems,  and  which  was  bestowed  upon  the  third 
transport  owned  by  the  Church.  Its  ensign  is  described  as  "a  lamb 
passant  with  a  flag  on  a  blood  covered  field" — the  device  that  has 
always  figured  with  variations  of  detail,  on  the  episcopal  seal  of  the 
Church,  and  as  its  general  official  emblem.  They  lifted  anchor  at 
Rotterdam,  September  16,  got  fairly  on  the  way  next  day,  and  after 
a  very  trying  and  tedious  sail,  reached  Cowes,  September  25.  There 
they  found  the  English  colonists  awaiting  their  coming.  There  were 
six  married  couples,  with  the  widowed  mother  of  one  of  the  men,  from 
England.  These  were  also  people  of  various  pursuits,  but  all  of  them 
persons  who  could  be  utilized  in  positions  requiring  natural  capability 
and  some  education.  One  was  an  apothecary,  another  was  later 
general  steward  of  the  establishment  at  Bethlehem,  several  were 
employed  for  some  years  in  school  work.  Two  were  eventually 
ordained  to  the  ministry. 

Captain  Garrison,  who  had  now  identified  himself  fully  with  the 
Brethren,  took  command,  not  only  as  master  of  the  vessel,  but  as 


1742 1744-  1 67 

Elder  of  the  colony  during  the  voyage.  With  him  was  associated,  as 
sailing-master,  Captain  Thomas  Gladman,  who  had  safely  brought 
over  the  Catherine  with  the  first  colony;  he  being  at  this  time 
also  in  regular  connection  with  the  Brethren  in  England.  With 
Gladman,  as  mate,  was  John  Christian  Ehrhardt,  who  had  been 
attracted  to  the  Brethren  in  1742,  when  mate  on  a  vessel  which  took 
the  West  India  missionary  Frederick  Alartin  from  Holland  to  the 
West  Indies ;  who  later  served  under  Captain  Garrison  on  the  Irene, 
and  was  wdth  the  company  that  made  the  ill-fated  first  attempt  to 
found  a  mission  in  Labrador  in  1752.  John  Cook,  a  native  of  Leg- 
horn, Italy,  and  now  a  member  of  the  Church  in  England — not  only 
a  sailor  but  a  man  of  quaint  poetic  and  artistic  talent — served  as  sec- 
ond mate.  Eight  other  sailors,  one  of  whom  was  Nicholas  Garrison, 
Jr.,  son  of  the  captain,  together  with  three  boys,  made  up  the  rest  of 
the  crew.  All  but  one  of  the  sailors  and  two  of  the  boys  seem  to 
have  been  counted  as  belonging  to  the  Association  of  the  Brethren. 
Organized  for  the  voyage  in  much  the  same  manner  as  the  first  col- 
ony, they  have  been  called  "the  Second  Sea  Congregation. "«    They 

8  Space  cannot  be  taken  to  insert  even  very  brief  personal  notes  of  the  members  of 
this  colony,  as  in  the  case  of  the  first,  for  the  number  is  too  large.  Such  notes  of  some  of 
them,  who  later  figured  in  special  ways,  will  be  found  in  other  connections  elsewhere  in  this 
volume.  Brandmiller  and  Wahnert  had  come  with  the  first  colony  and  returned.  The 
several  lists  extant  in  print  are  not  complete  nor  accurate.      The  complete  roll  is  as  follows  : 

I.    FROM    HERRNHAAG   AND   MARIENBORN. 

Anders,  Gottlieb  and  Johanna  Christina.  Michler,  John  Wolfgang  and  Rosina. 

Biefel,  John  Henry  and  Rosina.  Michler,  John  and  Barbara. 

Boehmer,  Martin  and  Margaret.  Moeller,  John  Henry  and  Rosina. 

Boehringer,  John  David  and  Gertrude.  Mozer,  John  and  Mary  Philippina. 

Brandmiller,  John  and  Anna  Mary.  Muecke,  John  Michael  and  Catherine. 

Christ,  George  and  Anna  Mary.  Nilsen,  Jonas  and  Margaret. 

Fischer,  Thomas  and  Agnes.  Ohneberg,  George  and  Susan. 
Fritsche,  John  Christian  and  Anna  Margaret.  Opitz,  Leopold  and  Elizabeth. 

Goetge,  Peter  and  Anna  Barbara.  Otto,  John  Frederick  and  Mary. 

Grabs,  John  Godfrey  and  Anna  Mary.  Partsch,  John  George  and  Susanna  Louisa. 

Hancke,  Matthew  and  Elizabeth.  Reichard,  David  and  Elizabeth. 

Hessler,  Abraham  and  Anna  Mary.  Reuz,  Matthew  and  Magdalene. 

Hirte,  John  Tobias  and  Mary.  Schaaf,  John  and  Anna  Catherine. 

Hoepfner,  John  Christopher  and  Schaub,  John  and  Divert  Mary. 

Mary  Magdalene.  Schober,  Andrew  and  Hedwig  Regina. 

Jorde,  John  and  Anna  Margaret.  Schropp,  Matthew  and  Anna  Margaret. 

Krause,  Matthew  and  Christina.  Wagner,  Anton  and  Elizabeth. 

Kremser,  Andrew  and  Rosina.  Wahnert,  David  and  M.iry  Elizabeth. 

Kremser,  George  and  Anna  Maria.  Weinert,  John  Christopher  and  Dorothea. 

Kunckler,  Daniel  and  Anna  Mary.  Weiss,  Matthias  and  Margaret  Catharine. 


l68  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

sailed  from  Cowes,  September  17,  and  anchored  off  Staten  Island  "in 
front  of  Captain  Garrison's  house,"  November  26. 

The  next  morning  Henry  Aimers,  who  was  then  engaged  in  evan- 
gelistic work  on  Staten  Island,  went  aboard  with  his  wife  to  greet 
them,  and  then  took  the  mass  of  letters  that  had  been  entrusted  to 
Captain  Garrison  by  Spangenberg  and  George  Neisser,  when  the  ship 
left  Plymouth,  and  hastened  off  to  Bethlehem  to  announce  the  arrival 
of  the  colony.  Hector  Gambold  was  awaiting  them  in  New  York 
with  various  instructions  to  be  communicated.  Thomas  Noble,  of 
New  York,  also  went  aboard  to  welcome  them  and  at  his  house  a 
consultation  was  held,  after  the  vessel  reached  her  dock  on  the  27th, 
in  reference  to  the  conveyance  of  the  great  quantity  of  luggage  to 
Bethlehem.  Dr.  Meyer  was  at  once  dispatched  to  New  York,  after  it 
was  known  that  they  had  arrived,  to  assist  in  conducting  them  to 
Bethlehem  and  to  render  any  professional  service  that  might  be 
nee'ded.  Captain  Garrison  as  Elder  of  the  colony  was  responsible  for 
getting  them  properly  started  on  the  journey  to  Bethlehem,  and 
accompanied  one  detachment  all  the  way.  They  were  divided  into 
bands,  each  with  a  leader, as  the  best  method  of  traveling.  The  journey 
from  New  Brunswick  to  Bethlehem  was  made  afoot.  This  was  a  serious 
undertaking  for  people  just  landed  after  a  long  sea  voyage,  many 
of  them,  particularly  of  the  women,  being  rather  feeble,  even  though 

2.    FROM    HERRNHUT. 

Broksch,  Andrew  and  Anna  Elizabeth.  Zeisberger,  George  and  Anna  Dorothea. 

Demuth,  Christopher  and  Anna  Mary.  (single.) 

Hantsch,  John  George,  Sr.,  and  Regina.  Doehling,  John  Jacob. 

Hencke,  Christopher  and  Elizabeth.  Hantsch,  John  George,  Jr. 

Hertzer,  John  Henry  and  Barbara  Elizabeth.  Harding,  Conrad. 

Muenster,  John  and  Rosina.  Oerter,  Christian  Frederick. 

Nieke,  George  and  Johanna  Elizabeth.  Hantsch,  Anna  Regina  (d.  of  J.  G.,  Sr.). 

Nixdorf,  John  George  and  Susanna.  (infant.) 

Schuetze,  Christian  and  Anna  Dorothea.  Nixdorf,  John  Gottlob. 

3.    FROM   ENGLAND. 
Banister,  Elizabeth  (widow),  mother  of  Payne.  Ostrum,  Andrew  and  Jane. 
Digeon,  David  and  Mary.  Payne,  Jasper  and  Elizabeth. 

Greening,  James  and  Elizabeth.  Utley,  Richard  and  Sarah. 

Leighton,  John  and  Sarah. 

4.    OFFICERS    AND    CREW. 

Nicholas  Garrison.  Ole  Bugge.  Notley  Togood.  John  Nelson  (boy). 

Thomas  Gladman.  Jarvis  Roebuck.  Owen  Daly.  John  Leathes  (boy). 

John  Christian  Ehrhardt.  Benjamin  Davis.  Nicholas  Garrison,  Jr.  John  Newton  (boy). 

John  Cook.  James  Moore.  Samuel  Wennel. 


1742 1744-  169 

there  had  been  no  serious  sickness  on  board.  The  first  one  to  reach 
Bethlehem  was  Hantsch,  Jr.,  December  5.  After  his  party  had  trav- 
eled a  day  and  a  half  he  was  not  able  to  proceed  farther,  and  procured 
a  horse  and  rode  on  ahead  of  the  rest.  December  6,  two  more  single 
men  arrived  by  way  of  Nazareth  during  the  evening  service.  Then 
later  on  the  same  evening  came  Wahnert  and  his  wife,  with  about 
thirty.  They  were  followed  by  Captain  Garrison,  who  stated  that  he 
had  left  his  company  in  the  care  of  Captain  Gladman,  about  six  miles 
from  Bethlehem,  because  they  were  too  much  fatigued  to  travel  far- 
ther. He  also  announced  that  another  band  conducted  by  Dr.  Meyer 
might  be  expected  that  night  yet.  They  came  very  late,  almost 
exhausted.  Boehler,  then  in  charge  at  Bethlehem,  records  that  they 
sat  up  and  waited  until  this  last  detachment  arrived  and  then  had  a 
lovefeast  in  the  chapel.  He  also  says :  "The  chapel  was  quite  filled, 
and  all  rejoiced  like  children  at  this  new  influx  to  our  little  manger.^ 
The  Bethlehem  brethren  served  the  newcomers  and  bathed  their 
galled  and  weary  pilgrim  feet,"  for  they  had  bad  weather,  roads  and 
lodging,  and  often  scarcity  of  food  on  their  journey." 


9  " Kripplein  " — an  allusion  to  the  associations  of  the  name  Bethlehem,  like  Zinzendorf,  in 
certain  verses  sent  to  Bethlehem  by  him  the  previous  summer  as  a  greeting  from  the  home 
■of  the  miller  Schaus  in  Maguntsche,  beginning  :  'Ckristi  Krippschaft,  SuenJer  Sippschaft — 

Wie's  Lutherus  attsgedrueckt." 

10  Such  a  service  to  a  footsore  traveler,  spontaneously  rendered  by  a  warm-hearted  brother 
some  years  before,  and  then  followed  by  others  with  increasing  frequency,  gradually  led  to 
the  thought  of  making  it  a  token,  in  imitation  of  Christ  taking  the  servant's  place  in  this 
well-known  act  of  oriental  hospitality ;  after  the  manner  of  certain  medieval  reli- 
gious orders,  and  of  certain  German  sects  which  have  continued  the  practice  to  modern 
times.  The  over-wrought  cultus  developed  at  the  middle  of  the  iSth  century  then  made  it 
general  as  a  church-ceremony  in  connection  with  certain  occasions,  especially  Maundy- 
Thursday  (John  13).  Although  conducted  with  all  possible  decorum — the  several  divisions 
(choirs)  of  a  congregation  by  themselves,  the  sexes  of  course  apart,  at  different  hours,  and 
never  in  a  general  public  service  with  a  mixed  assembly  present — the  practice  began  to  wane 
before  1 800.  In  America,  when  last  in  vogue,  the  act,  confined  to  the  several  exclusive 
church  settlements,  was  restricted  to  Maundy-Thursday  for  many  years  ai^d,  even  then, 
liad  become  such  a  distasteful  requirement  that  it  was  frequently  omitted,  because 
no  edification  attended  it.  The  General  Synod  of  1818  released  the  congret^ations 
from  obligation  to  observe  it,  and  it  has  been  obsolete  since  then.  Comparatively 
few  members  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  America  even  know  that  such  a  custom  ever 
existed  in  it.  This  note  is  deemed  desirable  because  not  only  antiquated  works  of  reference 
on  such  matters  giving  misleading  information,  but  even  a  dictionary  of  knowledge  on 
churches  and  church  customs  published  as  recently  as  1890,  claiming  special  accuracy  and 
"up-to-date"  information,  tells  the  public  that  this  is  one  of  the  practices  of  the  Moravian 
■Church. 


I/O  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

The  next  morning  Captain  Gladman  reached  Bethlehem  with  his 
company.  "They  walked  very  lame  and  feeble,  but  were  all  cheerful 
and  happy."  Shortly  after  them  came  two  young  men,  one  of  them 
Cook  the  Italian  sailor,  who  had  passed  the  night  at  Nazareth.  In 
the  afternoon  the  two  Bethlehem  wagons  came  with  eleven  of  the 
women  and  several  men  who  had  quite  given  out.  Then  friends  from 
Saucon,  Maguntsche  and  the  Great  Swamp  began  to  come  in  to  wel- 
come them  to  Pennsylvania.  In  the  evening  the  whole  company 
assembled  and  listened  with  great  interest  to  the  reading  of  Buettner's 
diary  of  the  Shekomeko  mission,  lately  received  at  Bethlehem.  The 
next  day,  December  8,  the  last  of  them,  sixteen  persons,  arrived ; 
among  them  the  one  mother  who  had  a  little  child  with  her  to  care 
for. 

On  Monday,  December  9,  twenty  carpenters  went  to  Nazareth  to 
finish  the  work  on  "the  stone  house"  as  rapidly  as  possible.  Antes 
was  now  in  Bethlehem  giving  the  benefit  of  his  judgment  and  experi- 
ence in  connection  with  various  new  questions  occasioned  by  the 
coming  of  this  colony,  and  the  undertakings  that  were  being  delayed 
until  this  time.  Captain  Garrison  having  accomplished  his  mission, 
returned  to  his  home.  That  same  day  another  man,  subsequently 
of  prominence  and  importance,  arrived  at  Bethlehem.  This  was 
James  Burnside,  of  Savannah,  Georgia,  referred  to  in  chapter  IIL 

The  house  at  Nazareth  having  been  gotten  ready  for  occupancy, 
thirty-two  young  married  couples, ^^  on  January  2,  1744,  started 
together  for  Nazareth  to  locate  there  and  organize.  They  all  went 
afoot,  the  men  in  advance  with  axes,  making  a  better  road  through 
the  woods  than  had  existed  before — the  first  public  road  between 
the  two  places  was  not  laid  out  by  order  of  Court  until  March,  1745 — 
the  women  following  with  provision  for  a  meal  on  the  way.  It  was 
evening  when  they  reached  their  destination.  Bishop  Nitschmann^ 
Boehler,  SeifYert  and  Nathanael  Seidel  were  there  to  usher  them  into 
their  new  quarters.  With  their  first  evening  prayer  at  the  close  of 
that  day  was  combined  the  consecration  of  the  chapel  in  that  large 
building,  which  for  many  years,  was  the  place  of  worship,  ordinarily, 
for  the  entire  population  of  the  Barony  of  Nazareth.  It  was  long 
the  practice  to  go  to  Bethlehem  on  all  communion  occasions  and 
special  festival  days.  The  next  day,  January  3,  the  first  organiza- 
tion took  place.     In  accordance  with  the  express  wish  of  Count  Zin- 

"This  company  consisted  of  all  enumerated  in  note  8  under  the  first  section,  excepting 
Brandmiller,  Hoepfner,  J.  W.  Michler,  Opitz,  Otto,  Wagner,  Wahnert,  and  their  wives. 


1742 1744-  171 

zendorf,  Dr.  Adolph  Meyer  was  installed  as  Warden,  with  also  his 
professional  headquarters  at  Nazareth;  for  another  physician,  a  son 
of  a  physician  and  surgeon,  and  bringing  a  doctor's  degree  in  medi- 
cine from  Halle,  had  arrived  with  the  new  colony  and  was  now  to 
locate  at  Bethlehem.     This  was  John  Frederick  Otto,  M.D.^- 

The  heavy  luggage  of  the  colonists  and  sundry  other  articles 
trought  over  on  the  Little  Strength  had  been  transported  by  water 
from  the  hold  of  the  vessel  to  a  warehouse  at  New  Brunswick. 
Numerous  trips  were  made  by  the  Bethlehem  wagons  during  Janu- 
ary and  February,  until  this  considerable  quantity  of  freight  was  con- 
veyed to  Bethlehem.  With  one  of  the  loads,  on  January  25,  came  a 
spinet  presented  by  an  English  member  of  the  Church,  William  Peter 
Knolton,  fanmaker,  of  London,  and  later,  for  a  few  years,  of  Phila- 
delphia. This  first  musical  instrument  of  the  kind  in  Bethlehem  was 
the  forerunner  of  its  ultimate  abundant  piano-forte  equipment,  as 
well  as  of  the  small,  portable  organ  (Or gel  positiv)  of  just  two  years 
later — made  for  the  place,  brought  from  Philadelphia  and  set  up  by 
the  Moravian  organ-builder,  John  Gottlob  Klemm,  then  of  Philadel- 
phia, formerly  a  teacher  of  boys  at  Herrnhut,  who  had  become 
estranged  from  Zinzendorf  and  emigrated  alone  to  Pennsylvania. 
The  spinet — so  the  record  states — looked  very  dilapidated,  but 
skilled  hands  were  busy  at  once  to  put  it  together,  and  the  next  day 
they  could  use  it  in  worship.  With  this  episode  may  be  associated 
mention  of  the  first  hints  found,  during  the  months  following,  of  par- 
ticular attention  given  to  music  at  Bethlehem.  Stringed  instruments 
of  music  were  evidently  brought  to  the  settlement  by  some  members 
of  the  first  Sea  Congregation,  for  Indians  who  visited  the  place  were 
entertained  with  such  music  before  the  second  colony  arrived.  Early 
in  1744,  there  are  traces  of  organized  vocal  music  and  of  occurrences 
in  connection  therewith  which  some  persons  imagine  are  associated 
only  with  modern  church  choirs,  for  already,  in  the  month  of  Feb- 
ruary, a  misunderstanding  among  the  singers  called  forth  a  sharp 
reproof  from  the  Elder.  In  the  following  April  occurs  the  first  men- 
tion of  the  single  men  singing  hymns  outside  the  buildings,  at  dif- 
ferent points,  on  Saturday  evening — a  custom  maintained  with  con- 

"  This  second  regular  physician  in  the  Forks  was  the  elder  of  two  brothers  of  that  name 
who  figure  in  the  history  of  Bethlehem.  The  other,  whose  medical  degree  was  from  Stras- 
burg,  was  Dr.  John  Matthew  Otto  who  arrived  from  Europe  in  1750.  He  was  'the  more 
eminent  and  widely  known  as  physician  and  surgeon.  The  first  died  at  Nazareth  in  1779, 
the  second  at  Bethlehem  in  1786. 


1/2 


A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 


siderable  regularity  for  a  number  of  years.  Later  on,  these  twi- 
light serenades  at  the  close  of  the  week  often  consisted  of  instru- 
mental performances.  This  occurred,  in  connection  with  the  vocal 
music,  already  in  June  following  the  introduction  of  the  practice.  In 
that  same  month  of  April,  the  Easter  matins,  at  four  o'clock,  were 
accompanied  with  instrumental  music,  in  the  procession  to  the  new 
God's  acre,  with  its  three  or  four  graves.  On  December  13,  1744, 
after  Spangenberg  had  come  to  Bethlehem  and  commenced  to  apply 


FRENCH    HORN    OF   THE   XVIII.    CENTURY. 


his  brains  and  heart  and  hands  to  the  development  of  every  depart- 
ment and  the  regulation  of  every  feature  of  the  establishment,  the 
first  formal  meeting  of  a  Collegium  Musicum,  then  organized,  took 
place.  The  musical  leader  at  that  period — before  this  George  Neis- 
ser,  now  in  Europe,  and  Anton  Seiffert,  the  Elder — was  Pyrlaeus, 
who,  besides  being  a  good  singer,  played  the  spinet  and  then  the 
chamber  organ,  and  drilled  both  vocalists  and  instrumentalists.  These 
duties  he  combined  with  the  direction  of  the  linguistic  studies  of  can- 
didates for  missionary  service  among  the  Indians,  already  mentioned. 
His  music-room  and  class-room  were  now  in  the  new  house  of  the 


1742 1744-  173 

single  men,  the  dedication  of  the  site  of  which  has  been  referred  to. 
At  that  spot — the  south-west  corner  of  the  present  Sisters'  House — 
the  foundation  was  again  staked  ofif,  after  long  delay  on  account  of 
other  building  operations,  on  July  30,  1744.  It  was  30  by  50  feet. 
On  August  9  the  corner-stone  was  laid  with  solemn  ceremonies,  and 
on  December  6,  after  the  arrival  of  Spangenberg,  it  was  dedicated 
amid  great  rejoicings.  The  work  had  proceeded  more  rapidly  than 
that  on  previous  buildings,  for  now  there  were  more  mechanics,  and 
all  the  timber  did  not  have  to  be  hewn  and  spUt.  The  much-needed 
sawmill  of  the  settlement  was  in  operation.  On  the  massive  stone 
foundation,  yet  to  be  seen,  it  was  raised  on  May  26  and  on  June  26 
the  first  sawing  was  done.  Timber  cut  in  February  and  March  by 
squads  of  Bethlehem  axe-men  far  up  in  the  forest  of  Pochkapochka — 
the  Lehigh  Gap  and  along  the  so-named  creek,  now  Big  Creek — was 
being  floated  down  the  river ;  and  in  converting  it  into  beams  and 
posts,  rafters,  joists  and  boards,  the  measured  rasp  and  crunch  of  the 
long  saw  and  the  rumble  of  the  water  wheel  driving  it,  succeeded,  to 
a  great  extent,  the  ring  of  the  broad  axe  on  the  white  oak  logs. 

The  completion  of  that  important  building,  increasing  accommo- 
dations so  materially,  led  to  some  new  shifting  and  re-arrangement. 
More  ample  quarters  were  secured  in  the  women's  part  of  the  Com- 
munity House.  Such  good  health  had  prevailed  during  the  spring 
that  the  house,  utilized  since  the  end  of  February  as  the  hospital  for 
men,  was  standing  vacant.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  Demuth 
house  built  the  previous  autumn.  The  hospital  had,  before  that,  been 
transferred  from  its  first  quarters  to  a  house  across  the  river — prob- 
ably the  vacated  cabin  of  "the  Schweitzer"  Ruetschi — and  then  in  Feb- 
ruary back  to  the  north  side.  At  the  end  of  May  the  single  women 
had  taken  temporary  possession  of  the  vacant  hospital,  and  now, 
when  the  new  arrangements  afforded  them  quarters  in  the  Commu- 
nity House,  the  school  for  girls  was,  on  Christmas  Day,  1744.  trans- 
ferred to  this  vacant  house;  the  new  house  of  the  single  men  con- 
taining a  room  for  the  sick. 

More  general  and  important  movements  were  held  in  suspense 
during  1744,  pending  the  opening  of  a  new^  administration  at  the  close 
of  the  year.  Bishop  Nitschmann,  after  making  several  tours  of  the 
missionary  circuits  among  the  Indians,  sailed  with  Captain  Garrison 
on  the  Little  Strength  for  Europe  from  New^  York,  March  24.  With 
him  went  Wahnert,  the  useful  "ship  diacoiius'  on  so  many  voyages, 
Harten,  of  the  first  Sea  Congregation,  returning  to  Europe,  and 


174  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA, 

Weber,  the  West  India  missionary,  with  their  wives,  besides  two  other 
men  from  Pennsylvania.  He  also  took  with  him  an  Indian  couple, 
Samuel  and  Mary,  Wampanoags,  who  had  been  married  by  Boehler, 
February  i6 — the  first  Indian  wedding  at  Bethlehem.  On  May  i  the 
Little  Strength  was  captured  by  a  Spanish  privateer  and,  with  a  prize 
crew  on  board,  sent  to  St.  Sebastian,  where,  on  May  7,  the  men  were 
all  thrust  into  a  filthy  prison,  but  the  women,  through  Captain  Garri- 
son's efforts,  were  given  quarters  in  the  town.  They  were  released 
the  next  day  and  eventually  reached  their  destination,  but  the  Little 
Strefigth  was  lost.  The  perils  now  threatening  the  prosperous  work 
among  the  Indians,  through  excited  prejudice  and  ignorance,  under 
the  apprehensive  unrest  of  the  time,  especially  in  New  York,  made 
it  desirable  to  take  measures,  through  negotiations  with  the  British 
Government,  to  secure  protection  for  the  missions  if  possible.  The 
presence  of  Bishop  Nitschmann,  as  representative  of  the  Indian  mis- 
sions, was  therefore  needed  in  Europe.  The  popular  mind  was  the 
more  aflame  after  the  formal  declaration  of  war  between  England 
and  France,  in  March.  Although  at  a  conference  between  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Pennsylvania  and  the  deputies  of  the  Iroquois  confederacy 
at  Lancaster  in  June,  the  latter  covenanted  to  stand  against  the  plans 
of  the  French  for  enlisting  Indian  allies  to  harass  the  settlements, 
little  confidence  was  put  in  this  by  the  people ;  least  of  all  in  New 
York. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  frequent  journeys  of  men  from 
Bethlehem  to  the  Indian  villages  in  that  Province  were  regarded  with 
keen  suspicion ;  for  the  representations  of  those  clerical  guardians 
of  religion  and  protectors  of  the  state  who  had  brought  about  Boeh- 
ler's  expulsion  from  New  York  in  January,  1743,  had  thoroughly  con- 
vinced many  men  in  authority  and  the  people  generally  that  the 
Moravians  were  Papists.  This  meant,  of  course,  under  the  circum- 
stances of  the  time,  that  they  were  partisans  of  the  French,  and  their 
emissaries  among  the  Indians.  Governor  Thomas  had  issued  his 
proclamation  to  the  citizens  of  Pennsylvania  in  June,  announcing 
England's  declaration  of  war  and  calling  upon  them  to  show  loyalty 
and  support  measures  of  defense.  Therefore  in  Pennsylvania  also 
the  connection  of  men  from  Bethlehem  with  the  Indians  began  to  call 
forth  sinister  comment  to  a  greater  extent  than  before,  particularly 
among  the  co-religionists  of  the  New  York  agitators. 

In  that  Province  the  excited  feeling  at  last  broke  out  in  actual  per- 
secution, and  a  series  of  measures  on  the  part  of,  first  the  petty  local 
functionaries,  and  then  the  higher  provincial  authorities,  was  provoked 


1742 1744-  175 

by  the  popular  clamor,  in  which,  as  the  sequel  proved,  the  doom  of  the 
Indian  missions  in  those  parts  was  sealed.  In  the  crusade  against  the 
Moravians,  the  assaults  of  those  who  stood  for  doctrine  and  the  efforts 
of  those  who  feared  for  the  safety  of  the  state  were  supplemented  by 
those  of  unscrupulous  traders  who  preferred  to  see  the  Indians  remain 
sunken  in  ignorance  and  vice,  and  considered  their  business  endang- 
ered by  the  presence  of  the  missionaries.  Successive  mandates  sum- 
moned them  before  magistrates  in  one  and  the  other  village  to  give  an 
account  of  themselves,  but  no  hold  could  rightly  be  found.  A  like 
examination  before  the  Governor  and  Council  took  place  in  New 
York  City  early  in  July,  but  the  result  was  merely  an  order  to  return 
home  and  peaceably  await  further  decisions.  What  awakened  the  most 
suspicion  was  the  unwillingness  of  the  missionaries  to  take  an  oath, 
for  in  New  York  the  authorities  were  not  familiar  with  the  presence 
of  a  quiet  and  respectable  body  of  people  who  took  this  position,  like 
the  Society  of  Friends  in  Pennsylvania.  So  the  agitation  continued 
until  finally,  in  December,  a  sheriff  and  three  justices  went  to  Sheko- 
meko  with  an  order  to  the  missionaries,  in  the  name  of  the  Governor 
and  Council,  to  appear  before  Court  a  few  days  later,  and  officially 
closed  the  mission  chapel.  An  act  against  the  Jesuits  in  1700,  which 
expired  by  limitation  in  1745,  was  conveniently  found  available,  and 
the  outcome  was  that  the  Moravians  were  ordered  out  of  the  Prov- 
ince, under  the  charge  of  being  In  league  with  the  French,  and  were 
forbidden,  under  severe  penalty,  to  further  visit  the  Indians.  Many 
right-minded  men  were  filled  with  indignation  at  this  outrage,  but,  in 
the  main,  it  met  popular  approval. 

The  General  Assembly  of  New  York  had,  on  September  13,  1744, 
passed  a  new  act  to  cover  the  case,  which  received  the  endorsement 
of  Governor  Clinton  on  September  21.  It  was  entitled,  "An  Act  for 
securing  his  Majesty's  Government  of  New  York."  When  the  ques- 
tion was  discussed,  what  to  call  it,  one  member  who  did  not  favor  it 
proposed  that  it  be  called  "the  persecuting  act."  It  provided  for 
restrictions  and  permits  that  would  bar  out  the  Moravian  mission- 
aries, and  then,  among  other  things,  enacted  that  "every  vagrant 
preacher,  Moravian  or  disguised  Papist,  that  shall  preach  without 
taking  such  oaths  or  obtaining  such  Hcense.  as  aforesaid,  shall  forfeit 
the  sum  of  £40,  with  six  months  imprisonment  without  bail  or  main- 
prize,  and  for  the  second  offense  shall  be  obliged  to  leave  the  colony ; 
and  if  they  do  not  leave  this  colony  or  shall  return,  they  shall  suffer 
such  punishment  as  shall  be  inflicted  by  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  not  extending  to  life  or  limb."     Furthermore,  it  was  enacted 


1/6  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

that  "every  vagrant  preacher,  Moravian,  disguised  Papist  or  any 
other  person  presuming  to  reside  among  and  teach  the  Indians  under 
the  pretense  of  bringing  them  over  to  the  Christian  Faith,  *  *  * 
without  such  license  as  aforesaid,  shall  be  taken  up  and  treated  as  a 
person  taking  upon  him  to  seduce  the  Indians  from  his  Majesty's 
interest,  and  shall  suffer  such  punishment  as  shall  be  inflicted  by  the 
Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  not  extendmg  to  life  or  limb."  For- 
tunate was  it  that  Bethlehem  was  in  Pennsylvania  and  not  in  New 
York,  and  that  the  men  in  Pennsylvania  of  like  views  could  not  get 
control  of  the  government.  It  is  surprising,  too,  that  in  the  space 
of  such  a  few  years  after  that,  the  government  and  leading  men  in 
New  York  were  offering  inducements  to  the  Brethren  at  Bethlehem 
to  send  people  to  settle  in  that  Province.  In  the  meantime,  however, 
the  following  year,  Moravian  missionaries  did  actually  suffer,  not  only 
fine,  but  imprisonment,  and  their  work  among  the  Indians  in  New 
York  was  ruined. 

If  it  be  doubted  by  any  that  the  animosity  engendered  specifically 
against  the  Moravian  Brethren  and  issuing  primarily  from  the  men 
who  inveighed  against  them  from  the  pulpits  in  sympathy  with  the 
Amsterdam  manifesto  produced  this  measure,  the  following  final 
clause  of  the  act  makes  this  clear:  "Provided  always,  and  be  it 
enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  nothing  in  this  act  contained 
shall  be  construed  to  oblige  the  ministers  of  the  Dutch  and  French 
Protestant  Reformed  Churches,  the  Presbyterian  ministers,  minis- 
ters of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland,  the  Lutherans,  the  Congregational 
ministers,  the  Quakers  and  the  Anabaptists  to  obtain  certifi- 
cates for  their  several  places  of  public  worship  already  erected  or 
that  shall  be  hereafter  erected  within  this  colony,  anything  in  this  act 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding." 

Spangenberg  reached  New  York,  October  25,  1744,  on  the  James, 
which  had  taken  Zinzendorf  and  his  party  to  Europe.  The  announce- 
ment of  his  arrival  was  received  at  Bethlehem,  October  30.  George 
Neisser  and  Christian  FroehHch  returned  with  him  and  reached  Beth- 
lehem, November  6.  With  him  came  also  Abraham  Reincke  and 
wife  and  Andrew  Horn  and  wife  to  reinforce  the  ministry.  They  got 
to  Bethlehem,  November  9.  Captain  Nicholas  Garrison  also  returned 
to  New  York  with  him.  Spangenberg,  upon  learning  the  state  of 
affairs  with  the  Indian  mission  in  the  colony  of  New  York,  started 
with  Captain  Garrison  at  once  for  Shekomeko,  where  he  arrived  on 
November  6.  He  did  what  he  could  to  comfort  and  encourage  the 
converts,  but  all  his  efforts  to  stay  the  tide  that  had  set  in  were 


1742 1744-  1/7 

unavailing.  The  civil  authorities  were  deaf  to  all  entreaties  and 
expostulations.  It  was  clear  that  in  the  face  of  such  bigotry  and 
intolerance,  nothing  was  left  but  to  face  all  dangers  and  put  the  fooHsh 
and  outrageous  menace  to  the  utmost  test,  in  following  the  higher 
duty.  This  w^as  unhesitatingly  done  early  in  the  following  year  by 
men  who  went  to  the  region  again  to  take  all  risks  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  and  for  the  sake  of  souls.  Thus,  on  February  23,  1745,  the 
Missionary  Post,  and  the  most  promising  student  under  Pvrlaeus, 
young  Zeisberger,  who  went  to  the  Mohawk  Valley  to  perfect  him- 
self in  the  Mohawk  language,  were  actually  committed  to  prison  in 
the  city  of  New  York  and  were  not  released  until  April  10. 

Spangenberg  reached  Bethlehem  November  30.  There  was  great 
rejoicing  at  his  arrival.  He  had  been  married,  March  5,  1740,  to  the 
young  widow  Eva  Mary  Immig,m.  n.  Ziegelbauer,  who  became  a  most 
zealous  and  efficient  help-meet  in  the  responsible  and  onerous  labors 
now  before  him.  On  July  26,  1744,  shortly  before  he  left  German}-, 
he  wa^  consecrated  a  bishop.  He  came  to  Pennsylvania  as  General 
Superintendent  of  all  the  work  in  America,  including  everything  that 
lay  in  the  broad  scheme  of  the  Pennsylvania  S3mod,  with  its  Mora- 
vian, Lutheran  and  Reformed  departments — "Tropes."  As  a  kind 
of  ecclesiastical  plenipotentiary,  with  all  this  in  view,  he  bore  the 
ponderous  title  of  "Vicarius  Gencralis  Episcophrum  ct  per  Amcri- 
cam  in  Presbytcrio  Vicarius,"  with  power  to  personally  appoint  a 
successor  in  an  emergency.  The  first  part  of  this  title — Vicar  General 
of  the  Bishops — had,  as  its  basis,  the  idea  conceived  by  Zinzendorf,  as 
stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  of  the  representation  and  combination 
of  the  three  "religions,"  as  tropes,  in  the  episcopacy ;  as  its  purpose, 
the  consecration,  by  authority,  of  bishops,  when  necessary,  from 
among  men  associated  with  any  or  all  of  the  three.  The  second  part 
of  the  title — Vicar  of  the  Eldership  for  America — had  reference  to 
that  idealizing  of  the  eldership,  distinct  from  the  episcopacy,  then 
in  vogue ;  a  kind  of  purely  spiritual  headship,  from  that  of  single  con- 
gregations, and  their  several  divisions  called  choirs,  up  to  that  of 
the  whole.  For  a  few  years  prior  to  1741  there  had  been  such  a  Gen- 
eral Elder  of  the  whole.  Then  the  conception  of  the  supreme  invis- 
ible headship  of  Christ  was  laid  hold  of  and  applied  to  that  ideal  func- 
tion. The  general  eldership  was  aboHshed  as  an  office,  and  Christ  the 
Head  of  the  Church  was  spoken  of  as  Chief  or  Supreme  Elder.  Accord- 
ing to  the  view  propagated  by  Zinzendorf,  this  conception,  as  applied 
to  actual  organization  and  office,  was  not  regarded  as.  at  this  time 
and  under  existing  conditions,  established  in  America.  Therefore 
Spangenberg  was  entrusted  with  such  a  general  eldership  here. 
13 


CHAPTER     VII. 


The  Economy  During  Spangenberg's  First  Term. 
1745— 1748. 

When  Spangenberg  returned  to  Pennsylvania,  at  the  close  of  1744, 
to  reside  at  Bethlehem  and  assume  the  superintendency,  he  proceeded 
on  the  broad  lines  of  a  comprehensive  scheme  that  had  been  worked 
out  before  he  left  Europe.  It  was  spoken  of  at  the  time  briefly  as 
his  "general  plan."  It  is  outlined  in  sixteen  items.  These  are  in 
substance  the  following:  i.  An  itinerant  congregation  and  a  local 
church  settlement — Pilgergenieine,  Ortsgcmcinc — are  to  be  established 
and  small  congregations  are  to  be  formed  wherever  needful  and  pos- 
sible. 2.  The  itinerants  are  to  have  their  rendezvous  ordinarily  at 
Bethlehem,  but  are  to  move  about  "as  a  cloud  before  the  wind  of 
the  Lord  to  fructify  all  places."  3.  There  shall  be  a  central  house- 
hold— Hausgemeinc — at  Bethlehem  to  have  charge  of  the  general 
establishment,  support  the  itineracy  and  abide  at  the  place  when  the 
pilgrims  are  in  the  field.  4.  A  house  for  the  single  women  and  one 
for  the  single  men,  and  the  organization  of  the  older  boys  and  girls 
into  choir  divisions  are  to  be  had  in  view.  5  The  centralizing  of 
large  numbers  of  single  persons,  remaining  single,  in  such  establish- 
ments is  not  advisable  in  America  where  there  is  less  difficulty  con- 
nected with  instituting  married  relations  than  in  the  European  settle- 
ments, and  married  people  are  more  serviceable.  6.  Six  farms  are 
to  be  opened  on  the  Nazareth  land,  on  which  groups  of  people  are  to 
be  located  and  organized  as  a  "Patriarchal  Economy."  (The  idea 
was  to  thus  develop  the  resources  of  the  domain,  as  the  chief  supply 
for  the  support  of  everything  carried  on  by  the  central  administra- 
tion at  Bethlehem,  under  a  kind  of  broad  family  plan.  The  building 
of  a  central  manor  house,  as  the  seat  of  a  paternal  oversight,  some- 
what in  keeping  with  the  associations  of  the  Barony  under  its  nomi- 
nal privileges,  was  had  in  mind.)  7.  "The  large  house" — the  White- 
field  house  at  Nazareth — is  then  to  become  an  institution  for  child- 

178 


AUGUSTUS   GOTTLIEB   SPANGENBERG 


1745. 1748-  i8i 

ciples  suggested  by  the  word  Economy,  must  be  taken  as  the 
prominent  thought.  \Miat  there  was  unique  in  the  system  lay  in 
certain  details  of  organization  and  management,  and  these  rested 
not  on  any  general  ideas  experimented  with  for  their  own  sake,  but 
on  purely  practical  grounds.  Spangenberg  and  the  men  with  him 
who  elaborated  the  system,  were  no  mere  doctrinaires,  seeking  to 
apply  and  test  some  kind  of  academic  theories  of  religious,  social 
or  industrial  life,  but  were  sober-minded  men  of  afifairs,  with  all  their 
exalted  religious  ideals  and  fervid  enthusiasm.  The  details  of  the 
system  and  the  various  features  of  the  organization  usually  had 
practical  reasons  back  of  them,  and  in  the  combination  of  great 
practical  wisdom  with  intense  piety,  holding  questions  the  most 
matter-of-fact  in  close  connection  with  the  finest  ideas  of  spiritual 
devotion  and  social  sentiment,  the  genius  of  the  man  in  control  and 
the  force  of  his  personality  appear. 

It  has  been  the  custom  of  some  writers  to  apply  the  word  com- 
munistic to  the  system.  This  is  a  misleading  term,  on  account  of 
some  ideas  popularly  associated  with  it.  The  arrangement  was  not 
communistic  in  any  sense  beyond  that  in  which  a  number  of  persons 
who  agree,  for  a  definite  or  indefinite  period,  to  give  their  time  and 
labor  to  an  institution  or  common  cause,  are  furnished  subsistence 
from  that  source.  No  personal  liberty  was  surrendered,  even  to  the 
extent  to  which  a  man  under  a  written  contract  is  bound  for  the 
stipulated  time.  No  papers,  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  were 
signed  by  any,  thus  brought  to  Pennsylvania  without  expense  to 
them,  and  taken  care  of  in  every  particular  while  connected  with 
the  organization.  "Any  dissatisfied  person  is  at  liberty  to  leave  at 
any  time,"  was  the  plain  declaration,  "for  there  is  no  wall  around 
Bethlehem."  The  corresponding  right  to  expel  persons  for  cause 
was,  of  course,  claimed,  and  the  reasonable  demand  that,  so  long 
as  one  remained  a  member  of  the  Economy  he  must  conform  to  all 
regulations,  was  insisted  on.  There  was  never  the  slighest  inter- 
ference with  private  property  rights,  although  many  who  were 
possessed  of  means  voluntarily  contributed  to  the  cause,  or  loaned 
money  without  interest,  or  gave  the  Church  the  benefit  of  their  estates 
on  condition  that  they  be  cared  for. 

Without  attempting  to  describe  the  minutiae  of  the  intricate 
organization,  or  to  reproduce  the  designations  given  the  numerous 
administrative  and  deliberative  bodies,  or  the  various  special  func- 
tionaries, a  few  salient  features  may  be  noted.     Besides  the  small 


1 82  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

board  which  stood  with  Bishop  Spangenberg  at  the  head  of  a  general 
administration,  there  was  a  larger  body  representing  different  depart- 
ments, that  met  in  stated  conference.  It  planned  minor  organization 
in  the  several  departments  and  the  execution  of  plans  was  committed 
to  the  respective  heads,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  highest  cen- 
tral board.  When,  with  the  expansion  of  the  work,  a  general  super- 
intendent of  agriculture,  building  operations  and  other  externals 
became  necessary,  Henry  Antes  had  so  fully  identified  himself  with 
the  interests  of  the  Economy  that  he  was  willing  to  assume  this  ofBce, 
and  removed  to  Bethlehem  with  his  family  in  June,  1745,  to  take 
charge.  Then  everybody  and  everything  in  connection  with  those 
activities  became  subject  to  his  ultimate  supervision. 

A  number  of  special  boards  and  stated  or  occasional  conferences 
were  gradually  instituted  in  connection  with  minor  divisions  of  the 
several  departments.  There  were,  besides  those  that  had  to  do  with 
more  strictly  spiritual  matters,  and  with  educational  concerns,  a 
building  committee,  committees  on  domestic  supplies,  food,  clothing 
and  the  like ;  a  committee  associated  with  the  physician  in  charge  of 
the  medical  department,  sanitary  arrangements  and  the  dispensary, 
and  a  corps  of  secretaries.  Conferences  were  held  on  matters  of  the 
farms,  dairies  and  stock-yards,  on  the  different  classes  of  manu- 
facturing industries,  as  these  increased,  and  on  commercial  affairs. 

There  was  also  a  police  committee — the  Richtcr  Collegium  referred 
to  in  the  previous  chapter — which  maintained  law  and  order.  Under 
the  management  of  Spangenberg's  wife,  who  revealed  a  high  order 
of  administrative  ability,  and,  although  of  frail  constitution,  devoted 
herself  to  the  tasks  that  came  to  her  with  untiring  zeal,  all  the  classes 
of  female  industry  were  in  like  manner  thoroughly  organized.  Much 
of  her  time  was  given  to  meetings,  not  only  of  mothers,  nurses  and 
teachers,  but  also  of  the  spinners,  weavers,  knitters,  seamstresses, 
dairy-women,  laundresses,  and  other  classes.  There  was  a  general 
steward  of  the  Economy,  who  had  the  oversight  of  all  purchased 
supplies,  for  the  sustenance  of  the  colony,  and  of  all  that  went  to  the 
culinary  department  from  field  and  orchard,  abattoir  and  dairy.  With 
the  relation  of  their  respective  fimctions  nicely  arranged,  there  stood 
with  this  important  official,  a  general  accountant,  after  it  appeared 
that  the  duties  of  the  steward  were  too  onerous  for  him  to  also  do  all 
the  book-keeping.  During  the  years  of  which  this  chapter  treats, 
Jasper  Payne  filled  the  position  of  steward  most  of  the  time.  The 
first  general  accountant,  as  a  separate  official,  was  Christian  Fred- 


1745 1748.  i83 

erick  Oerter.  John  Brownfield  also  performed  both  duties  for 
a  time.  The  strict  and  systematic  manner  in  which  accounts 
were  kept  is  revealed  by  the  mass  of  account  books  preserved 
in  the  Bethlehem  archives.  There  remains  also  in  manuscript  a 
complete  exposition  of  the  entire  system  of  accounts,  worked  out 
gradually  and  finally  perfected  by  Oerter,  which  shows  what  exact 
business  methods  were  appHed  throughout,  down  to  the  minutest 
details.  Careful  accounts,  according  to  a  prescribed  method,  had 
to  be  kept  in  every  department,  by  every  particular  industry,  farm 
and  line  of  service.  Statedly  all  of  these  had  to  be  turned  in  to  the 
general  accountant  who  examined  them,  along  with  all  orders  and 
receipts,  hundreds  of  which  yet  remain,  and  posted  up  everything  in 
his  general  books.  Those  books  reveal  how  it  was  possible  to  watch 
every  detail  of  that  elaborate  Economy  and  keep  control  of  the  situa- 
tion on  every  side  continually  in  order  to  prevent  serious  loss  through 
mismanagement,  carelessness  or  possible  unfaithfulness  in  any  quar- 
ter; to  enable  those  in  responsible  control  of  all  to  so  direct,  that 
business  attention  was  centered,  as  occasion  demanded,  on  those 
points  where  it  was  most  needed  in  order  that  nothing  might  be 
undertaken  that  would  dangerously  drain  resources  and  that  no  sud- 
den crisis  might  bring  financial  disaster. 

Not  the  least  interesting  evidence  of  Bishop  Spangenberg's 
intelligent  elTorts  to  keep  all  classes  of  the  people  imbued  with  the 
religious  spirit  to  be  put  into  everything,  however  material  or  menial, 
to  preserve  sympathetic  touch,  foster  a  cheerful  esprit  dc  corps  and 
awaken  enthusiasm  for  new  and  difficult  undertakings,  from  time  to 
time,  is  to  be  found  in  the  way  in  which  the  numerous  gatherings  of 
all  classes  of  workers,  on  all  kinds  of  occasions  and  for  all  kinds  of 
purposes  were  managed.  They  usually  combined  a  devotional,  social 
and  business  character.  With  them  were  commonly  associated  a 
meal,  more  or  less  substantial,  for  all  assembled.  These  were, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  time,  always  spoken  of  as  lovefeasts. 
Some,  in  reading  the  records  of  those  days,  have  been  disposed  to 
make  merry  over  the  many  lovefeasts,  having  in  mind  what  is  now 
known  by  that  name.  These  occasions,  utilized  as  they  were,  served 
an  important  purpose,  in  connection  with  many  special  objects,  and 
in  the  matter  of  maintaining  the  general  morale  of  the  Economy. 
They  were  appreciated,  too,  especially  by  men  and  women  employed 
at  hard  manual  labor,  with  the  very  plain  fare  and  almost  Spartan- 
Hke  regime  that  had  to  be  habitually  the  order ;  for  besides  the  relaxa- 
tion they  afforded,  the  special,  social  meal  was  a  welcome  thing. 


184  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHKM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

From  one  point  of  view,  those  many  lovefeasts  were  what  would 
now  be  regarded  as  a  wise  stroke  of  business  pohcy,  while,  in 
connection  with  the  end  of  the  sowing  or  the  harvest,  with  the  sheep- 
shearing  or  the  completed  spinning  of  the  season,  with  the  finishing 
of  a  heavy  task  in  clearing  land  or  erecting  buildings  they  helped 
to  invest  the  laborious  life  with  an  idyllic  charm.  Where  a  spirit  was 
maintained  that  prompted  men  to  sing  hymns  or  discourse  melody 
on  instruments  of  music  when  they  went  to  the  harvest  field  and 
when  they  returned  from  it  after  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day ; 
when  they  set  out  for  the  site  of  a  barn  or  a  mill  that  was  to  be 
erected  on  some  distant  part  of  the  domain ;  when  they  proceeded 
with  pick  and  shovel  to  where  the  cellar  of  a  new  building  was  to 
be  excavated ;  or  when  they  set  out  with  axes,  cross-cut  saws,  and 
equipment  for  a  week's  camping  in  the  forest,  to  fell  timber  and 
float  it  down  the  Lehigh,  cheerful  and  rapid  work  was  done. 

It  would, however, be  far  beyond  the  truth  to  represent  every  man  in 
that  Economy,  especially  after  the  lapse  of  some  years  when  the  num- 
ber of  people  had  greatly  increased  and  the  novelty  of  the  situation 
had  departed,  as  a  Christian  hero,  ever  ready  to  do  and  dare,  and 
performing  everything  with  cheerful  self-denial  as  to  the  Lord.  There 
were  many  weak  ones  to  be  borne  with,  many  unsteady  ones  to  be 
admonished ;  there  were  discontented  and  ungrateful  ones  and 
peevish  whiners  from  the  beginning;  and  now  and  then  cases  of  gross 
misdemeanor  and  flagrant  unfaithfulness  occurred.  Yet  they  were 
heroic  days  and,  in  the  main,  the  people  nobly  lived  up  to  the  thought 
given  them  by  Bishop  Spangenberg,  when  he  adopted  the  motto  which 
Dr.  Paul  Anton  had  before  applied  to  the  establishments  of  Halle :  In 
commune  oramns,  In  commune  laboramiis,  in  commune  patimur,  In  com- 
mune gaudcamus. 

The  responsibility  assumed  by  Spangenberg  and  the  range  and 
variety  of  matters  to  which  he  had  to  give  personal  attention  made 
his  position  extremely  difficult,  especially  at  the  beginning  when 
everything  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  had  to  be  newly  organized, 
careful  inspection  had  to  be  given  to  the  work  at  many  other  places, 
and  the  cloud  that  hung  over  the  Indian  missions  in  New  York 
weighed  heavily  upon  him.  His  devoted  wife  came  near  breaking 
down  under  the  strain  of  her  arduous  duties  during  the  first  year. 
On  one  occasion,  while  her  husband  was  absent  in  the  Indian  country, 
her  tasks  were  so  overwhelming  that,  when  speaking  to  the  ollficials 
about  some  matters  in  which  she  could  no  longer  go  on  without 


JOHN    CHRISTOPHER    PYRLAEUS 

NATHANAEL    SEIDEL 
JOHN    CHRISTOPHER    FREDERICK   CAMMERHOF 


GEORGE    NEISSER 


JOHN    NITSCHMANN 


1745 '748.  i87 

These  items  make  up  the  whole  indictment  against  Zinzendorf  in 
connection  with  the  craze  that  broke  out  at  Herrnhaag,  where,  as 
in  many  a  headlong  tendency,  followers  ran  away  with  what  leaders 
would  have  kept  within  restrictions.  The  Wetterau  had  been  a  con- 
gregating-place  of  religious  enthusiasts  and  erratics,  and  a  hot-bed 
of  every  sort  of  extravagance  before  the  Brethren  settled  there. 
Therefore,  not  only  over-fervid,  genuinely  good  people,  but  crack- 
brained  adventurers  and  even  imposters  gravitated  towards  Herrn- 
haag, where  far  less  restraint  was  applied  to  admission  than  at 
Herrnhut. 

For  a  season  Zinzendorf's  discerning  eye  was  withdrawn  from  this 
rapid  and  promiscuous  influx.  Much  was  left  to  the  control  of  per- 
sons lacking  wisdom,  some  of  them  very  young  and  inexperienced. 
Among  these  was  his  own  son,  Christian  Renatus,  whose  mind  and 
temperament  had  all  the  ardor  without  the  virility  characteristic  of 
his  father,  and  whose  intense  adoration  of  the  suffering  Saviour  was 
expressed  in  his  well-known  lines:  "One  passion  only  do  I  have;  "Tis 
He  and  none  but  He."  This,  as  propagated  there,  ran  into  mawkish 
sentimentality  and  puerile  language.  A  mania  for  coining  extravagant 
phrases  broke  out,  each  rhymster  trying  to  outdo  the  other  in 
grotesque  jargon ;  and,  even  in  ordinary  conversation,  a  style  of 
expression  came  into  use  that  degenerated  into  inane  drivel.  A  rage 
for  the  spectacular  was  fostered  in  connection  with  all  kinds  of 
festivities.  Pictorial  representations  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ  in 
their  various  features  were  produced,  so  outre  that  at  times  they 
became  almost  sacrilegious  caricatures.  Transparencies  and  illumin- 
ations of  every  description  abounded.  The  daily  life  of  the  place 
became  a  constant  round  of  partly  social  and  partly  religious  celebra- 
tions, with  a  fanatical  idealizing  of  the  congregation,  as  a  whole,  and 
of  its  several  divisions,  as  organized,  especially  its  various  officials, 
under  the  exaggerated  conceit  of  being  the  special,  selected  favorites 
of  Jesus.  This  relation  to  Him  was  paraded,  now  under  the  fancy 
of  being  spiritual  children  playing  about  the  cross,  and  anon  under 
the  imagery  of  the  Canticles.  In  the  midst  of  this  luxuriating,  which 
involved  expense,  a  heedless  improvidence  was  indulged  in  for  a 
season  that  brought  after  it  a  day  of  reckoning.  Many  sensible  men 
in  the  Church  eschewed  and  deplored  these  follies  and  i)rotested 
against  them,  but  in  vain. 

For  a  while  Zinzendorf  paid  no  proper  attention  to  the  intimations 
thev  ventured  to  give  him  of  these  excesses,  which   in   their  uKirc 


Io8  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA 

extreme  features  were  hidden  from  him ;  but  at  last  his  eyes  were 
opened  to  the  peril  and  promptly  he  turned  upon  the  perpetrators 
with  a  force  and  severity  that  soon  restored  sanity.  His  indignation 
was  mingled  with  humble  self-reproach,  for  he  discerned  wherein  he 
had  unwittingly  opened  the  way  to  it  all.  Various  traces  of  this 
fanaticism  lingered  long,  but  vigorous  efforts  put  a  stop  to  the  ten- 
dencies that  were  perilous,  some  of  the  more  culpable  were  weeded 
out  of  the  membership,  and  the  Church  was  saved.  External  tribula- 
tions followed  which  also  had  a  sobering  elTect. 

The  assailants  of  Zinzendorf  and  his  work  now  had  so  much  mate- 
rial to  use  for  defamatory  writing  that  on  their  side,  in  turn,  the 
denunciation  of  the  Count  and  his  brethren  became  a  kind  of  craze. 
That  the  wildest  stories  of  gross  religious  aberrations  and  even  of 
social  disorders  grew  out  of  what  had  prevailed  at  Herrnhaag  and 
elsewhere  in  the  Wetterau,  is  not  to  be  wondered  at ;  especially  as 
one  after  another  knave  who  had  gone  there  and  lived  awhile  for  sin- 
ister purposes,  or  had  been  detected  there  as  a  black  sheep  and 
expelled,  circulated  the  most  outrageous  slanders  which  found 
credence  easily  because  they  came  from  professed  eye-witnesses. 

Yet  more  serious  was  the  blow  that  came  when,  upon  the  accession 
of  a  new,  young  prince  to  the  rule  of  the  httle  domain  in  which  Herrn- 
haag lay,  a  series  of  machinations  by  the  attorney  of  that  prince,  a  bit- 
ter enemy  of  Zinzendorf,  brought  on  the  ruin  of  the  flourishing  settle- 
ment, because  new  terms  and  conditions  were  imposed,  under  which 
the  Brethren  would  not  remain.  A  succession  of  voluntary  emigra- 
tions from  the  place  began  in  1750  and,  within  three  years,  Herrnhaag 
was  left  empty  and  desolate.  Many  of  its  people  came  to  Penn- 
sylvania as  will  appear  in  the  further  narrative.  In  the  train  of  these 
disasters  came  the  most  formidable  financial  crisis  in  the  history  of 
the  Church.  There  will  be  occasion  to  refer  to  this  again.  Thus  out 
of  the  "time  of  sifting"  came  trial,  purging  and  refining.  The  results 
of  the  ordeal  proved  the  difiference  between  the  Brethren's  Church, 
in  its  essential  character,  and  the  various  extravagant  sects  with 
which  its  enemies  classed  it.  "The  rain  descended,  and  the  floods 
came,  and  the  winds  blew  and  beat  upon  that  house  and  it  fell  not; 
for  it  was  founded  upon  a  rock."^ 


3  This  unfortunate  episode  is  thus  sketched  in  some  detail  because  frequent  allusions  to  it, 
or  extended  accounts  are  met  with  in  the  works  of  ecclesiastical  historians  which  convey 
incorrect  impressions.  Some  fail  to  treat  the  matter  understandingly,  some  represent  the 
extravagance  of  those  years  as  the  prevailing  condition  of  the  entire  Zinzendorfian  era,  which 


1745 1748-  i89 

When  Spangenberg  discovered  that  his  talented  and  enthusiastic 
young  coadjutor  was  so  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  extravagant 
spirit  of  the  Wetterau  and  was  introducing  its  language  and  manner 
at  Bethlehem,  he  was  at  first  surprised  at  the  extent  to  which  the 
mania  had  developed  since  he  left  Europe,  and  then  alarmed,  knowing 
what  this  new  freak  would  entail  upon  the  settlement  and  its  work 
which,  with  all  soberness  and  circumspection,  had  to  proceed  against 
a  strong  tide  of  prejudice  and  hostility  in  many  quarters.  When  he, 
furthermore,  made  the  discovery  that  Cammerhoff  had,  before  he 
left  Europe,  even  been  instructed  on  some  points  at  variance  with 
his  ideas  and  policies — for  at  this  time  Zinzendorf  was  yet  blind  to 
the  injurious  follies  of  the  tendency  he  was  fostering — grief  was  added 
to  alarm.  But  Spangenberg  was  too  noble  and  loyal  in  heart  to  let 
this  dampen  his  zeal  or  weaken  his  sense  of  duty,  and  too  strong  a 
man  to  be  over-ridden  or  to  let  the  work  sufifer  vital  harm. 

He  depended  somewhat  upon  Boehler,  now  again  in  Europe,  to 
properly  represent  the  practical  situation  and  needs.  Boehler,  after 
relinquishing  gradually  his  various  ad  interim  duties,  had  left  Beth- 
lehem, February  i6,  1745,  and,  with  Anton  Seiflfert,  Henry  Aimers 
and  wife,  Paul  Daniel  BryzeHus  and  wife  and  Captain  Garrison,  had 
sailed  from  New  York,  April  8,  on  the  Queen  of  Hungary,  which  before 
reaching  England  was  captured  by  a  French  privateer,  early  in  May, 
causing  the  passengers  considerable  delay  and  danger  before  they 
arrived  in  Europe.  Boehler's  knowledge  of  the  circumstances  and 
requirements  at  Bethlehem  was  of  much  service  in  counsel  at  that 
time  over  against  the  view  Zinzendorf  was  then  disposed  to  take  of 
things. 

Meanwhile  material  developments  proceeded  under  the  co-operative 
union  that  had  been  organized,  at  a  rate  that  is  surprising  when 
surveyed  in  all  particulars.  In  this  hne  of  operations  the  services  of 
Henry  Antes,  after  June,  1745,  when,  as  stated,  he  removed  to  Beth- 
lehem, were  of  immense  value.  What  was  achieved  in  the  erection  of 
buildings  and  the  opening  of  farms  and  industries  during  the  three 
years,  1745-1748,  can  be  best  appreciated  if  these  enterprises,  great 
and  small,  are  grouped  together  for  mention.  During  the  first  months 


is  greatly  at  variance  with  the  truth,  and  some  even  use  the  exaggerated  accounts  of  nialigners 
of  that  time  as  sources,  and  reproduce  fictions.  In  the  nature  of  things,  historians  who  are 
fair-minded  and  possessed  of  a  proper  critical  sense,  will  take  the  stories  of  the  kind  of  "eye- 
witnesses" referred  to  in  the  text  with  much  suspicion  because  of  their  manifest  intention 
to  do  the  Brethren  harm,  out  of  revenge. 


oe  ir4>  of^emnftjiis  nr&ier  dbe  acw  piaii  wene  catii^BeEKed  oa  rfne 
XiT-i  -1    jEnrary  arst  io^  bocEse  vas  erected  wfeere 

lie  "31    rnac    re::  \::e   aaone    Gma&tmAi^ — iiacetiare — 

•wos-    ojamr«Bced:    tas?    lirg:    spec    ie>    be    ciearetf    tfeffe    EiaTnig- 

-XsoaEeft  ~     r->.n'ULiitiM     S^       r-    TrryT"    ^jie    infirik if    t^->i' 

.     ::3i&er   ^  ir   year-    dee    fers:    iirmrrrg:   iBerascfiaofid   « 

sol    nrktrruetf.    ccnples^    ni   ptrrsaaHce    o€   t&e   pba   q£    Amre-s  was 

ar2?sr  ^lOTise-   oLmwrnnmoed  t&e  mkMfe^ 

>;_-":-  ^  -:    5ir   cjcrnieceii  as   to  be  haihitjtA^ 

Tie  er«ccSj!i  cc  bTTrtfrrgs  ure  trie  exress'jTL  at  die  cLeared  traci:  was 

-■  -  :•£  wr±:  jii  dre  Xazaredt  ^ — r  niesr  dre  "^"Irrceieid  aottse. 

irre  j:5>   -T-Ps"-  -^  nr«Jtre  irscmct:  cerrrrx-  arg? "i i/jirLOg  w^ 

eiSecGRL  wtci  T-jtxn  Geor^  Ofeneder^  2S  Elctsr  and  ilarrfrew-  Scfrrofip 

as  War^ffOL    T&e  a*&&5i?ir  ■  jt  .  ■  -    ~  ~^ 

was bsaas: gianned. besDies 2.  i:         ;      •  .     :  .  "  :r 

*s>  be  Tarrrei  GmaSaAxk — ^3r3ce5fII — cir  dee-  ^boe  -  :  -  ■       :  -e  ±Le  large 

'tr  caHe^z  ^  u    "-        ~    '    5r?se.       ■  '  j    re 

■  t  3!ijrtft-e2sc  I     •  ~Te'—  ^nc .  .  —    ' :    ? :    ■  c — 

■was  JSsl  bx  irrntL  as  w^  as  t&e  estagiBggrrrenr  at  a  cetter  c>c  a^riniL- 

taxi-  2zi«i.  "^g-ir ■;  -rn MTSj  •  'J    'ai^r^T  a  ttFT  x3j£  jcd^"  'T'lni'T'  acnuHTts  nsssr" 

GaasieniftaZ^  ac  *IiaL  "was  ~^t'°T  iujWTi.  is  _-:i5r?ctrr  3'TWBt.  zrcr  ott 

Aasrnst  4^  irt|K^  was  •saScall;^-  asmed  CHristams  Brvtn — Qrr^tfan:"? 

f "  ~  ■  J —  .  -.     -    -     -  ^Jnzjsidorf"?  sctr — wier^  a  cju-trr  cc  srrgije  aier 

: :.:  - :     :  ■        - ^-^  -  :  i-:.  Eferenfjer  17.  z~jg,.  AH  ac  ~Te=e  prefects  weire 

«i^3^nia:  ::iie  an- ernncytt  •  jt  Antes  .-rmf  i^jose  it  comis^  wtrrt  afnL  wofie 

-:  -  :as  ictrnj   i^ceraciajs^  ansSer  in?  ;jsrenl  snnentsctL  vers-  nx 

:  -    ~e^s^  iz  Sedtleaen-  wfeece  Farrer  yrrsrnnarm.  jec  irale  znt 

■3xfr2?et3r>  was  nuittscrtoaaf^"  ^a&nrrrBff-  wt&  a    iiiiiilTtsr  re 

~       '  ■  -  --  "     -  ,      '"'■-"  ^'i  ar  BerTferrrgn  - 

5i5^  :r£  dre  !_£:_ 
!aner  rsc^red  -5e  Tarrre  iizi-  -'  rir  Xrme-  or  sntrptV  iar 

dte  Crcwtt  Imr.*  ccmTrrerrce'::  -^   _ ---rrrcer    :~.ul.   "vrrnr-f-f  xr  i^-Ezr 

Tamrs  if  3jiinnin  rainier  as  mr-^i^ats:::  ant  -vas  ^moaaiv  aniniei.  jt  nimejiijii  -ttxIl  :ae 
j^  TPKS'iin^  -icsise  xtuu  ^uul  i  stwtt  utthtst  m  "Ge  sec  if  tiie  •"^■-f "  raii'vji'  "ia^=ei- 
jj—-  santm  n  S«Hiir  iemenat  'Vbsn.  rosei  ssr  x  oumic  iuuseoi  r-rx*.  x  h-ttrth^  3U2»sv  -jis 
3HTI1  muse  if  ai:a:  me  n  :ne  -amuas  *  XiTtnynm  a<iiif=^ '  m.  ie  snidr  atie  at  -wtncrL  x  sdoh. 
j:  ^r*;.  xennnisafci  n  ^-ifT      ^*Jine  i£  js  mmes  THraaset  tt  ±s±  'jbs  Z    1  Tst«^   ^i_i- 

mmsai:  jmr  ant  if  ~tTt»  juuses  suit  jv  titit  ant  •'se;  — imifinvr  -ii»^t-  >»<;?»"  ■*> in  Seramt 

5tr>=£.  >niiir  3«sinieaiaa,  Tie  Sicar^  tr  A.  LZrmsM  Jm.  -waSx.  ss  ^nu'iiinnwrr  wht  j^stBr- 
jcnnca.  ncrmnng in:  ~.^gg^  xzr^  mcAlsa.  ^ :6e  jbb  ?ra£  W.  C  3<s£3e.  was  ^musBsd. 

at  I^irX  ^irtii  J  X  iir*'  TnrmrT-  tw-  ii  u— «»g^  ji  ;fie;  ,^1  ■  ^kjimr  if  'amiTorrrg  snt  TTftt»-  -gimrc 
-tfr  ■"lltMl-iim-n^     ■miitli'->»  ^  x  'tS, '    TlmTit^    uiinm   iji    2K  "tti*    nt-a    iTtiT  'Tl»»^mI^^TTtnmr    TT—lil  ■» 

■jf  ^rnict  X  jrtn=. 


ANNA  MACK 


ELIZABETH  BOEHLER 


ANNA  ROSINA  ANDERS 
MARY  ELIZABETH  SPANGENBERG 


ANNA  JOHANNA  SEIDEL 


ANNA  NITSCHMANN 


ANNA  MARIA  LAWATSCH 


1745 1748.  193 

on  the  oldest  map  of  the  locality,  and  a  depression  in  the  grounds 
reveals  where  the  inside  channel  of  the  stream  then  was.  A  rustic 
foot-bridge  was  constructed  across  it  to  the  island,  and  there  many 
interesting  social  meetings,  official  conferences  and  important  inter- 
views with  Indians  took  place.  Its  name,  "the  Island  of  the 
Wounds,"  meant  that  it  was  dedicated  to  the  remembrance  of  the 
wounds  of  Jesus,  as  then  dwelt  upon  in  certain  special  liturgies  and 
hymns.  Closely  connected  with  the  building  of  Friedenshuetten,  the 
Indian  adjunct  to  Bethlehem,  is  to  be  mentioned  the  founding  of  the 
important  settlement  for  these  fugitive  converts,  up  the  Lehigh,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Mahoning  Creek,  which  received  the  name  Gnadcn- 
huettcn — Habitations  of  Grace.  Their  residence  at  Bethlehem  was 
only  regarded  as  a  temporary  arrangement.  The  first  plan  was  to 
settle  them  in  the  Wyoming  Valley,  but  they  objected  for  fear  of 
trouble  with  the  savages  of  that  region.  They  agreed  to  the  pro- 
posed location  just  beyond  the  Blue  Mountains.  A  beginning  was 
made  with  the  new  settlement  in  May,  1746,  and  on  June  13,  after 
a  love-feast  on  the  ''Wunden  Eiland,"  the  first  detachment  of  fifteen 
set  out  for  the  place ;  some  in  canoes  and  some  afoot.  Martin  Mack 
settled  there  as  the  first  man  in  charge  of  the  station,  with  various 
assistants  from  time  to  time.  Other  bands  followed  at  intervals, 
until,  at  the  close  of  the  year,  nearly  all  who  had  tarried  at  Bethle- 
hem had  transferred  their  abode  to  the  new  place. 

They  left  a  number  of  their  companions  behind,  to  be  laid  to  rest 
in  the  cemetery  of  Bethlehem.  An  epidemic  of  small-pox  broke  out 
during  the  summer  and  carried  ofif  many,  among  the  rest,  that  most 
noble  triumph  of  the  power  of  the  Gospel  and  most  valuable  Indian 
assistant  to  the  missionaries,  John  Wasamapah  ("Tschoop").  It 
was  a  trying  time,  for  the  contagion  spread  from  the  cabins  of  these 
poor  Indians  to  the  dwelHngs  of  their  friends  and  protectors,  not 
only  at  Bethlehem,  but  even  at  Nazareth ;  and  many,  both  of  adults 
and  children,  were  attacked,  several  being  taken  off  by  it.  This  dis- 
arranged plans  and  delayed  undertakings  at  Gnadenhuetten  some- 
what, but  when  this  circumstance  is  considered,  the  rapidity  with 
which  buildings  were  there  erected  and  affairs  were  gotten  into  shape 
is  astonishing.  The  locaHty  was  well-chosen  and  the  settlement  soon 
developed  into  a  most  flourishing  and  interesting  one,  much  to  the 
annoyance  of  certain  white  neighbors  to  the  west  and  north  of  Beth- 
lehem, who  could  not  be  reconciled  to  anything  the  Moravians  did 
and,  in  their  prejudice  and  excited  fear,  insisted  on  believing  it  all 

14 


194  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM.    PENNSYLVANIA. 

to  be  only  another  move  in  the  interests  of  the  French,  to  the 
jeopardy  of  the  Province.  This  unjust  and  absurd  suspicion  was 
intensified  when,  in  the  following  year  (1747),  a  beginning  was  made 
farther  up  at  the  important  Indian  town  of  Shamokin.  That  point 
was  selected  as,  not  only  a  populous  place  and  a  stronghold  of 
heathenish  superstition  and  wickedness,  but,  on  account  of  its  loca- 
tion and  connections,  a  strategic  point  for  a  missionary  center.  A 
smithery  and  trading-station  were  there  established  because  these 
enterprises,  so  important  to  the  Indians,  secured  their  consent  to 
have  missionaries  locate  there.  Those  vigilant  detectives  who,  the 
previous  winter,  when  lumbermen  from  Bethlehem  built  a  cabin  in 
the  forest  for  shelter  while  felling  timber,  circulated  the  story  that 
the  Moravians  were  constructing  forts  up  in  the  Mountains  for  the 
French  and  Indians,  preparatory  to  an  attack  on  the  English  settle- 
ments, now  asserted  that  at  Shamokin  they  had  established  an  arsenal 
to  equip  the  savages  for  the  pending  conflict ;  and  that  quantities  of 
French  powder  and  lead,  stored  at  Bethlehem,  were  being  quietly 
conveyed  to  that  stronghold. 

This  enlargement  of  operations  in  the  Indian  country  would  have 
been  quite  beyond  the  ability  of  the  co-operative  union  at  Bethlehem 
and  Nazareth,  with  its  other  burdens,  if  substantial  aid  had  not  been 
given  by  numerous  friends  at  other  places,  through  an  organization 
that  Bishop  Spangenberg  had  founded  for  this  purpose,  and  that  was 
now  in  its  most  flourishing  state.  This  was  "the  Society  for  the 
Furtherance  of  the  Gospel,"  which  had  its  beginning,  August  19, 
1745,  at  a  session  of  the  Pennsylvania  Synod  held  at  Bethlehem.  Its 
organization,  modeled  after  that  of  a  society  with  the  same  name, 
alluded  to  in  a  previous  chapter,  which  Spangenberg  had  founded 
in  England  in  1741,  was  completed,  November  28,  1745,  in  the  last 
session  of  another  Synod  held  at  Lancaster.  That  was  a  gath- 
ering notable,  not  only  for  its  size  and  representative  char- 
acter, but  also  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  there  the  wild  agitation 
against  the  Moravians  culminated  in  a  riotous  attack  upon  Spangen- 
berg when  he  undertook,  at  the  suggestion  of  Justice  Edward 
Smouth,  to  preach  to  the  crowd  from  the  court-house  steps.  This 
was  the  climax  of  what  had  been  started  in  Philadelphia  in  1742, 
and  although  the  parsons  who  had  brought  on  that  first  outbreak  of 
mob  violence  continued  their  denunciations,  those  elements  of  the 
populace  were  not  moved  to  any  further  open  demonstrations,  and 
a   reaction   began   to   set   in   after  this  climax.    The  Society,  which 


1/45 1748.  195 

originally  consisted  of  thirty  members,  increased,  in  four  years,  to 
more  than  four  times  that  number,  representing  about  thirty  locaU- 
ties.  About  one-third  of  the  members  in  1748  were  people  not  regu- 
larly connected  with  the  Moravian  Church.  Inside  of  ten  years  it 
collected  and  disbursed  more  than  £1900  in  Pennsylvania  currency, 
besides  numerous  gifts  of  wares  of  various  kinds  and  books  sent 
from  Europe.^ 

Building  operations  at  Bethlehem  and  on  the  Nazareth  land  had 
now  become  so  extensive  that  increased  facilities  for  the  preparation 
of  material  were  necessary,  and  two  saw-mills  were  added  to  that  at 
Bethlehem.  The  first  was  that  at  Gnadenhuetten,  at  which  work  was 
commenced.  May  17,  1747.  Under  the  wise  planning  of  Henry  Antes, 
a  grist-mill  was  combined  with  it,  so  that  only  one  structure  and 
one  water-wheel  were  required  for  both.  In  spite  of  a  delay  with 
the  iron  furnished  by  the  Union  Furnace  at  Durham,  the  mill  was 
sawing  lumber  to  float  down  the  Lehigh,  and,  with  stones  quarried 
by  Schaus  at  North  Wales,  was  grinding  grain  to  make  bread  for 
the  Indian  congregation  and  the  missionary  household  at  the  place, 
before  the  close  of  July.  Then  Antes,  having  arranged  for  Schaus 
to  run  the  mill  for  a  season  and  instruct  a  new  miller,  returned  to 
Bethlehem  and  immediately  began  preparations  for  the  erection  of 
another  such  little  saw  and  grist-mill  combined.  This  was  up  the 
Monocacy  at  Albrechtsbrunn,  later  called  Christiansbrunn,  as  already 
stated,  near  the  new  Gnadenthal  plantation.  The  stones  for  this  mill 
were  also  gotten  from  North  Wales  by  Schaus.  While  the  carpenters 
were  at  work  on  this  mill,  the  second  week  in  August,  1747,  an 
incident  occurred  which  required  them  to  turn  from  their  task,  to 
make  a  coffin,  and  which  brought  the  history  of  the  Indian  village 
Welagomeka  on  the  Barony  of  Nazareth  to  a  pathetic  end.  When 
Captain  John  received  permission  from  the  Government,  in  1742,  to 
remain,  Uke  Tatemy,  in  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware  as  a  land-owner 

6  That  Society  for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel,  organized  in  174S,  is  the  earliest  mission- 
ary society  in  America  of  which  any  record  has  been  produced.  After  1764,  when  the 
introduction  of  new  methods  of  collecting  money  for  missionary  work  followed  other  causes 
of  decline,  such  as  the  death  of  its  first  leaders  at  various  places,  the  gradual  withdrawal  of 
outside  support,  with  the  more  definite  organization  of  strictly  denominational  work  and  the 
gradual  disappearance  of  Indians  from  Eastern  Pennsylvania,  it  sank  into  decadence.  It 
had  a  nominal  existence,  however,  until  1771,  when  the  organization  of  its  successor  on  a 
different  basis  was  under  consideration.  After  recovery  from  the  disturbance  of  work,  inci- 
dent to  the  Revolution,  this  new  organization  arose  in  1787  —  the  present  "Society  of  the 
United  Brethren  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  Heathen." 


196  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

and  professed  Christian,  he  built  a  cabin  at  the  "deep  hole"  up  the 
Bushkill — then  called  Leheitan  and  Lefevre's  Creek — where  he 
passed  his  remaining  days,  occasionally  bringing  game  and  furs  to 
Bethlehem  for  sale.  August  9  of  the  year  1747,  he  sent  to  Bethlehem 
for  medicine,  being  very  ill.  He  died  a  few  days  later,  requesting 
that  his  body  be  buried,  with  Christian  rites,  on  the  little  Indian 
grave-yard  of  Welagameka,  which  the  residents  of  the  place  had 
enclosed  with  a  fence  and  kept  in  repair  as  a  lesson  to  the  Indians. 
Reposing  in  the  coffin  made  at  Gnadenthal,  Captain  John  was  there 
laid  to  rest.  This  was  doubtless  the  last  interment  in  that  burial- 
ground  near  the  Whitefield  house,  all  traces  of  which — as  in  the  case 
of  the  grave-yard  south  of  the  Lehigh  at  Bethlehem — were  obliterated 
by  the  plow-shares  of  matter-of-fact  Moravian  farmers  of  the  middle 
period,  when  the  sentiment  of  former  times  had  been  lost  and  the 
historical  interest  of  modern  times  was  not  yet  cultivated.  Some 
Indians,  moreover,  helped  at  the  work  about  Gnadenthal  at  that 
time,  among  them,  Gottlieb,  the  first  of  the  Delawares  baptized 
by  the  Brethren,  who,  with  some  others,  was  permitted  to  tempor- 
arily sojourn  there.  The  little  Christiansbrunn  mill  was  started — both 
saw  and  stones — on  November  24,  1747.  Its  useful  existence  came 
to  an  untimely  end  on  December  6,  1749,  when  it  burned  to  the 
ground  while  the  miller  was  away  to  his  dinner  at  Gnadenthal.  It 
was  rebuilt  and  started  again,  April  17,  1750,  as  a  saw-mill,  and 
many  more  thousand  feet  of  building  material  were  turned  out  of 
it ;  but  the  grinding  of  grist  was  not  there  resumed,  for  soon  after- 
wards a  much  larger  mill  was  built  on  the  Bushkill  to  which  reference 
will  again  be  made. 

The  mill  at  Gnadenhuetten  did  uninterrupted,  excellent  service 
until  the  melancholy  autumn  of  1755  which  brought  ghastly  ruin 
to  the  place  and  martyrdom  to  the  men  and  women  stationed  there. 
During  the  year  after  it  was  started,  it  produced  many  rafts  of  timber 
and  boards  that  were  floated  down  the  Lehigh  to  Bethlehem  for  the 
next  important  building  to  be  erected,  more  pretentious,  and  in  the 
sequel,  more  historic  than  those  just  before  it.  This  was  the  struc- 
ture which,  with  its  extension  of  1762,  constitutes  the  antique  central 
portion  of  the  present  Seminary  for  Young  Ladies,  now  known  in 
the  institution  as  Colonial  Hall,  and  marked  with  a  bronze  tablet 
that  records  a  national  distinction,  in  its  use  twice  during  the  Revo- 
lutionary War,  as  a  general  hospital  by  the  Continental  Army.  It 
was  built  as  the  second  "choir-house"  of  the  single  men,  who  needed 


1745 1748.  •  197 

more  room,  in  view  of  large  accessions  expected  from  Europe  in  the 
course  of  the  following  few  years,  not  only  for  dwelling,  dormitory 
and  chapel,  but  also  for  plying  the  various  handicrafts  associated 
with  their  establishment.  In  pursuance  of  the  fourth  item  of  Spang- 
enberg's  ''general  plan"  of  1744,  as  given  at  the  opening  of  this 
chapter,  it  was  concluded  in  1746,  to  take  this  step,  and  then  put 
their  former  house  at  the  disposal  of  the  single  women,  to  get  both 
choirs  properly  domiciled  and  organized." 

The  discussion  of  drafted  plans  for  the  new  building  began  in  the 
autumn  of  1747,  first  in  the  central  executive  board  and  then  with 
the  single  men  themselves,  for  it  was  important  to  arouse  that  kind 
of  interest  among  them  which  they  would  take  if  permitted  to 
participate  in  these   consultations.     One  such  conference  between 

7  At  this  point  a  note  on  this  system,  already  alluded  to  several  times,  may  be  inserted  for 
the  information  of  readers  who  are  not  acquainted  with  it.  A  division  of  the  membership 
on  the  basis  of  differing  age,  sex  and  station  in  life,  for  the  purpose  of  specializing  religious 
culture,  had  been  gradually  developed.  The  word  chor  was  applied  in  German  to  each 
such  division,  and  this  was  then  rendered  into  English  by  the  word  choir.  The  origin  is  to  be 
traced  to  the  covenant  of  special  devotion  and  service  by  eighteen  young  women  and  girls 
May  4,  1730,  (Chapter  III,  note  15).  A  code  of  choir-principles  was  eventually  established  ; 
a  system  of  organization  and  leadership  for  each  choir  was  elaborated ;  regular  choir-meet- 
ings, choir-liturgies  and  anniversary  choir-festivals  were  introduced.  Partly  from  practical 
necessity  and  partly  in  pursuance  of  the  institutional  conception  applied  at  the  time  to  all 
social  and  religious  life,  the  establishment  of  choir-houses  for  the  several  divisions  became 
a  leading  feature  of  every  regular  settlement.  It  is  not  surprising  that  something  of  a 
monastic  character  should  become  erroneously  associated  in  the  popular  mind,  with  these 
houses.  But  such  was  never  the  case.  No  bonds  or  vows  of  any  kind  ever  obligated  any 
occupant,  although  a  very  careful  discipline  and  punctilious  order  prevailed.  Such  a  term 
as  "  Moravian  nuns  "  is  simply  nonsense,  and  even  the  word  "  sisterhood  "  never  had  any 
meaning  in  the  Moravian  Church,  except  in  so  far  as  it  could  be  applied  to  all  women, 
married,  single  or  widowed  who  were  members,  for  all  were  called  "  sisters,"  as  all  the 
men  were  called  "  brethren."  It  is  true  that  ZinzendorPs  disposition  to  follow  out  every 
idea  to  the  uttermost,  when  he  started  with  it,  and  to  experimentally  apply  it  to  the  extreme 
of  particularity,  led  to  much  that  was  over-wrought  in  this  system,  and  produced  an  artificial 
and,  in  some  features,  unnatural  ecclesiastico-social  structure,  in  place  of  normal  family 
relations  and  home-life;  yet,  for  many  years,  the  choir-houses  served  an  excellent  purpose. 
Then  decadence,  especially  in  the  case  of  those  of  the  men,  began  in  the  American  settle- 
ments of  the  Church  before  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  gradually,  in  the  course 
of  the  next  half-century,  they  all  became  obsolete,  although,  in  most  cases,  the  old  names 
remained  connected  with  the  buildings.  In  Europe  a  few  are  yet  maintained  in  a  modified 
character.  The  choir-divisions  of  the  membership,  with  the  observance  of  the  annual 
choir- festivals,  are  yet  retained  in  some  of  the  old  congregations  in  America.  The  choir- 
houses  of  the  single  men  and  the  single  women  will,  for  the  sake  of  brevity,  be  usually 
mentioned  in  these  pages,  after  this,  by  the  common  name,  "  Brethren's  House,"  and 
"  Sisters'  House." 


198  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

them  and  Bishop  Spangenberg,  early  in  November,  lasted  until  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  On  November  7,  the  building-site  was  selected, 
"where  a  new  road  was  to  be  opened  to  the  river" — the  present  Alain 
Street,  from  Church  Street  south — and  the  proposed  building  was  to 
be  "the  corner  house  next  to  the  Monocacy."'  Now  offers  of  contri- 
butions for  the  purpose  came,  to  encourage  the  young  men  in  the 
undertaking.  Sister  Spangenberg  headed  the  list  with  £100.  Other 
early  contributors  were  Sister  Cammerhoff,  Antes,  Dr.  Meyer,  Martin 
Mack,  John  Bonn,  formerly  of  Skippack,  John  Hopson,  later  promin- 
ent at  Lancaster,  giving  sums  ranging  from  iioo  to  £25.  Bonn  also 
offered  to  give  the  shingles.  Thus  they  were  inspired  to  begin  their 
efforts,  while,  at  the  same  time,  they  were  impressed  with  the  necessity 
of  doing  as  much  of  the  work  themselves  as  possible,  because  of 
the  high  wages  that  had  to  be  paid  mechanics  at  that  time,  and  the 
general  expensiveness  of  building  operations  in  Pennsylvania.  On 
December  19,  the  fourth  of  successive  plans  for  the  building  was 
discussed  with  them  and  adopted.  January  10,  1748,  the  site  was 
staked  off,  fifty  by  eighty-three  feet.  The  single  men  gathered  and 
marched  in  procession  to  the  spot  after  working-hours  in  the  evening, 
accompanied  by  music,  and,  after  a  prayer  and  the  singing  of  a  hymn, 
they  commenced  to  excavate  the  cellar.  This  task  was  continued 
on  successive  evenings  by  moonlight.  During  the  following  weeks 
the  timber  was  cut  in  the  neighborhood  of  Gnadenhuetten,  and  in 
the  spring  was  sawed  at  that  place.  The  first  raft  came  down  the 
river  at  the  end  of  March.  Others  followed  at  intervals,  until,  on 
July  17,  twenty  small  rafts  reached  Bethlehem,  containing  the  last 
of  it.  "Now  there  is  enough,"  writes  the  diarist.  In  Frederick 
Township  other  men  had  been  busy  with  frow  and  mallet,  shaving- 
horse  and  drawing-knife,  converting  the  straight-grained  blocks  into 
the  kind  of  shingles  that  endured,  to  make  up  John  Bonn's  donation, 
and  on  July  10,  the  last  lot  of  sixteen  hundred  came  to  Bethlehem. 
At  the  same  time,  others  were  busy  at  the  Bethlehem  stone-quarry ; 
for  more  stone  were  needed  for  this  than  any  previous  build- 
ing. The  corner-stone  was  laid  at  the  north-west  corner  of  the 
foundation  on  April  7,  with  elaborate  services.  A  document  was 
deposited  in  it  containing  a  lengthy  inscription,  the  names  of  all 
the  officials  of  the  Economy  and  a  complete  Hst  of  the  Single 
Brethren.  April  23,  four  masons  hired  elsewhere,  joined  a  few 
days  later  by  four  Bethlehem  masons,  began  to  lay  up  the  walls. 
The  last  week  in  May,  two  fine  stones  from  the  bed  of  Potsdam 


1745 1748.  199 

sand-stone,  in  the  bluff  across  the  river,  were  secured,  to  be  squared 
for  Hntels  over  the  main  door-ways,  front  and  rear.  They  were 
placed  in  position,  June  24,  ornamented  with  inscriptions  which  be- 
trayed the  influence  of  Cammerhoff.  That  on  the  north  side  read: 
Vater,  Mutter,  Licbcr  Mann — Haht  Ehr  vom  Jilngling's  Plan.  The  stone 
on  the  south  side  contained  the  words,  Gloria  Pleura,^  and  had  a  sun- 
dial in  the  center,  while  above  this  was  a  star,  and  beneath  it  the 
figures  1748. 

The  framework  of  the  roof  having  been  raised  on  August  i,  a  love- 
feast  was  held  the  next  day  on  the  floor  of  the  house,  to  which 
"all  who  could  come,  both  old  and  young,  were  invited,  for  all  had 
helped  in  some  way."  A  harvest  festival  was  combined  with  it,  the 
people  being  ranged  in  semi-circular  rows,  with  the  little  children 
in  the  center.  On  November  14,  the  building  was  so  nearly  com- 
pleted that  it  could  be  occupied.  That  day,  after  partaking  of  the 
Communion  in  their  former  house,  the  single  men  marched  in 
procession  with  music,  to  the  new  building  and  took  formal  pos- 
session of  it.  The  next  day  they  transferred  the  furniture  and, 
November  16,  the  edifice  was  regularly  dedicated  with  impressive 
ceremonies.  That  night  seventy-two  young  men,  after  the  con- 
clusion of  these  services  with  an  evening  hymn  in  the  large 
dormitory,  lay  down  to  rest  the  first  time  in  those  commodious 
quarters.  The  previous  day  the  single  women  and  girls — twenty- 
one  of  the  former  and  twenty-nine  of  the  latter — who  had  come 
down  in  a  body  on  the  13th,  from  Nazareth,  where  they  had  been 
domiciled  since  June  i,  1745,  took  possession  of  the  former  house 
of  the  single  men,  and  on  that  day,  November  15,  1748,  it  became 
the  Sisters'  House''. 

8  These  enigmatical  phrases  have  been  quoted  incorrectly,  and  without  elucidation,  by 
several  writers  describing  this  building.  The  first  is  simply  an  ascription  of  praise  to  the 
Holy  Trinity,  in  the  thought  and  language  of  the  Herrnhaag  extravagance,  which  has  been 
explained.  It  means  the  Father,  the  Holy  Spirit,  "the  Comforter"  as  a  mother,  and  the 
Son,  the  "supreme  man."  Jimgling's  Flan — young  men's  plan  — meant  the  organized  body 
of  young  men,  with  their  whole  system  and  round  of  activity.  The  word  Plait,  as  used  in 
German,  was  a  favorite  term  of  Zinzendorf,  and  was  variously  applied  to  a  scheme,  system, 
sphere  or  field  of  labor,  or  even  an  organization.  The  other  inscription,  Gloria  Pleura^  a 
phrase  much  in  vogue  at  that  period,  was  in  adoration  of  the  vicarious  sufferings  of  Christ, 
as  most  specifically  contemplated  in  His  pierced  side,  when  they  reveled,  willi  exaggerated 
imagery,  in  the  thought  more  soberly  expressed  in  the  lines :  "  Rock  of  ages  cleft  for  me. 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  Thee,  Let  the  water  and  the  blood,  From  Thy  riven  side  which 
flowed,"  etc. 

9  One  book  on  the  history  of  Bethlehem,  much  read  and  quoted,  contains  the  absurd  state- 
ment that  half  of  the  new  house  was  intended  for  the  young  women. 


200  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

At  this  time,  the  number  of  single  men  at  Bethlehem  had  already 
increased  by  fifteen.  On  June  25,  the  Rev.  Bernhard  Adam  Grube, 
who  subsequently  filled  a  conspicuous  place  among  the  missionaries 
to  the  Indians,  in  connection  with  the  founding  of  the  first  Moravian 
settlement  in  North  Carolina  and  in  the  ministry  of  the  Church 
generally ;  an  alumnus  of  the  University  of  Jena  and  a  man  of 
eminent  gifts,  arrived  at  Bethlehem  with  fourteen  other  young 
men^°.  They  had  landed  at  New  York,  with  five  others  brought 
from  Europe  by  Captain  Garrison  to  make  up  part  of  the  crew  of 
the  new  church-ship,  then  being  fitted  out  at  New  York  for  her 
first  voyage. 

The  building  of  this  vessel  deserves  more  than  a  brief  notice, 
because  her  fourteen  voyages,  from  1748  to  1757.  have  such  an 
important  relation  to  people  and  things  at  Bethlehem.  In  1744,  not 
long  after  the  loss  of  the  Little  Strength,  it  was  decided  to  have  such 
a  ship  built  and  put  in  command  of  Captain  Garrison,  to  transport 
colonists  to  Pennsylvania.  The  contract  was  given  to  a  ship-builder 
of  Staten  Island,  John  Van  Deventer,  whose  yard  was  near  the 
present  Port  Richmond  and  whose  family  name  is  kept  in  remem- 
brance in  Van  Deventer's  Point.  It  was  evidently  commenced  early 
in  1745,  for  on  February  7,  Captain  Garrison  reported  "good 
progress." 

On  account  of  changeable  instructions  from  Zinzendorf  and  delay 
in  the  receipt  of  money  from  abroad,  the  work  proceeded  very  slowly 
during  the  next  two  years.  In  January,  1747,  it  was  decided  to 
procure  the  rigging,  cables  and  anchors  from  England,  on  account  of 
the  high  price  of  such  materials  in  New  York.  It  was  the  intention 
to  have  the  figure  of  a  lamb  beak  the  prow,  but  in  the  following  April 
it  is  recorded  that  the  carver  "could  not  make  a  lamb  in  shape  to 
suit  the  purpose,"  and  thereupon  it  was  decided  to  have  a  lion  as 
figure-head.  Thomas  Noble,  of  New  York,  who  had  acted  as 
financial  agent  of  the  enterprise,  had  died  in   1746,  and  Timothy 

JO  The  others  who  arrived  at  Bethlehem  with  Grube  were  : 

John  George  Bitterlich,  Christian  Pfeiffer, 

Andrew  Broksch,  Gottfried  Roemelt, 

John  George  Geitner,  Jeremiah  Schaaf, 

Joseph  Hobsch,  Christian  Schmidt, 

Gottfried  HofiI'mann,  Paul  Schneider, 

Matthew  Kunz,  John  Seiffert, 

Paul  Paulsen,  Samuel  Wuetke. 


1745 1748-  201 

Horsfield,  of  Long-  Island — later  of  Bethlehem — now  had  charge. 
Beyond  caulking  the  vessel,  no  progress  was  made  during  the  sum- 
mer of  1747,  but  early  in  1748,  the  work  was  gone  at  vigorously,  with 
a  view  to  getting  her  ready  for  service  as  soon  as  possible.  On 
April  25,  it  was  reported  at  Bethlehem  she  would  be  ready  for 
launching  in  May,  and  that  the  ship-builder  had  kindly  consented  to 
have  the  customary  riotous  demonstrations  of  sailors,  ship-carpenters 
and  others,  dispensed  with  at  the  launch.  This  took  place  on  May  29, 
when  the  vessel  was  "christened"  the  Ireiie.  She  was  towed  to  the 
"old  slip"  on  the  East  River  front  and  docked  there,  May  31,  to 
be  finished,  rigged  and  gotten  ready  for  the  first  voyage,  under 
Captain  Garrison's  personal  supervision.  The  total  cost  was  about 
iiSoo.  The  vessel  was  launched  free  of  debt,  through  the  help  of  a 
gift  by  Bishop  Spangenberg,  of  the  larger  part  of  a  legacy  of  £1082 
which  he  had  received  from  the  estate  of  Thomas  Noble.  The  Irene 
was  of  the  class  called  a  snow;  was  larger  than  the  Catherine  or  the 
Little  Strength  and  was  very  solidly  built.  Her  keel  was  85  feet  and 
her  depth  of  hold  9  feet  9  inches.  Spangenberg  reported  at  Beth- 
lehem that  a  person  could  walk  upright  between  her  decks  and 
that  she  was  "as  strong  as  a  tower."  She  was  registered  at  New 
York  in  July,  in  the  name  of  Henry  Antes,  as  a  naturalized  free- 
holder of  Pennsylvania ;  he  having  executed  a  declaration  of  trust  to 
the  Brethren.  Her  registry  describes  her  as  "plantation-built,"  i.  e., 
at  a  colonial  ship-yard,  and  "of  eighty  tons  burthen,  mounted  with 
two  guns  and  navigated  by  nine  men."  Captain  Garrison  advertised 
her,  in  the  last  week  of  June,  to  sail,  August  i,  "for  Amsterdam 
direct,"  and  took  on  a  general  cargo.  She  was  detained,  however, 
until  the  end  of  August.  She  was  gotten  out  of  the  dock  on  August 
31,  but  on  account  of  adverse  wind,  the  next  three  days  were  con- 
sumed in  the  passage  down  the  bay.  On  September  4,  Bishop 
Cammerhofif  and  Westmann  of  Bethlehem,  with  some  friends  from 
New  York,  joined  with  the  Captain  and  crew  in  a  parting  lovefeast 
on  board,  after  which  they  left  her  and  she  put  out  to  sea  on  her 
maiden  voyage.  There  were  twenty-nine  persons  on  board.  Nicholas 
Garrison,  master;  Christian  Jacobsen  and  John  Christian  Ehrhardt, 
mates ;  Andrew  Schoute,  Jarvis  Roebuck,  William  Okely,  Gottlieb 
Robbins,  Martin  Christiansen,  WilHam  Edmonds,  Thomas  Kemper. 
Jean  and  Jacobus  Van  der  Bilt,  sons  of  Jacobus  Van  der  Bilt  of 
Staten  Island — the  first  a  sailor  and  the  second  cabin  boy — consti- 
tuting the  crew.    With  them  sailed  also  Vitus  Handrup  and  wife  who 


202  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

had  come  over  with  Cammerhoff,  but  now  returned  dissatisfied  to 
Europe.  The  rest  were  passengers  whose  names  do  not  appear. 
They  reached  the  Texel,  November  i.  Then  Captain  Garrison  began 
to  make  preparations  for  the  return  voyage,  on  which  he  was  to 
bring  over  a  larger  colony  than  any  that  had  yet  come  to  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

In  addition  to  these  more  important  operations,  a  variety  of  minor 
improvements,  new  equipments,  and  extensions  of  room  and  facilities 
for  growing  local  needs  are  mentioned  in  the  records  of  those  years. 
Some  of  these  may  be  noted.  Early  in  1747,  an  evidence  of  concern 
for  the  purity  of  Bethlehem's  highly-prized  water  supply,  which  was 
the  first  chief  attraction  of  the  spot  in  1740,  appears.  It  was  thought 
desirable  by  the  village  board  to  better  guard  the  spring,  and,  in 
March,  Matthew  Weiss,  by  their  order,  enclosed  it  with  a  fence  to 
keep  away  domestic  animals  and  barn-yard  fowls ;  and  he  and  Joseph 
Powell  were  appointed  to  clean  it  "in  the  light  of  the  moon ;"  this 
having  been  declared  the  best  time  by  men  who  possessed  "Penn- 
sylvania knowledge,"  like  William  Frey,  a  neighbor  of  Antes  in 
Frederick  Township,  who  had  followed  the  example  of  the  latter  in 
temporarily  placing  his  farm  at  the  disposal  of  the  Brethren  to  help 
support  their  important  school  there  opened,  and  who  was  at  this 
time  living  at  Bethlehem — a  valuable  man  in  the  work  of  developing 
the  extensive  agricultural  industry.  In  May  of  that  year,  a  large 
addition  to  the  grain-storing  quarters  was  built,  and  in  June  a  new 
foot-bridge  took  the  place  of  the  primitive  one  constructed  across 
the  Monocacy  near  the  spring,  in  1741.  The  history  of  "freshets"  at 
Bethlehem  also  began  in  1747.  On  February  28,  the  ferry  was  torn 
from  its  moorings  by  the  raging  waters,  because  Bishop  Spangen- 
berg's  suggestion  to  fasten  it  more  securely  was  not  heeded  by  the 
men  in  charge;  and  it  was  carried  down  to  the  Delaware,  where 
their  friend,  David  Martin  of  Delaware  ferry  fame,  recovered  and 
purchased  it.  It  was  replaced  by  a  new  one  at  Bethlehem  on  June 
8,  a  few  days  after  Mr.  Martin  opened  negotiations  with  the  Beth- 
lehem boat-builders  to  construct  a  new  flat  for  him.  At  the  close  of 
the  year  1747,  when  the  howling  winds  of  winter  were  making  the 
numerous  large  wood  fires  seem  dangerous,  sundry  new  regulations 
and  precautions  were  adopted  in  this  matter,  and  certain  men  were 
selected  and  instructed  as  a  kind  of  "bucket  brigade"  to  be  ready  at 
a  moment's  notice,  according  to  a  system  of  turns  arranged,  to 
come  to  the  rescue,  if,  perchance,  something  else  than  the  logs  on 


1745 1748.  203 

the  hearth  should  begin  to  burn.  This  is  the  earliest  trace  of  steps 
towards  a  fire  department.  Orchards  and  gardens  received  diligent 
attention  at  this  period,  and,  in  planting  fruit  trees,  ornamentation 
as  well  as  utihty  was  had  in  view.  Some  years  later  the  results  at 
the  blossoming  and  the  bearing  season  evoked  much  admiration 
from  visitors. 

In  March,  1747,  the  extensive  garden  of  the  single  men's  estab- 
Hshment  was  laid  out  "back  of  their  house,"  with  the  understanding 
that  a  portion  of  it  should  be  devoted  to  growing  medicinal  herbs 
for  the  laboratory  and  pharmacy ;  it  having  been  agreed  at  a  medical 
conference,  shortly  before,  that  special  attention  should  be  given 
to  studying  the  flora  of  the  region.  Men  were  appointed  to  collect  such 
herbs  as  had  become  known.  The  first  one  entrusted  with  this  duty 
was  Joachim  Sensemann.  The  minutes  of  that  same  conference 
record  that  the  virtues  and  various  uses  of  different  plants  and  shrubs 
were  discussed,  snake  root  and  sassafrass  berries  being  particularly 
mentioned.  The  remark  is  made,  in  the  next  session,  that  Doctor  Otto 
was  over-worked  and  had  not  a  sufficient  supply  of  medicines ;  and 
it  was  decided,  that  when  they  were  in  Bethlehem,  James  Greening, 
who  had  served  his  time  as  an  apothecary's  apprentice  in  England, 
and  Owen  Rice,  who  possessed  considerable  knowledge  of  medicines, 
should  assist  him  in  the  laboratory.  Dr.  Meyer  had  at  this  time 
removed  from  the  neighborhood  to  the  establishment  opened  on  the 
farm  of  Antes.  It  is  mentioned  in  those  minutes  that  a  certain 
balsam  prepared  at  Bethlehem  had  become  so  celebrated  that  an 
imitation  of  it  was  sold  in  New  York,  as  "Doctor  Schmidt's  Balsam." 
It  was  sagely  concluded  that  the  prices  in  the  apothecary  shop  and 
the  charges  for  bleeding  persons  should  not  be  fixed  too  low,  for  this 
suggested  the  bungler  or  the  quack.  It  was  furthermore  decreed 
that  Doctor  Otto  should  also  perform  the  somewhat  unprofessional 
task  of  compiling  a  collection  of  the  most  valuable  household  recipes 
in  use  among  people,  for  general  reference,  and  the  physician  did 
not  seem  to  manifest  any  contempt,  when  certain  salves  and  plasters 
among  "home  remedies"  prepared  by  experienced  Pennsylvania 
women,  that  had  become  known  to  members  of  Bethlehem's  Board 
of  Health,  were  mentioned  as  desirable  items  of  this  repertory.  The 
heavy  mortality  during  the  epidemic  of  small-pox  had  led  to  more 
thorough  measures  to  prevent  disease,  as  well  as  to  better  equipment 
for  treatment. 

While  gardens  were  being  laid  out,  and  the  general  surroundings 
of  the  houses  gotten  into  more  sightly  shape,  the  cemetery  also 


204  A    HISTORY    OF   BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

received  special  attention.  On  August  14,  1748,  the  first  complete 
plan  of  this  sacred  spot,  and  of  its  proposed  extension  and  embellish- 
ment, was  finished,  to  be  sent  to  Europe.  The  record  states  that 
up  to  that  time,  109  interments  had  been  made  in  this  "labora- 
torium"^^ — 64  males  and  45  females,  or  according  to  choirs,  9  married 
men,  10  married  women,  12  single  men,  i  single  woman  and  J"] 
children.  This  included  the  Indians  buried  there.  Those  graves 
of  Indians,  side  by  side  in  the  rows  with  missionaries  and 
teachers,  artisans  and  farmers,  all  marked  and  cared  for  ahke, 
with  no  distinction — a  characteristic  subsequently  perpetuated  in 
that  interesting  place  of  burial — were  not  only  significant  of  the 
spirit  and  principle  fostered  by  the  Brethren,  but,  when  considered 
in  connection  with  the  nationalities  represented  by  the  various  stones 
which  then  already  marked  the  resting  places  of  departed  members, 
added  to  the  striking  evidence  it  furnished  of  the  cosmopolitan 
population  of  the  place.  The  Hke  of  it  could  not  have  been  found 
in  any  other  settlement  in  America,  no  larger  nor  older  than  Beth- 
lehem. 

This  characteristic  of  the  place  was  set  forth  in  a  novel  way, 
already  in  1745,  in  a  fanciful  diversion  that  came  into  vogue,  and 
was  customary  for  a  few  years  at  Bethlehem,  as  well  as  at  centers 
of  the  Church  in  Europe,  particularly  on  special  missionary  occasions. 
This  was  polyglot  singing,  when  companies  were  gathered  in  which 
persons  of  various  nationalities  and  languages,  or  at  least  persons 
acquainted  with  such  languages,  were  present.  One  such  occasion 
was  on  August  21,  1745,  the  thirteenth  anniversary  of  the  departure 
from  Herrnhut  of  Leonard  Dober  and  David  Nitschmann  to  begin 
the  first  missionary  work  of  the  Moravian  Church  among  the  heathen. 
Then  the  same  verses,  as  rendered  in  English,  German,  Swedish, 
Danish,  and  Jewish-German,  were  sung  simultaneously  to  the  same 
tune,  by  persons  whose  native  tongue  belonged  to  this  list.  It  was 
observed  on  that  occasion  that  eighteen  languages  were  spoken 
among  converts  of  Moravian  evangelists  in  different  countries. 
Another  such  object-lesson  in  song  was  given  on  September  4, 
following.     Three  days  before  that,  Pyrlaeus,  master  of  the  school 

"In  this  term,  as  applied  to  the  cemetery,  another  interesting  specimen  of  the  odd  phrase- 
ology introduced  by  Cammerhoff  appears.  Elsewhere  occurs,  for  interment,  the  expression 
"  in  das  Laboratorium  auf  den  Test  bringen  " —  to  put  into  the  cupel  in  the  laboratory  — 
and  "zw^  verzuandelung  des  Fleisches'''' — transmutation  of  the  flesh — in  the  sense  of  I  Cor. 
15  :  44,  "sown  a  natural  body,  raised  a  spiritual  body." 


1/45 1748-  205 

of  Indian  languages  at  Bethlehem — transferred,  August  8,  1747,  to 
Gnadenhuetten,  where  it  was  continued  until  the  destruction  of  that 
mission  in  1755 — had  rendered  the  first  verses  from  the  German 
h3^mnal  into  the  Mohican  language,  to  the  tune,  In  Duke  Jubilo.  At 
that  lovefeast,  on  September  4,  thirteen  languages  figured  in  the 
polyglot  harmony;  academicians,  missionaries  and  residents  of 
Bethlehem  from  various  European  countries ;  men  who  were  masters 
of  three  or  four  languages  and  Indian  converts,  uniting  their  voices 
in  the  strains,  accompanied  by  the  music  of  wind  and  stringed  instru- 
ments. The  languages  were  Bohemian,  Dutch,  English,  French, 
German,  Greek,  Irish,  Latin,  Mohawk,  Mohican,  Swedish,  Welsh, 
Wendish ;  and  it  was  stated  that  three  persons  representing  yet 
other  languages  were  present  who  did  not  contribute  a  stanza ; 
Matthew  Reuz  the  Dane,  Matthew  Hancke  the  Pole  and  Christopher 
Bans  the  Hungarian.  In  connection  with  demonstrations  of  this 
kind,  the  desire  was  increased  to  cultivate  the  musical  talent  of  Beth- 
lehem to  a  higher  degree  of  excellence  and  serviceableness.  There 
is  mention,  occasionally,  of  fine  music  rendered  by  Pyrlaeus ; 
of  cantatas  arranged  by  Oerter  and  verses  composed  and  set  to 
music  by  Neisser,  who  seems  to  have  been  the  most  skillful  in  the 
preparation  of  scores.  At  a  conference  on  this  subject  in  October, 
1747,  it  was  stated  that  Spangenberg,  who  had  organized  the  first 
Collegium  Musicinn  at  Herrnhut,  and  was  much  interested  in  this  sub- 
ject, in  the  midst  of  his  heavy  responsibilities  and  arduous  labors  in 
more  important  matters,  thought  the  prospect,  just  then,  not  encour- 
aging for  bringing  the  orchestra  up  to  a  proper  churchly  ideal.  At 
a  meeting  of  the  Bethlehem  Collegium  Musicum,  on  January  14,  1748, 
it  was  noted  that  the  organization  then  numbered  fourteen,  mostly 
single  men  and  older  boys.  Their  leader,  Pyrlaeus,  being  at  that 
time  stationed  at  Gnadenhuetten,  they  were  drilled  by  John  Eric 
Westmann,  who  devoted  one  hour  each  evening  to  this  task.  On 
that  occasion  a  subscription  hst  was  opened  for  a  fund  to  purchase 
instruments.  Increased  effort  is  apparent  in  cultivating  musical 
talent  among  the  children  at  this  period. 

In  this  connection,  in  order  to  preserve  continuity  in  the  course 
of  events  in  school  work  noted,  the  movements  in  this  department 
since  its  last  mention  may  be  reviewed.  May  28,  1745,  the  girls' 
school  was  transferred  from  Bethlehem  to  the  Whitefield  House 
at  Nazareth.  The  whole  body  of  the  single  women  then  at  Beth- 
lehem followed  on  June  i,  to  live  there  until  a  Sisters'  House 
could  be  provided.     They  remained  until   November   13,    1748.  as 


206  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

already  stated.  At  Nazareth,  some  were  employed  in  the  instruction 
and  care  of  these  girls  and  others  at  various  industries.  On  July  27, 
1746,  George  Whitetield,  now  again  for  a  while,  on  cordial  terms  with 
the  Moravians,  made  his  first  and  only  visit  to  the  spot  which  he  once 
owned  and  intended  to  render  notable  by  charitable  and  educational 
work.  This  household  and  school  of  girls — there  were  twenty-eight 
then,  of  whom  six  were  Indian  girls — afiforded  him  great  pleasure,  as  a 
work  built  on  the  foundation  of  his  attempt,  and  caused  him  to 
exclaim,  "can  there  any  good  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth  ?  come 
and  see."  (John  i  :46.)  June  3-10,  1745,  the  boys  taken  to  Nazareth 
by  Francke  in  July,  1743,  were  transferred  with  some  other  boys 
from  Bethlehem  in  detachments,  down  to  the  farm  of  Henry  Antes  in 
Frederick  Township,  as  the  nucleus  of  the  more  extensive  estab- 
lishment now  opened  there ;  with  Francke  as  superintendent  joined  by 
Dr.  Adolph  Meyer  and  a  corps  of  assistants  in  secular  and  religious 
instruction  and  manual  training,  together  with  farmers  and  a  miller, 
to  operate  the  whole  plant,  as  left  by  Antes  for  the  support  of  the 
institution. 

Meanwhile,  the  youngest  boys  and  girls  of  the  Economy — later 
spoken  of  as  "the  nursery  children" — remained  at  Bethlehem  and 
were  newly  quartered  in  a  room  made  vacant  for  them  in  the  apart- 
ments of  the  married  women.  Besides  these,  only  a  few  boys  learning 
trades,  and  a  few  older  girls  in  domestic  service  were  retained  at 
Bethlehem,  and  special  evening  school  was  kept  for  their  benefit 
when  circumstances  permitted.  In  1745,  moreover,  the  first  steps 
were  taken  towards  the  opening  of  such  institutions^-  at  some 
other  points,  which  require  mention  here,  because  they  all  came  into 


12  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that,  while  the  most  suitable  common  word  school  is  applied 
to  those  early  establishments,  they  were  not  distinctly  schools  in  the  modern  acceptation 
of  the  term.  The  German  word  used  for  them  all,  at  the  time,  was  Anstalt.  Their  para- 
mount purpose  was  close  religious  culture.  In  some  cases  they  could  be  called  boarding- 
schools,  as  that  term  is  now  understood.  They  constituted  separate  special  households  for 
children.  Along  with  the  religious  and  secular  education  imparted  —  the  latter  varying  in 
scope  and  prominence  according  to  circumstances — the  boys  and  girls  living  in  such  house- 
holds were  trained  to  various  useful  occupations,  to  which  a  portion  of  their  time  was  sys- 
tematically devoted.  In  general,  they  had  the  two-fold  object  in  view  of  properly  caring  for 
the  children  of  the  members  who  were  giving  all  their  time  either  to  missionary  service  or 
to  the  work  of  the  co-operative  union,  in  field,  shop  and  mill,  and,  under  existing  arrange- 
ments, could  not  live  together  as  separate  families  and  care  for  their  children  in  their  own 
homes ;  and  of  undertaking  the  education  and  training  of  other  children  entrusted  to  them, 
as  a  department  of  the  home-missionary  activity. 


1745 1748.  207 

connection,  in  the  course  of  many  shiftings,  with  the  eventual  con- 
centration again  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth. 

A  first  official  discussion,  on  September  6,  1745,  followed  by  others, 
and  a  final  one  on  the  "Wunden  Eiland"  with  representatives  from 
the  Maguntsche  neighborhood,  on  August  7,  1746,  led  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  school  there.  A  log  school-house  was  built  and  on 
February  6,  1747,  Christopher  Demuth  opened  the  school  with  forty 
children  who  had  been  enrolled,  to  which  number  some  well-trained 
children  from  Nazareth  were  added  "as  a  salt."  January  13,  1746, 
eight  men  from  Germantown  came  to  Bethlehem  with  a  petition  to 
again  have  a  boarding-school  opened  there.  The  Rev.  John  Bechtel. 
who  through  Mr.  Boehm's  untiring  efforts  had  been  thrust  out  of 
the  charge  he  had  served  gratuitously  for  many  years,  intending  to 
remove  to  Bethlehem — he  came  with  his  wife  and  youngest  daughter 
Susannah  on  September  24,  following — offered  his  Germantown 
house  and  garden  for  the  purpose.  The  project  was  submitted  to 
a  synod  at  Philadelphia  in  April,  when  a  local  committee  of  ten  was 
appointed  to  carry  it  out,  and  the  institution  was  opened,  September 
21,  1746,  as  a  boarding  and  day-school  for  both  sexes,  with  a  corps 
of  competent  and  trust-worthy  men  and  women  in  charge,  and  some 
boys  and  girls  from  Fredericktown  and  Nazareth  as  a  trained 
nucleus.  Jasper  Payne,  the  efficient  steward  of  Bethlehem  for  some 
years,  with  his  wife,  had  charge  of  the  general  management  for  a 
season.  Others  associated  with  it,  during  its  existence  of  less  than 
three  years,  were  John  Christopher  Heyne,  an  able  instructor  who 
served  also  at  the  other  school-stations ;  Greening,  already  mentioned 
several  times ;  Schaub  and  his  wife,  whose  names  figure  prominently 
in  connection  with  the  Crown  Inn  at  Bethlehem  and  the  later  Rose 
Inn  to  the  north  of  Nazareth — they  having  to  do  with  the  manage- 
ment of  the  externals — and  various  single  women.  Bechtel's  daughter 
Susannah,  with  her  husband  John  Levering,  to  whom  she  was  married 
at  Bethlehem  in  1747,  was  also  connected  with  it  for  a  season.  They 
likewise  assisted  at  the  Fredericktown  school  for  a  while.  One  of 
the  most  faithful  and  valuable  Germantown  supporters  of  that  under- 
taking was  the  widow  of  Michael  Leibert,  Barbara  Leibert.  whose 
daughter  was  among  the  school  girls  at  Nazareth. 

Furthermore,  it  was  decided,  July  4,  1746,  to  open  a  school  for 
boys  in  "the  Great  Swamp,"  in  the  house  of  Joseph  Mueller  who  had 
accompanied  Zinzendorf  to  Europe,  where  among  other  things,  he 
was  studying  medicine  with  a  view  to  future  usefulness  in  Pennsyl- 


208  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

vania  in  combined  capacities.  His  premises,  at  this  time,  were  in 
charge  of  Antes.  That  school  was  started,  the  first  week  in  the 
following  November,  "for  boys  who  had  learned  bad  habits  and 
whom  it  was  not  desirable  to  have  with  those  in  the  other  insti- 
tutions." It  was  a  kind  of  reformatory.  Its  maintenance  there  being 
encumbered  with  special  diiftculties,  it  was  transferred,  May  24, 
1747,  to  the  Ysselstein  farm  house,^^  south  of  the  Lehigh  at  Beth- 
lehem ;  an  agreement  for  the  purchase  of  this  property  for  Beth- 
lehem having  been  made,  the  previous  year,  by  Antes  with 
the  second  husband  of  the  widow  Ysselstein,  Abraham 
Boemper.  Therefore,  just  before  the  close  of  the  year  1748, 
the  only  organization  of  children  in  Bethlehem  was  that  of 
the  quite  young  children  already  mentioned.  Such  other  boys 
and  girls  who  were  then  at  the  place,  and  a  few  at  Gnaden- 
thal  and  Nazareth,  were  engaged  in  various  capacities,  constituting 
the  nucleus  of  the  subsequent  choirs  of  older  boys  and  girls  organized 
independently  of  the  boarding-schools.  Now,  however,  the  transfer, 
in  November,  of  the  girls  of  the  Nazareth  institution,  with  the  single 
women,  to  Bethlehem  constituted  the  first  step  in  important  changes 
of  the  entire  school-economy  which  will  be  treated  of  in  the  next 
chapter.  The  children  living  at  Bethlehem  were  also  transferred 
to  new  quarters  in  November,  preparatory  to  these  changes.  One 
of  the  two  log  houses  which  for  many  years  stood  to  the  west  of  the 
Community  House,  on  the  site  of  the  present  Moravian  Church — 
although  the  records  make  hardly  any  mention  of  their  erection — 
was  built,  as  it  seems,  at  this  time ;  and  in  that,  these  young  children, 
and,  temporarily,  the  few  widows  living  at  Bethlehem,  were  appar- 
ently now  quartered.  All  the  other  boys  and  girls  of  the  Economy, 
with  the  other  children  placed  under  the  care  of  the  Brethren,  were 
distributed  in  the  institutions  at  Fredericktown,  Germantown  and 
Maguntsche ;  besides  the  few  troublesome  ones  in  the  Ysselstein 
house  on  the  south  side,  figuring  among  the  population  of  that 
neighborhood  with  which  the  people  of  Bethlehem  stood  in  relations 
of  various  kinds. 


13  That  first  school  in  what  is  now  South  Bethlehem  —  a  school  for  bad  boys  —  is  interest- 
ingly mentioned  by  the  author  of  The  Crown  Inn,  as  in  the  house  of  David  Boehringer, 
whose  name  at  the  time  was  often  mentioned  in  connection  with  it.  That  it  was  the  Yssel- 
stein house  seems  to  have  escaped  the  observation  of  tliat  usually  accurate  writer. 
Boehringer,  and  others  occupied  it  jointly  for  a  season.  The  project  of  establishmg  a 
hattery  in  the  house,  as  mentioned  in  The  Cro^vn  Inn,  was  never  really  consummated. 


1745 1748.  209 

In  references  which  the  records  of  this  period  contain  to  neighbors 
across  the  river,  some  new  names  and  new  movements  appear  which 
have  connection,  in  one  way  or  another,  with  the  gradual  acquisition 
of  property  on  that  side  by  Bethlehem.  The  name  of  Paul  Sieg  is 
met  with  between  May,  1746,  and  the  spring  of  1747,  as  a  tenant  in 
one  of  the  houses  there  owned  by  the  Brethren.  In  June,  1746,  Josi 
Vollert,  already  referred  to  in  connection  with  the  Crown  Inn,  who 
had  first  visited  Bethlehem  in  January,  1745,  became  one  of  the  resi- 
dents of  those  outskirts  of  the  settlement,  occupying  a  house  built  in 
1742  by  Tobias  Weber.  His  two  tracts  of  81  and  114^^  acres,  now 
"the  Hellener  place,"  being  held  by  an  uncertain  title,  were  conveyed 
anew  by  proprietary  patent,  in  March,  1757,  when  the  Moravians 
became  their  purchasers.  Vollert  will  be  met  with  again  at  a  later 
time  at  the  "point  of  the  Forks,"  in  connection  with  an  episode  in 
which  Bethlehem  figured  there,  after  the  town  that  became  the  seat 
of  the  new  county  was  founded.  More  interesting,  because  the  site 
of  their  domicile  within  the  present  precincts  of  Lehigh  University, 
was,  during  the  period  after  they  had  been  forgotten  and  before  they 
had  again  been  brought  to  remembrance,  invested  with  a  kind  of 
mystery,  are  the  occupants  of  "the  old  man's  place,"  Valentine 
Loescher  and  his  wife.  They  were  an  aged  couple  when  they  first 
found  a  place  in  the  local  chronicle,  on  the  occasion  of  a  friendly 
visit  by  Joachim  Sensemann,  who  took  them  a  present  of  eatables 
with  the  good  wishes  of  the  Bethlehem  people,  on  December  6,  1746. 
No  man  has  recorded  whence  or  how  they  reached  that  lonely  cabin 
on  the  mountain-side,  or  by  whom  and  when  it  was  built.  They 
were  poor,  humble,  pious  people.  Their  names  are  associated  with 
the  first  recorded  discussion  of  an  artificial  water-supply  on  the  south 
side,  for  the  tavern  and  the  institution  in  which  boys  who  were  not 
good  were  to  be  placed  in  training.  This  was  on  April  24,  I747» 
when  it  was  suggested  in  a  board-meeting  that  "the  spring  at  old 
Loescher's"  might  be  utilized.  When  visited  by  Bishop  Spangen- 
berg  during  the  summer  of  1748,  the  old  man  was  found  cutting  a 
better  path  from  his  house  down  the  hill,  so  that,  when  he  should 
die,  the  Brethren  could  more  easily  bear  his  remains  to  the  grave. 
But  he  was  not  destined  to  end  his  days  there.  In  175 1  the  tract 
on  which  his  home  stooxl  was  surveyed  by  Nicholas  Scull.  Jr..  the 
Bethlehem  authorities  having  secured  a  proprietary  title  to  it. 
Loescher  was  a  squatter,  but  he  was  left  in  undisputed  possession. 
In  1752,  Henry,  an  Indian,  died  there  of  small-pox,  and  was  buried 

15 


2IO  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

in  the  grave-yard  "near  the  tavern,"  and  shortly  after  that,  an  infant 
of  his  widow  which  also  died  a  few  weeks  later  and  was  buried  at 
the  same  place,  was  baptized  in  the  house  of  the  old  people  by  one 
of  the  Bethlehem  clergy.  On  January  ii,  1756,  when  the  bands  of 
savages  roaming  through  the  woods  in  those  days  of  terror  made 
their  situation  very  dangerous,  they  were  conveyed  away  "to  their 
children  at  Philadelphia,"  and  with  this  their  history  closes.  In  the 
summer  of  1765,  the  logs  of  the  house  were  moved  down  to  the  river 
and  there  laid  up  again  in  a  dwelling  for  the  ferryman.  Another 
temporary  resident  of  the  south  side,  whose  name  does  not  other- 
wise figure  among  the  people  of  Bethlehem,  was  Henry  Guth,  who 
occupied  quarters  on  the  Ysselstein  farm,  after  the  widow  transferred 
her  residence  across  to  Bethlehem  in  1745.  The  burial  is  recorded, 
September  8,  1747,  of  John  Vaas  (Fahs),  "an  old  neighbor  towards 
Maguntsche."  It  is  mentioned  elsewhere  that  he  had  tried  the 
merits  of  the  "healing  waters"  of  the  Chalybeate  springs  up  in  the 
Blue  Mountains  that  had  attracted  the  notice  of  the  Brethren  in 
1746,  when  traveling  to  Gnadenhuetten,  and  were  discussed  by  the 
medical  conference. 

Relations  were  generally  cordial  between  Bethlehem  and  the 
people  south  of  the  Lehigh,  throughout  the  Saucon  Valley.  They 
did  not  seem  to  take  a  sinister  view  of  the  prosperous  advance  made 
by  the  intelligent  and  united  industry  of  the  Moravians,  or  to  become 
much  excited  by  the  bugaboo  of  peril  to  Protestant  government 
through  their  presence  and  activities,  like  some  of  their  neighbors  to 
the  northward,  whose  minds  were  inflamed  by  this  agitation  and 
who  thought  it  their  duty  to  try  to  influence  the  government  against 
them,  as  had  been  done  in  New  York.  It  seemed  impossible  at  that 
time  to  convince  them  otherwise.  This  inimical  attitude,  carried  to 
the  extent  of  studied  annoyance  in  various  matters  which  concerned 
both  parties  in  neighborhood  affairs  by  certain  of  the  people,  led 
the  authorities  at  Bethlehem  to  take  steps  for  better  guarding  their 
interest  in  connection  with  such  affairs,  and  with  public  matters 
generally.  These  interests  were  becoming  sufficiently  important, 
even  in  a  purely  material  sense,  that  they  could  not  be  meekly  left 
unprotected,  to  be  continually  harassed  by  adverse  manoeuvres 
inspired  by  groundless  prejudice.  One  such  step  was  to  escape 
from  the  jurisdiction  of  a  magistracy  appointed  from  among  and 
swayed  by  men  who  cherished  this  disposition ;  strangely  blind  to  the 
benefits  which  the  people  of  the  surrounding  country  and  they  them- 


1745 1748.  211 

selves  would  enjoy  through  what  was  being  done  at  Bethlehem  to 
open  up  and  develop  the  region,  to  increase  its  enlightened  and 
orderly  population,  to  advance  all  kinds  of  pubHc  improvements 
and  try  to  transform  the  savages  on  the  borders  into  civilized  and 
Christian  men.  Accordingly,  in  response  to  representations  from 
Bethlehem,  Henry  Antes,  then  the  most  suitable  and  competent  man, 
was  appointed  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  by  the  Governor  and  Council 
of  Pennsylvania,  December  17  O.  S.,  1745,  to  have  jurisdiction  at 
Bethlehem  and  on  the  Barony  of  Nazareth.  He  was  duly  proclaimed, 
whereof  Secretary  Richard  Peters,  on  June  5,  1746,  brought  notice 
to  him  at  Bethlehem,  with  the  announcement  of  his  right,  in  this 
capacity,  to  attend  the  next  session  of  the  Bucks  County  Court  at 
Newtown.  There,  on  June  22,  he  was  sworn  in  and,  on  June  25, 
received  his  written  commission  "to  keep  the  peace  within  his  juris- 
diction, and  to  keep  and  cause  to  be  kept  all  ordinances  and  statutes 
for  the  good  of  the  peace  and  for  the  preservation  of  the  same,  and 
for  the  quiet  rule  and  government  of  the  people ;  to  chastise  and 
punish  all  persons  that  ofifend  against  the  ordinances  and  statutes,"  etc. 
Just  a  month  later,  a  high-handed  instance  of  the  kind  of  vexation 
from  which  the  Bethlehem  people  sought  to  escape  by  having  a 
magistrate  with  their  domain  as  his  jurisdiction,  independent  of 
others,  occurred  in  an  unwarranted  use  of  civil  ofifice  by  a  neighbor- 
ing justice,  to  worry  them  and  bring  odium  upon  them  before  the 
public,  under  the  pretense  of  zeal  for  law  and  religion.  The  precious 
harvest  of  1746,  on  which  so  much  depended,  was  imperiled  by  con- 
tinual rain  to  such  an  extent  that,  at  the  end  of  July,  the  situation 
was  becoming  desperate.  On  Sunday,  July  31,  the  first  clear,  dry 
day  for  more  than  a  week,  the  men  who  lived  on  the  Nazareth  tract 
determined,  after  the  morning  service,  to  get  in  the  cut  grain,  much 
of  which  was  perishing  in  the  field.  They  concluded  that,  under  the 
circumstances,  this  rescue  of  their  bread  for  the  coming  winter  would 
be  a  justifiable  "work  of  necessity,"  within  the  meaning  of  the  law. 
A  spy  hastened  to  inform  the  constable  of  the  "Irish  Settlement" 
who,  towards  evening,  came  upon  the  scene  with  some  others  and 
demanded  their  names,  with  a  view  to  lodging  complaint  against 
them,  as  "Sabbath  breakers,"  before  the  justice  of  that  settlement. 
The  grain  was  safely  housed  and  they  closed  the  day  with  a  service 
of  thanksgiving  and  a  meal  together  of  bread  and  milk.  On  August 
3,  that  constable,  armed  with  a  warrant  from  the  said  justice,  went 
to  Gnadenthal  to  make  arrests.     Antes,  who  had  to  be  away  from 


2  12  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

home  for  several  days,  had  instructed  them  that  if  this  happened, 
they  should  deny  the  right  of  another  justice  to  thus  invade  his  juris- 
diction, and  submit  to  arrest  only  under  force.  The  arrests  were  not 
then  made.  The  next  day,  while  this  alleged  new  evidence  of  con- 
tempt for  the  law  of  the  land,  and  for  Protestant  sentiment  and  cus- 
tom, and  this  supposed  alien  defiance  of  the  government  on  the  part 
of  the  Moravians  was  being  warmly  discussed  in  the  neighborhood, 
those  same  Moravians  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  were  engaging  in 
the  only  services  of  thanksgiving  held  in  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware  in 
compliance  with  the  proclamation  of  the  Governor,  for  the  victory 
of  the  British  arms  over  the  forces  of  the  Pretender,  whose  secret 
emissaries  they  were  charged  by  those  neighbors  with  being.  On 
August  6,  the  aforesaid  constable  suddenly  appeared  at  Bethlehem, 
with  a  posse  of  thirty  excited  and  boisterous  men,  to  make  the  arrests 
by  force,  in  the  face  of  a  written  notice  from  Justice  Antes  that  the 
whole  affair  lay  in  his  jurisdiction  and  that  the  other  justice  was 
exceeding  his  authority.  Antes  was  at  Bethlehem  and  tried  to  rea- 
son with  them,  but,  seeing  that  this  was  in  vain  and  that  they  were 
bent  upon  creating  a  disturbance  to  the  scandal  of  the  place,  he 
waived  the  point  of  non-jurisdiction,  and  trusting  the  good  sense  and 
fairness  of  the  court,  as  well  as  its  ability  to  discern  the  real  animus 
and  purpose  of  the  whole  procedure,  gave  bond  for  the  appearance 
of  all  named  in  the  warrant.  The  constable,  being  thus  assured,  as 
he  supposed,  of  receiving  his  fees  eventually,  left  with  this.  The 
disagreeable  fiasco  terminated  in  September,  when  the  Nazareth  men 
were  exonerated  without  costs.  Another  matter  that  required  atten- 
tion, in  self-defense,  was  the  injustice  to  which  they  were  subjected 
in  the  assessment  of  taxes;  this  being,  up  to  1747,  controlled  entirely 
by  inimical  persons.  On  February  23,  1747,  when  the  court  had 
examined  the  statement  and  protest  from  Bethlehem  and  recognized 
that  the  Moravians  were  being  unfairly  taxed  in  comparison  to  their 
neighbors,  the  Sherifif  of  Bucks  County  came  to  Bethlehem  to  con- 
sult with  Justice  Antes  about  the  matter.  The  result  was  that  on 
March  13,  Antes  returned  from  court  with  a  concession  granted  in 
the  rate,  and  authority  to  collect  the  taxes  in  his  jurisdiction. 

A  third  matter  that  caused  some  complications  was  the  laying  out 
of  roads,  northward  and  westward,  in  which  a  studied  disregard  for 
the  plans  of  the  Brethren  in  the  location  of  stations  on  the  Naza- 
reth land,  was  shown  by  other  parties  concerned.  In  May,  1746,  the 
first  unofficial  road  to  Gnadenhuetten  was  traced  through  the  woods 


'745 1748.  213 

by  John  Levering  and  Shebosh  (John  Joseph  Bull).  It  was  soon 
obstructed  by  fences.  In  June,  1747,  the  court  authorized  the  laying 
out  of  a  road,  but  when,  in  September,  an  attempt  was  made  by  Jas- 
per Payne  and  John  Brownfield  of  Bethlehem,  Solomon  Jennings 
and  sundry  men  along  the  line,  the  effort  to  establish  a  convenient 
and  direct  course  was  so  unreasonably  obstructed  by  some  on  the 
joint  committee  that  it  was  postponed.  A  new  committee,  appointed 
by  the  September  court,  went  at  the  task  in  November.  It  was  laid 
out  as  far  as  "Stahl's  farm"  on  November  11,  and  the  remainder  of 
the  way  to  Gnadenhuetten  on  the  15th.  This  road,  which  was 
approved  by  court  in  Alarch,  1748,  was  twenty-five  miles  in  length — 
four  to  five  miles  shorter  than  the  original  course.  At  the  March 
term,  in  1747,  when  the  trouble  about  the  taxes  was  adjusted,  the 
court  authorized  Antes  to  lay  out  the  road  past  Gnadenthal,  between 
that  place  and  the  Irish  Settlement. 

All  of  these  things  combined  to  induce  another  step  in  the  direc- 
tion of  better  local  order  in  civil  matters.  March  21  N.  S.,  1747, 
the  first  petition  was  laid  before  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions  at 
Newtown  for  the  creation  of  a  separate  township,  to  be  known  as 
Bethlehem  Township.  Payne  and  Brownfield,  having,  on  April  4, 
finished  running  the  line  "towards  the  Irish  Settlement,"  reported 
to  the  June  court  and  on  June  25,  returned  with  the  confirmation 
of  the  new  township,  together  with  the  order  for  laying  out  the 
Gnadenhuetten  road.  With  an  evident  sense  of  relief  and  gratifica- 
tion, the  remark  is  recorded  that  the  two  settlers,  not  connected 
with  the  Brethren,  whose  farms  lay  within  the  township  line,  were 
of  the  peaceable  and  friendly  sort  of  neighbors.  At  the  September 
term  of  court  the  first  township  olificers  were  appointed :  Anton 
Albrecht,  constable  ;  Jasper  Payne,  a  commissioner ;  \\'illiam  Frey, 
overseer  of  the  poor,  with  Henry  Antes  as  local  Justice  of  the 
Peace. ^* 

'4  The  original  Bethlehem  Township  included  th  ;  entire  area  of  the  present  Upper  and 
Lower  Nazareth  Townships.  Tlie  first  boundaries  were  maintained,  as  it  seems,  with  slight 
deviation,  in  the  township  as  constituted  under  the  organization  of  the  new  County  of  North- 
ampton in  1752.  A  petition  of  December,  1787,  was  confirmed  at  the  June  term  of  the 
Court  of  Quarter  Sessions  of  Northampton  County  in  1788,  for  the  setting  off  of  the 
northern  part  into  a  new  township  to  be  called  Nazareth  Township.  The  division  of  the 
latter  into  Upper  and  Lower  Nazareth  Townships  did  not  take  place  until  1807.  In  17S8, 
in  connection  with  the  establishment  of  the  other  adjoining  township  lines,  an  effort  was 
made  to  have  the  lines  so  run  that  the  Moravian  land  on  both  sides  of  the  Lehigh  and 
Monocacy  would  remain  in  Bethlehem  Township,  but  it  failed.     The  lines,  as  established  in 


214  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Meanwhile,  movements  of  larger  import,  bearing  upon  the  status 
of  the  Moravian  Church  and  the  security  of  its  growing  interests  in 
Pennsylvania  and  all  the  American  colonies,  were  in  progress  in  Eng- 
land. These  were  receiving  the  support  of  prominent  men  who  were 
not  only  friendly  disposed,  but  materially  interested  in  the  matter, 
and  of  broad-minded  statesmen  who  were  planning  for  the  best 
development  of  the  country  and  for  the  common  weal,  above  mere 
racial  prejudice  and  petty  religious  bigotry.  Among  these  were 
General  James  Oglethorpe,  the  Honorable  Thomas  Penn,  Proprietor 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  Lord  Halifax,  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade. 
On  February  3,  1743,  the  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  after  protracted 
skirmishing  between  them  and  Governor  Thomas  on  various 
involved  and  related  points,  had  passed  and  laid  before  the  Governor 
and  Council,  "an  act  for  naturalizinig  such  foreign  Protestants  as 
are  settled  or  shall  settle  in  this  Province  who  not  being  of  the  peo- 
ple called  Quakers" — their  case  had  been  settled  by  previous  legis- 
lation— "do  conscientiously  scruple  the  taking  of  any  oath."  It 
immediately  received  the  approval  of  the  Governor,  to  be  sent  to 
England  for  confirmation.  In  compromising  with  the  Assembly,  the 
Governor  waived  his  contention,  which  had  also  been  that  of  the 
Proprietors,  that  the  religious  bodies  had  in  view  should  be  specified 
in  the  act.  To  this  the  majority  of  the  Assembly  had  been  averse. 
Shrewd  politicians  among  them,  while  ostensibly  contending  on  the 
lines  of  broad  statesmanship  against  what  seemed  class  legislation, 
saw  that,  by  such  specification,  they  would  endanger  their  popularity, 
awaken  antagonism  in  other  matters  and  lose  votes  among  people 
who  were  inimical  to  those  who  would  thus  be  specified,  principally 
the  Moravians ;  and  among  foreigners  who  might  seem  to  be  dis- 
criminated against  by  not  being  named.  The  Governor  having 
yielded  on  some  points,  the  Assembly  consented  to  pass  a  quaran- 
tine hospital  bill  which  he  had  desired  since  1738,  both  as  a  humane 
provision  for  sick  and  indigent  immigrants  and  as  a  measure  of  self- 
defense  ;  the  Assembly  having  observed  dilatory  tactics  and,  under 
the  pressure  of  anti-foreigner  sentiment  from  certain  quarters — for- 


June  of  that  year,  for  Allen,  Salisbury  and  Saucon  Townships,  left  some  of  the  land  in  each 
of  these  three.  With  the  report  of  the  line  run  October  6,  1788,  between  Bethlehem  and  Naza- 
reth Townships,  rendered  to  Court,  December  16.  by  George  Golkowsky,  the  Moravian  sur- 
veyor, Jonas  Hartzel,  Joseph  Horsfield  and  Henry  Lawall,  a  memorandum  states  that  the  area 
of  Bethlehem  Township  was  then  12,872  acres,  that  of  Nazareth  Township  12,900  arcres  j 
Allen  and  Forks  Townships  embracing  respectively  29,000  and  12,882  acres. 


1745 1748.  215 

eigners  meaning  all  who  did  not  speak  English — had  preferred  to 
urge  more  stringent  restrictions  on  immigration. 

Parliament  had  withheld  assent  to  a  proposed  similar  naturaliza- 
tion act  of  the  Assembly,  in  1739,  under  the  contention  that  the  for- 
eigners meant  should  be  specified;  and,  in  1740,  had  passed  a  gen- 
eral act  for  all  the  American  colonies  providing  that  "on  and  after 
June  I,  1740,  all  persons  born  out  of  the  Ligeance  of  his  Majesty, 
his  Heirs  or  Successors,  who  have  inhabited  and  resided,  or  shall 
inhabit  or  reside  for  the  space  of  seven  years  or  more,  in  any  of  his 
Majesty's  colonies  in  America,  and  shall  not  have  been  absent  out 
of  some  of  the  said  colonies  for  a  longer  space  than  two  months  dur- 
ing the  said  seven  years,  shall  take  and  subscribe  the  oaths,  etc.,  or, 
being  of  the  people  called  Quakers,  shall  make  and  subscribe  the 
declaration  of  fidelity,  and  take  and  affirm  the  effect  of  the  Abjura- 
tion Oath,  etc.,  shall  be  deemed,  adjudged,  and  taken  to  be  his 
Majesty's  natural-born  subjects,"  etc.  The  inception  of  measures 
favorable  distinctly  to  the  Moravians,  as  being  also  people  "who  do 
conscientiously  scruple  the  taking  of  any  oath,"  whom  the  x\ssembly 
of  Pennsylvania  had,  in  1743,  refused  to  specify,  was  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  subject  in  the  Royal  Privy  Council.  In  considering  the 
Pennsylvania  act  of  1743,  the  statement  of  Proprietor  Thomas  Penn 
was  produced,  explaining  that  "none  else  are  meant  in  these  words 
but  the  Moravian  Brethren  who  also  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  this  act, 
showing  themselves  truly  worthy  of  these  privileges.  They  ought 
therefore  to  be  specified  by  name  (as  well  as  the  Quakers)  in  this 
act,  as  a  peaceful  and  sober  people."  Neither  the  Privy  Council  nor 
the  Board  of  Trade  being  at  liberty  to  amend  the  wording  of  such 
an  act  passed  in  Pennsylvania  for  itself,  Oglethorpe  and  Penn,  whose 
opinions  had  much  weight,  took  the  initiative  to  have  the  matter 
brought  into  Parliament  in  1747.  The  fooUsh  and  outrageous  action 
into  which  the  Assembly  of  New  York  had  been  stampeded  by  preju- 
dice and  ignorance,  in  the  excitement  of  1744,  and  a  similar  agita- 
tion by  other  elements  in  Virginia,  which  resulted  in  a  proclamation 
of  like  tenor  by  the  Governor  of  that  colony  at  this  very  time,  did 
much  to  induce  better-informed  and  larger-minded  men  in  England 
and  in  the  Provinces  to  move  in  the  direction  of  justice  towards  the 
Moravians,  and  of  encouraging  them,  as  desirable  colonists,  through 
a  general  act  of  Parhament.  April  6,  1747,  General  Oglethorpe,  on 
the  strength  of  the  Pennsylvania  act  of  1743  and  the  explanation  of 
its  primary  intent  by  Proprietor  Penn,  moved  in  the  House  of  Com- 


2l6  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

nioiis  "that  a  clause  be  inserted  in  the  act  of  1740  in  favor  of  the 
Moravian  or  United  Brethren,  exempting  them  from  the  taking  of 
an  oath.'"  It  was  passed,  was  concurred  in  by  the  House  of  Lords 
and,  on  June  28,  received  the  royal  sanction,  to  take  effect,  Decem- 
ber 25,  1747.  Tlie  material  part  containing  the  new  matter  of  this 
act  is  as  follows :  "And  whereas  many  of  the  people  of  the  congre- 
gation called  the  Moravian  Brethren,  and  other  foreign  Protestants, 
not  Quakers,  who  conscientiously  scruple  the  taking  of  an  oath,  are 
settled  in  his  Majesty's  colonies  in  America,  and  demean  themselves 
there  as  a  sober,  quiet  and  industrious  people,  and  many  others  of 
the  like  persuasion  are  desirous  to  transport  themselves  thither ;  and 
if  the  benefit  of  the  said  act  made  in  the  thirteenth  year  of  his  pres- 
ent Majesty's  reign  (1740)  were  extended  to  them,  they  who  are  now 
there  would  thereby  be  encouraged  to  continue  their  residence  in 
his  Majesty's  colonies,  and  others  would  resort  thither  in  greater 
numbers,  whereby  the  said  colonies  would  be  improved,  their 
strength  increased,  and  their  trade  extended ;  be  it  therefore  enacted, 
etc.,  that  from  and  after  the  25th  day  of  December,  1747,  all  Foreign 
Protestants  who  conscientiously  scruple  the  taking  of  an  oath,"  etc. 
Upon  this  follows  the  same  provision  and  condition  of  naturalization, 
after  seven  years'  residence,  that  were  contained  in  the  act  of  1740. 
It  will  be  observed  that  in  these  acts  nothing  is  said  on  the  subject 
of  bearing  arms,  on  which  the  Brethren  took  the  same  position  as 
in  the  matter  of  an  oath.  Circumstances  were  now  bringing  a  test 
upon  them  in  this  respect  also  in  Pennsylvania.  The  movements 
agitated  under  the  critical  outlook  of  the  time,  when  both  foreign 
invasion  and  Indian  alliance  on  the  part  of  England's  enemies  were 
feared,  led  those  who  were  suspicious  of  the  Moravians  to  embrace 
new  opportunities  of  making  them  prove  their  loyalty.  These  move- 
ments, when  they  took  definite  shape  in  the  autumn  of  1747,  in  the 
formation  of  the  association  at  Philadelphia  for  the  general  defense 
of  the  city  and  the  Province,  also  aroused  the  people  throughout 
Bucks  County;  and  the  test  of  willingness  to  join  the  "Associators" 
began  to  be  pressed  upon  the  men  of  Bethlehem  by  zealous  and 
officious  persons.  Occasional  bands  of  Pennsylvania  deserters  from 
the  English  camps  up  the  Hudson,  where,  after  the  abandonment  of 
the  proposed  movement  into  Canada  and  the  failure  to  establish 
an  alliance  with  the  Six  Nations  against  French  interests,  troops 
were  kept  many  months  unpaid,  ill-clothed  and  disaffected,  with  the 
thought  of  impressing  the  Indians  with  a  show  of  power,  came  down 
the  country  through  Nazareth  and  Bethlehem  on  their  way  to  Phila- 


1745 1/48.  217 

delphia,  at  intervals  from  May  to  October,  1747;  sometimes  with 
a  sheriff  and  posse  in  pursuit,  but  evidently  not  trying  very  hard  to 
capture  the  runaways. 

This  unwonted  sensation  in  the  neighborhood  drew  the  attention 
of  the  hard-working,  peaceable  men  of  the  Economy  more  particu- 
larly to  the  public  Unrest  of  the  time  and  added  to  the  excitement 
of  the  other  people  in  the  Forks.  Then  the  attitude  of  the  Brethren 
towards  these  men,  as  they  passed  through,  foot-sore  and  hungry, 
asking  for  something  to  eat  and,  of  course,  receiving  it,  regardless 
of  how  their  conduct  in  thus  forsaking  their  posts  was  to  be  viewed, 
was  also  watched  with  the  purpose  of  detecting  symptoms  of  Mora- 
vian treachery  against  the  government.  Bishop  Spangenberg  took 
occasion,  before  the  close  of  the  year,  to  give  the  farmers,  mechanics 
and  laborers  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  the  necessary  explanations 
in  reference  to  the  public  situation  and  to  the  meaning  and  object 
of  organizing  Associators.  He  drew  attention  to  the  basis  on  which 
the  Brethren  desired  that  exemption  from  taking  oath,  like  the  Quak- 
ers, which  was  provided  for  in  the  act  of  Parliament,  the  outcome 
of  which  was  then  yet  being  awaited  at  Bethlehem.  From  his  state- 
ments it  is  clear  that  the  reason,  as  then  urged,  was  not  a  general 
principle  adopted  as  a  fundamental  one  of  the  Church — a  part  of  its 
creed,  as  has  been  commonly  but  erroneously  supposed ;  but  as  a 
matter  of  deference  to  the  sentiments  of  a  considerable  number  of 
individual  Brethren  who  had  such  scruples,  and  as  a  matter  of  expe- 
diency over  against  people  like  the  Quakers  and  the  Mennonites  in 
Pennsylvania,  to  whom  the  Brethren  desired  to  "keep  the  open  door" 
for  preachers  of  the  atonement  in  the  blood  of  Jesus,  as  they  held 
it  and  set  it  forth,  by  thus  taking  common  grovmd  and  making  com- 
mon cause  with  them  in  such  a  point  on  which  they  laid  so  much 
stress.  The  other  scruple,  that  about  bearing  arms,  in  which  gov- 
ernment concession  and  protection  was  hoped  for,  was  rather  more 
a  matter  of  general  principle  than  that  about  taking  oath ;  although, 
even  in  this,  and  at  that  time,  by  no  means  all  who  joined  the  Breth- 
ren had  this  in  view  as  an  article  laid  down  and  adhered  to  always 
and  everywhere,  or  advanced  it  as  one  of  the  reasons  for  joining 
them.  Not  all  made  it  a  matter  of  personal  conviction.  ]\Iany 
would  have  seen  their  way  clear  to  do  militia  duty  when  called  upon 
by  the  State,  without  inconsistency.  But  when  it  was  deemed  best 
to  make  the  objection  to  bearing  arms  a  fundamental  article,  and 
exemption  from  such  service  a  condition  of  settlement  in  different 
realms,  because  of  the  general  missionary  character  all  settlomeiits 


2l8  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

and  institutions  were  supposed  to  have,  then  the  obHgation  to  all 
stand  together  in  the  matter,  regardless  of  different  individual  views 
on  the  subject,  was  naturally  laid  upon  all. 

Thus  the  Moravians,  as  a  body  of  people  professing  that  the  main 
object  of  their  organized  activities  was  to  propagate  the  gospel  of 
peace,  became  allied,  before  the  public,  with  what  have  sometimes 
been  styled  the  group  of  "peace  sects"  in  Pennsylvania.  To  secure 
exemption  from  bearing  arms,  as  well  as  from  taking  oath,  not  only 
in  the  North  American  colonies,  but  in  all  British  dominions,  was 
felt  to  be  highly  desirable.  Besides  this,  in  view  of  much  popular 
misapprehension  in  reference  to  the  Brethren's  Church,  historically 
and  doctrinally — for  the  extravagant  aberrations  of  the  period  of  a 
few  years  through  which  a  portion  of  it  had  been  passing  did  not 
represent  its  real  doctrines  and  principles — it  was  wished  to  have  a 
thorough  investigation  take  place,  in  the  hope  that  an  official  recog- 
nition of  the  Church  might  be  formally  and  explicitly  granted  by  the 
English  authorities,  such  as  had  not  been  included  in  the  act  of  1747. 
To  this  end  Henry  Cossart,  agent  in  England,  and  others  were  dili- 
gently gathering  material  in  the  form  of  documentary  evidence  bear- 
ing upon  every  question  that  might  be  raised  in  the  course  of  such 
an  investigation.  In  order  to  give  the  history  of  this  important 
matter  in  this  connection,  it  is  necessary  to  here  overrun  somewhat 
the  period  of  time  covered  by  this  chapter.  On  September  16,  1748, 
Zinzendorf  was  constituted  a  kind  of  plenipotentiary  by  the  Synod  of 
the  Church,  under  the  title  of  Advocatus  Fratrum,  to  personally  nego- 
tiate in  its  name  with  authorities,  particularly  in  Holland  and  Eng- 
land. In  the  latter  country,  after  he  took  up  his  residence  there  with 
his  cabinet  of  counselors,  in  January,  1749,  he  passed  in  that  capa- 
city as  "the  Lord  Advocate  of  the  Brethren"  in  ofificial  circles.  As 
such,  he  gave  a  power  of  attorney,  on  December  13,  1748,  to  six 
leading  men,  including  Cossart,  to  proceed  with  the  business  in  hand 
in  his  name.  Meanwhile  the  palpable  occasion  for  presenting  the 
petition  to  Parliament  in  behalf  of  the  Church,  which  practical  men 
knew  would  strengthen  the  appeal  and  furnish  the  kind  of  basis  to 
which  most  attention  would  at  first  be  paid,  appeared  in  the  arrival 
of  Captain  Garrison  at  London  with  the  Irene  from  Holland,  January 
II,  1749,  having  on  board  a  large  colony  bound  for  Pennsylvania.^^ 

15  This  colony  of  120  is  sometimes  called  the  "Third  Sea  Congregation,"  also  the 
"  John  Nitschmann  Colony,"  because  at  the  head  of  it  was  Bishop  John  Nitschmann,  who 
was  going  to  Pennsylvania  to  take  command  under  a  new  order  of  things.  Bishop  David 
Nitschmann  also  returned  to  America  with  this  colony.  The  names  will  all  appear  in  the 
next  chapter. 


1745 1748-  219 

It  was  presumed  that  the  appeal  for  the  distinct  privileges  sought 
in  their  behalf  would  bring  on  the  desired  investigation.  Zinzendorf 
was  reluctant  to  have  it  start  on  this  matter-of-fact  basis  on  which 
the  material  interests  represented  in  Parliament  by  the  Board  of 
Trade  for  the  colonies  would  weigh  in  the  question,  but  he  yielded 
and  let  it  take  this  course. 

On  February  20,  1749,  General  Oglethorpe  moved  in  the  House 
of  Commons  that  the  House  co-operate  with  the  Brethren  to  encour- 
age their  settling  in  the  colonies.  This  was  carried,  with  but  one 
dissenting  voice,  and  a  Committee  of  Inquiry  of  upwards  of  forty 
members  was  appointed,  of  which  Oglethorpe  was  chosen  chairman. 
On  March  14,  he  reported  to  the  House  that  the  committee  to  whom 
the  petition  of  the  "Deputies  from  the  United  Moravian  Churches" 
— five  empowered  by  Zinzendorf  as  Advocatus  together  with  Cossart, 
had  been  referred,  had  examined  the  same  and  directed  that  it  be 
reported.  It  was  subsequently  read  in  the  House  and  it  was 
"ordered  that  leave  be  given  to  bring  in  a  Bill  for  encouraging  the 
people  known  by  the  name  of  Unitas  Fratrum  or  United  Brethren 
to  settle  in  his  Majesty's  colonies  in  America."  Prior  to  the  first 
reading,  they  were  called  "the  Moravian  Brethren"  in  the  title  of  the 
proposed  act  and  in  naming  them  in  the  body  of  it,  but  in  accordance 
with  Zinzendorf's  emphatic  desire,  this  title  was  then  changed  to 
Unitas  Fratrum  or  United  Brethren.  After  the  third  reading,  on 
April  15,  a  new  committee  of  seventy  members  was,  on  motion, 
appointed  to  review  the  report  of  the  first  committee.  The  report 
was  sustained,  passed  the  Commons,  April  18,  and  was  then 
engrossed  as  "an  Act  of  Parliament."  In  the  House  of  Lords,  con- 
trary to  the  expectation  of  some,  it  was  found  that  the  bench  of 
Bishops  had  decided  to  not  delay  its  passage,  from  the  standpoint 
of  ecclesiastical  recognition,  and  the  adverse  position  taken  by  the 
Bishop  of  London,  from  the  narrower  point  of  view  of  his  jurisdic- 
tion in  the  American  colonies,  was  also  overcome.  Then  the  min- 
isterial party  in  the  interests  of  the  Crown,  as  distinct  from  those 
represented  by  the  Board  of  Trade,  resorted  to  obstructive  tactics, 
by  moving,  on  April  23,  that  the  Lords,  as  a  committee  of  the 
whole,  take  up  the  matter  de  novo,  thus  subjecting  it  to  the  ordeal  of 
a  third  investigating  committee.  One  manoeuvre  was  the  effort  to 
have  the  benefit  of  the  act  limited  to  German  colonists.  The  Lord 
Chancellor  led  in  this  attempt  to  obstruct  or  curtail ;  and  some  of 
the   speeches   reported   reveal  how  strongly  the   prejudices   against 


220  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Zinzendorf  and  the  Brethren,  awakened  in  some  quarters  mainly 
through  the  German  clergy  of  England's  German  King,  operated 
against  the  passage  of  the  act  for  a  while.  After  an  adjournment  of 
the  committee  of  the  whole  by  the  Lord  Chancellor  for  six  days,  a 
strong  speech  for  the  act  was  made  by  Lord  Halifax,  warmly  sup- 
ported by  Lords  Granville  and  Sandys,  the  Duke  of  Argyle  and 
others,  while  the  Bishop  of  Worcester  "declared  the  approbation  of 
the  whole  episcopal  bench."  Many  previous  opponents  were  won 
over  and  others  concluded  to,  at  least,  offer  no  further  active  oppo- 
sition. Then,  on  that  day,  May  12,  1749,  in  the  midst  of  much  sus- 
pense, the  act  passed,  ncminc  contradiccnte,  and,  on  June  6,  it  received 
the  royal  sanction. 

Among  the  numerous  documents  considered  by  the  several  com- 
mittees, two  that  have  particular  connection  with  Pennsylvania  may 
be  here  mentioned.  One,  among  those  produced,  "to  prove  that  the 
Moravian  Brethren  have  settled  in  his  Majesty's  dominions  in 
America  and  met  with  approbation,"  was  a  file  of  three  lists  of  those 
"already  settled  in,  Pennsylvania"  (including  their  accessions  from 
that  Province  and  the  children  committed  to  their  care).  One 
reported  395  persons  at  Bethlehem  in  February,  1748.  Another 
reported  145  persons  at  Nazareth,  Gnadenthal  and  Gnadenhuetten 
at  that  time.  The  third  gave  122  as  the  number  of  children  in  the 
institutions  at  Fredericktown,  Germantown  and  Oley  in  August, 
1748;  there  being  no  list  of  the  adults  at  those  three  places.  Together 
with  these  lists,  was  also  presented  a  certificate  from  the  Inspector 
of  Customs  at  London  "that  the  ship  Irene,  from  Holland,  lately 
cleared  for  Philadelphia  with  about  150  German  passengers."  She 
cleared,  February  20,  and  put  out  to  sea,  March  i,  1749.  The  con- 
cluding statement  was  added  that  "the  number  of  the  Brethren 
already  settled,  and  going  to  settle  in  Pennsylvania,  comtained  in 
the  said  lists  and  certificates,  amounts  in  the  whole  to  812  persons." 

The  other  document  alluded  to  was  a  letter  to  the  chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  Inquiry  from  Thomas  Penn,  Esq.,  Proprietor  of  Penn- 
sylvania, under  date  of  February  21,  1749,^°  O.  S.  1748.  It  is  as 
follows :  "The  Deputies  of  the  Moravian  Brethren  having  desired 
me  to  certify  to  you  the  Behaviour  of  those  settled  in  Pcnnsyhania, 


I'S  It  may  be  observed  here  that  the  above  dates,  in  connection  with  these  proceedings  in 
England  are  the  old  style  English  dates,  historically  associated  with  the  documents  and 
records.  This  deviation  from  the  principle  followed  in  these  pages,  in  the  matter  of  dates, 
as  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  seems  to  be  necessary  in  this  case. 


1745 1748.  221 

I  am  to  inform  you,  that  about  eight  years  ago  one  of  the  Brethren 
purchased  a  Tract  of  Land  containing  Five  thousand  Acres,  and  set- 
tled on  it,  and  another  Tract,  several  Hundred  People,  who  have 
built  Two  Towns,  made  good  Improvements,  and  live  quietly  among 
their  Neighbours.  Above  One  hundred  of  these  People  sailed  about 
Ten  Days  since  for  Pomsylvaiiia  ;  they  appeared  healthy,  able-bodied 
people,  and  very  fit  to  settle  a  new  Country.  As  I  apprehend  they 
will  make  good  useful  Subjects,  I  cannot  but  wish  them  all  reason- 
able Encouragement,  especially  when  I  consider  their  Endeavours 
to  civilize  the  Indians,  and  to  make  them  acquainted  with  Principles 

of  Religion,  may much  strengthen  the  English  Interest  among 

those  People." 

That  act  of  Parliament,  taken  in  all  its  parts,  gave  the  Moravian 
Church  and  its  settlements  in  the  American  colonies  a  formally 
recognized  footing  such  as  was  enjoyed  by  no  other  religious  body 
in  these  provinces.  Besides  the  recognition  of  its  historic  character, 
its  doctrine  was  declared  "to  differ  in  no  essential  article  of  faith 
from  that  of  the  Church  of  England,  as  set  forth  in  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles."  It  was  thus  guaranteed  the  exercise  of  its  own  constitu- 
tion in  its  congregations.  There  was  a  provision  that  the  Advocatus 
or  the  Secrctarius  of  the  Church  was  recognized  as  the  competent 
person  to  conduct  correspondence  or  negotiations  with  the  govern- 
ment in  its  afifairs,  whenever  occasion  occurred,  and  the  names  and 
residences  of  its  bishops  were  to  be  certified  by  him  from  time  to 
time.  It  was  stipulated  that  persons  claiming  the  benefit  of  the  act 
must  be  furnished  with  a  certificate  of  membership  by  a  bishop  or 
minister.  The  act  reads  in  part  as  follows:  ''Wlwrcas  many  of  the 
people  of  the  church  or  congregation  called  the  Unitas  Fratnun  or 
United  Brethren  are  settled  in  his  Majesty's  colonies  in  America,  and 
demean  themselves  there  as  a  sober,  quiet  and  industrious  people 

and  several  of  the  said  Brethren  do  conscientiously  scruple  the 

taking  of  an  oath,  and  likewise  do  conscientiously  scruple  bearing 
arms,  or  serving  in  any  military  capacity,  although  they  are  willing 
and  ready  to  contribute  whatever  sums  of  money  shall  be  thought  a 
reasonable  compensation  for  such  service,  and  which  shall  be 
necessary  for  the  defence  and  support  of  his  Majesty's  Person  and 
Government: — and  n'hcrcas  the  said  congregations  arc  an  Ancient 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  which  has  been  countenanced  and  relieved 
by  the  Kings  of  England,  your  Majesty's  predecessors: 

"And  whereas  the  encouraging  of  the  said  People  to  settle  in 
America  will  be  beneficial  to  the  said  colonies ;  therefore  may  it  please 


222  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

your  Majesty,  at  the  humble  petition  of  (the  names  of  the  petitioners) 
Deputies  from  the  said  Maravian  ChurcJws,  in  Behalf  of  themselves 
and  their  United  Brethren,  that  it  may  be  enacted  by  the  King's  most 
Excellent  Majesty  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Lords 
Spiritual  and  Temporal,  and  Commons,  in  this  present  Parliament 
assembled  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  that  from  and  after  the 
24th  day  of  June,  1749,  every  person  being  a  member  of  the  said 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  known  by  the  name  of  Unitas  Fratrum 

or  United  Brethren who    shall    be    required    upon    any    lawful 

occasion  to  take  an  oath,"  etc.  Then  follow  the  provisions  petitioned 
for,  exempting  from  oath  and  military  duty  and  accepting  affirmation 
and  assessment  of  money  in  lieu  of  these  two  obligations 
respectively,  with  the  various  conditions  already  referred  to  and 
certain  penalties.^^ 

Thus  the  standing  of  the  Moravian  Church  was  established  in 
the  colonies.  The  obligation  to  treat  it  respectfully,  notwithstanding 
the  extravagances  with  which  it  had  become  partially  infected  at 
that  time,  was  laid  upon  the  Anglican  clergy  by  their  own  highest 
authorities.  The  fusilade  of  detraction  and  calumny  in  print  which 
those  abnormal  tendencies  had  occasioned  was  to  a  considerable 
extent  ofifset  through  that  recognition  of  the  Church  by  men  of  such 
eminence.  Its  settlement  in  Pennsylvania  and  the  activities  emanating 
therefrom  were  secured  against  permanent  damage  from  any  further 
such  oppressive  official  measures  on  the  part  of  civil  authorities  under 
the  incitement  of  contentious  political  factions,  knavish  traders  and 
intolerant  reUgionists,  as  had  been  promulgated  in  New  York  and 
were  audaciously  renewed  in  1755,  in  defiance  of  this  act,  but  not 
enforced.  Although  the  slander  about  alleged  complicity  in  French 
and  Jesuitical  intrigues  did  not  cease  therefore,  yet,  a  position  had 
been  attained  from  which  its  further  propagation  could  be  withstood, 
since  it  had  been  totally  discredited  by  the  British  Government. 

While  those  well-managed  efforts,  of  so  much  consequence  to 
Bethlehem    and    all    related    enterprises    in    Pennsylvania,    were    in 

17  The  practical  value  of  this  act,  prior  to  the  Revolutionary  War,  was  much  greater  for 
Moravians  in  the  American  colonies,  and  consequently  for  the  entire  Church,  than  is  com- 
monly represented  by  modem  Moravian  writers  in  Europe,  especially  in  Germany,  vv^here 
no  importance  is  attached  by  many  to  the  difference  between  being  a  Church  or  a  mere 
association,  where  the  American  situation  in  this  respect  is  imperfectly  understood  and  that 
act  of  Parliament  is  hardly  given  a  place  among  events  of  general  significance  in  the  history 
of  the  Church.  Its  value  in  the  American  colonies  came  to  an  end,  of  course,  with  the 
Declaration  of  Independence. 


1/45 1748.  223 

progress  in  England,  important  internal  changes  occurred  that 
rendered  the  close  of  the  period  embraced  in  this  chapter  a  notable 
epoch.  Their  inception  lay  in  plans  evolved  at  several  conferences 
during  1747,  between  Zinzendorf,  who  was  then  holding,  temporarily, 
a  pecuHar  autocratic  position  in  the  direction  of  affairs,  and  the  men 
he  had  associated  with  himself  as  a  kind  of  cabinet.  The  central 
point  decided  was  that  the  Gesneral  Eldership  which  was  one  of 
Bishop  Spangenberg's  functions  at  Bethlehem  should  be  abolished 
there,  as  this  peculiar  individual,  spiritual  headship  had  been  set  aside 
in  Europe  in  1741 ;  and  that  the  idea  of  the  invisible  headship  of 
Christ,  specially  appropriated  and  appHed  under  the  conception  of 
such  an  ideal  Eldership,  should  be  promulgated  also  in  America, 
with  organization  and  management  so  reconstructed  as  to  be  brought 
into  harmony  with  this  thought.  This  would  mean  the  termination 
of  the  plenipotentiary  administration  of  Spangenberg,  as  explained 
at  the  close  of  the  preceding  chapter,  and  the  substitution  of  a 
collegiate  control  by  a  Conference  or  Board  of  Elders,  with  the  lofty 
and  bold  thought  that  the  invisible,  supreme  One,  "Head  over  all 
things  to  the  Church,"  should  be  regarded  as  in  their  midst,  ruling 
and  directing  "as  their  Chief  Elder."  In  itself  considered,  this 
idea  of  the  headship  of  Christ  in  the  Church  on  earth  was  sound  and 
scriptural,  and  the  conception  of  this  headship,  as  a  supreme  pastoral 
relation  of  the  Chief  Shepherd  to  His  flock  on  earth,  which  He  had 
purchased  with  His  own  blood,  had  its  warrant  in  numerous  utter- 
ances of  Christ  and  His  Apostles.  The  thought  of  a  peculiarly  vivid 
realization  and  elevating  special  experience  of  this  spiritual  relation 
to  the  exalted  Saviour,  on  the  part  of  a  group  of  souls,  one  in  high 
spiritual  mood  and  intense  desire  of  heart,  can  not  be  called  an 
unwarrantable  one.  That  such  souls  should  be  led,  in  a  subjective 
sense,  to  specially  appropriate  the  blessing  of  this  relation  found 
in  such  an  experience,  cannot,  in  itself  considered, be  called  fanaticism. 
That  the  exalted  spiritual  mood  carried  down  from  such  an 
experience  should  communicate  itself  to  wider  circles,  and  that  the 
central  conception  that  had  been  laid  hold  of,  in  the  midst  of  it, 
should  appeal  to  them,  as  a  new  treasure  of  spiritual  reality  found, 
was  not  unnatural.  In  cherishing  and  propagating  these  ideas, 
however,  men  were  walking  on  dizzy  heights,  where  not  all  were 
able  to  maintain  steadiness  and  soberness.  Zinzendorf,  sailing  in 
the  clouds  with  all  his  thoughts  and  plans  at  this  period,  to  a  much 
greater  extent  than  before  his  return  from  America  or  after  the 
crisis  in  the  Wetterau ;  seeming  to  almost  have  an  aversion  to  every- 


224  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,   PENNSYLVANIA. 

thing  that  savored  of  practical  thought  and  simple  common  sense, 
or  that  lay  within  any  conventional  lines ;  seeming  to  be  driven,  by 
the  incessant  goading  of  his  assailants,  into  a  mania  for  the  extra- 
ordinary, and  to  look  askance  at  every  sober-minded,  well-balanced 
man  in  the  Church,  who  tried  to  hold  the  process  of  things  down  on 
safe,  solid  ground,  carried  the  promulgation  of  this  doctrine  to 
extremes  that  cannot  be  justified,  both  in  the  phraseology  employed 
and  in  the  application  of  it  to  governmental  machinery,  in  detail.  In 
the  matter  of  expression  and  applied  use,  therefore,  the  cult  that 
developed  under  his  propensity  to  pursue  every  thought  to  the  utter- 
most, was  fairly  open  to  the  reproach  of  fanaticism.  Driven  to  its 
greatest  extreme  at  the  very  time  when  the  Wetteravian  fever  was 
producing  the  delirium  described  in  the  preceding  pages  of  this 
chapter,  it  served  to  aggravate  the  distemper.  The  infatuated  conceit 
fostered,  that  the  body  of  the  Brethren  were  "the  Saviour's  people," 
in  a  sense  different  from  tliat  in  which  other  bodies  of  Christians 
could  make  this  claim,  possessed  the  minds  of  all  who  were  carried 
along  with  this  tide,  and  became  the  chief  offense  to  those  who 
criticised. 

It  produced,  with  the  self-complacency  already  referred  to,  a 
kind  of  lofty,  patronizing  air  towards  others,  most  cultivated  among 
the  lesser  spirits  in  the  Church,  which  lingered  long  after  the  intense 
ardor  of  those  years  had  subsided.  That  the  resort  to  the  use  of  the 
lot,  after  the  manner  of  Zinzendorf,  by  the  conferences  of  Elders, 
under  the  central  idea  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  spiritually  enthroned 
in  their  midst,  and  believed  to  over-rule  and  direct  the  result  in  all 
manner  of  questions,  should  increase  in  frequency,  and  in  the  range 
of  things  thus  dealt  with,  was  consistent  with  the  ideas  started  out 
from,  and  was  logically  inevitable.  In  subsequent  years,  after  the 
enthusiastic  fervor  which  produced  the  language  of  the  first  flush, 
in  connection  with  it,  had  passed  away,  and  its  employment  was 
reduced  to  system  and  grew  perfunctory,  that  language,  adhered  to, 
became  a  kind  of  mere  official  cant;  just,  as  in  many  other  respects, 
among  other  bodies  of  Christians,  even  now,  many  expressions  and 
ways  which  originated  in  peculiar  religious  enthusiasm  and  are 
retained  after  the  fire  has  burned  down,  have  become  empty  cant. 

The  reconstruction  to  be  effected  in  Pennsylvania,  to  harmonize 
with  this  ideal  conception  of  church  government,  involved  the 
establishment  of  the  Church  and  all  its  operations  in  the  American 
colonies,  as  superintended  at  Bethlehem,  on  a  distinct  ecclesiastical 
basis,  different  from  that  on  which  it  stood  before,  in  connection  with 


1/45 1748-  225 

the  Church  of  God  in  the  Spirit  under  the  Pennsylvania  Synod.  This 
latter,  as  nominally  a  union,  or  joint  Synod  of  different  ecclesiastical 
elements,  was  to  cease.  This  alUance  of  elements,  so  far  as  they 
were  yet  represented  in  the  Synod  and  were  served  bv  ministers 
provided  from  Bethlehem,  was  henceforth  to  be  regarded  as  com- 
prising "tropes"  of  membership  within  the  Brethren's  Church ;  this 
conception  of  tropes,  as  already  sufBciently  elucidated  in  these  pages, 
having  been  more  articulately  enunciated  and  formally  adopted,  as  a 
principle,  in  Europe,  at  the  Tenth  General  Synod  of  the  Church, 
held  in  January,  1745.  All  of  the  congregations  in  America  that  were 
served  by  the  Brethren  and  that  desired  to  remain  in  this  connection, 
were  to  be  now  organized  as  congregations  of  the  Brethren — in  other 
words  as  congregations  of  the  Moravian  Church,  or  at  least  as 
missions  and  itinerant  charges  of  the  Church.  With  this  change  of 
base  in  view,  which  the  altered  conditions  in  Pennsylvania,  especially 
the  progress  of  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  Churches  towards 
general  organization  with  proper,  distinct  supervision,  rendered 
manifestly  expedient,  Zinzendorf,  on  September  13,  1746,  wrote  a 
letter  resigning  his  nominal  inspectorship  of  the  Lutheran  department 
under  the  Pennsylvania  Synod.  At  a  conference  of  the  ministers 
who  belonged  to  this  department,  held  at  Bethlehem  on  January  27, 
1747,  when  they  were  not  yet  aware  of  what  was  in  contemplation, 
it  was  decided  to  ask  him  to  reconsider  this  step  and  retain  the 
nominal  inspectorship,  with  one  of  the  men  located  in  Pennsylvania 
serving  in  the  capacity  of  Vice-Inspector,  as  before  this.  It  was, 
however,  consummated,  and  this  personal  connection  of  Zinzendorf 
with  the  Pennsylvania  Synod  thus  ceased.  These  changes,  being 
planned  in  Europe,  contemplated  also  a  general  internal  re-organi- 
zation, but  it  was  deemed  inexpedient,  as  yet,  to  abolish  the  General 
Economy,  or  Co-operative  Union  of  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth,  as  a 
practical  arrangement  for  the  situation  of  the  time.  This  was  to 
continue  until  other  reasons  should  render  its  dissolution  desirable. 
The  question  of  Spangenberg's  further  relation  to  the  Economy  and 
to  the  general  work  in  America,  on  this  altered  basis,  was,  next  to 
the  central  principle  of  change  in  the  government,  in  the  abolition 
of  his  General  Eldership  and  the  promulgation  of  the  Divine  Eldership 
idea,  the  most  important  one.  In  those  distant  counsels,  theorizing 
and  idealizing,  with  no  proper  understanding  of  the  vital,  practical 
issues  involved  in  retaining  or  dispensing  with  Spangenberg's  lead- 
ership in  Pennsylvania  at  this  time,  the  view  prevailed  that  another 
16 


226  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

man,  in  closer  touch  with  the  latest  development  of  the  ideas  now 
to  be  promulgated  at  Bethlehem,  had  better  take  Spangenberg's 
place ;  that  the  latter  had  better  retire  from  the  leadership,  if  the 
idea  of  the  Divine  Eldership  with  the  diliferent  kind  of  general  man- 
agement which  this  would  substitute  for  his  superintendency  should 
be  introduced.  This  main  question,  on  which  that  of  Spangenberg's 
retirement  and  all  others  that  were  involved  necessarily  turned,  was 
finally  submitted  to  the  lot,  with  an  affirmative  result^  at  a  special 
conference  of  Zinzendorf  and  his  cabinet  on  December  i8,  1747. 
Earlier  in  the  year,  it  had  been  determined  that  his  son-in-law,  John 
de  Watteville — consecrated  a  bishop,  June  4,  1747 — should  undertake 
a  tour  of  general  inspection  among  the  Indian  missions  as  well  as 
in  the  West  Indies.  He  was  therefore  commissioned  to  inaugurate 
these  changes  at  Bethlehem  and  in  the  whole  American  work.  He 
landed  at  New  York  in  the  third  week  of  September,  1748,  with  his 
wife,  the  Countess  Benigna,  who  had  been  in  Pennsylvania  with  her 
father  in  1742.  On  the  19th  of  that  month,  about  eleven  o'clock  at 
night,  they  unexpectedly  arrived  at  Bethlehem  with  John  Wade  who 
was  doing  evangelistic  work  in  and  about  New  York,  and  was 
awaiting  their  arrival  there,  prepared  to  convey  them  to  Bethlehem. 
They  had  been  long  expected,  and  it  is  stated  that  the  people  at 
Bethlehem  were  overjoyed  at    their  sudden  appearance. ^^ 

On  October  13,  a  Synod  convened  at  Bethlehem.  The  sessions 
were  held  in  the  unfinished  large  house  of  the  single  men,  the 
Brethren's  House,  and  continued  until  October  27.  It  was  the 
thirteenth  Synod  held  since  the  return  of  Spangenberg  to  Pennsyl- 
vania in  1744,  and  the  twenty-sixth  such  convocation  since  the  first 
held  in  Germantown  in  January,  1742.  It  was  the  first,  however, 
convoked  distinctively  as  a  regular  Synod  of  the  Moravian  Church. 
In  the  manuscript  journal  it  is  not  called  as  before,  the  Pennsylvania 
Synod,  but  a  "Synod  of  the  Brethren."  The  numbering  of  regular 
Moravian  Synods  in  America  begins  with  this  one.  Bishop  de  Watte- 
ville presided.  The  various  changes  and  new  regulations  to  be 
introduced  were  explained.  The  more  definite  system  established  by 
the  Tenth  General  Synod  of  the  Church,  in  1745,  relative  to  the  three 

18  With  them  came  five  young  women.  One  was  Anna  Rosina  Anders,  who  for  some 
years  served  as  Eldress  or  spiritual  overseer  of  the  single  women  at  Bethlehem,  and  was 
commonly  referred  to  as  Sister  Anna  Rosel.  There  is  an  oil  portrait  of  her  in  the  archives  at 
Bethlehem.  Another  was  Elizabeth  Lisberger  who,  on  June  2,  1749,  was  married  at  Beth- 
lehem to  Thomas  Stach,  with  whom  she  went  to  Greenland  as  a  missionary.  The  others 
were  a  Miss  Hasselmann,  Catherine  Barbara  Keller  and  Elizabeth  Palmer. 


'745 1748-  22/ 

grades  of  the  ministry,  Bishops,  Presbyters  and  Deacons,  in  the 
matter  of  their  respective  positions  and  functions  was  ehicidated ;  as 
also  the  regulations  in  force  in  connection  with  various  other  ecclesi- 
astical offices,  especially  those  of  Seniar  and  Consenior  Civilis  and 
Senior  Politiciis,  as  these  existed  then  and  were  maintained  for  many 
years,  to  have  charge  of  those  functions,  over  against  civil  authorities 
and  in  affairs  of  state  and  court,  which  it  was  deemed  desirable  to 
eHminate  from  the  duties  of  the  bishops. .  Henry  Antes  was  ordained, 
at  this  Synod,  a  Seniar  Civilis^^  for  the  Moravian  Church  in  America. 

A  number  of  ordinations,  both  of  presbyters  and  of  deacons,  also 
took  place  on  this  occasion,  while  seven  who  were,  in  point  of  fact, 
presbyters,  while  passing  under  the  indefinite  general  term  of 
Ordinati,  as  classifications  had  been  followed  in  the  alliance  with 
Lutheran  and  Reformed  elements  in  Pennsylvania,  were  now  formally 
declared  to  be  presbyters,  as  Ordinati  strictly  speaking,  and  were 
enrolled  in  that  grade,  distinct  from  the  deacons.  The  principle 
was  laid  down  that  men  who  had  received  ordination  in  the  Luth- 
eran and  Reformed  Churches  should,  in  virtue  of  this,  be  acknowl- 
edged and  enrolled  as  deacons ;  the  idea  being  that  this  degree  of 
recognition  was  accorded  to  ordination  in  non-espiscopal  churches, 
and  that  in  their  subsequent  ordination  as  presbyters,  all  such  would, 
nevertheless,  ultimately  receive  episcopal  ordination. -° 

Another  subject  of  deliberation  at  that  Synod  was  the  important 
one  of  schools  and  the  work  among  the  children  in  general.  The 
more  fully  developed  system  in  operation  in  Europe,  with  a  paternal 

19  This  office  became  obsolete  with  the  death,  in  1834,  of  the  Rev.  Lewis  David  de 
Schweinitz  of  Bethlehem,  who  was  the  last  Moravian  clergj'man,  either  in  Europe  or 
America,  who  held  it. 

20  A  singular  departure  from  this  principal  in  the  direction  of  strictness — but  in  accordance 
with  the  wish  of  the  candidate,  as  it  seems — occurred  in  1752,  in  the  case  of  the  Rev. 
Laurentius  Thorstansen  Nyberg,  who  had  been  ordained  to  the  Lutheran  ministry  in 
Sweden,  where  the  episcopacy  is  retained  by  that  Church,  by  Archbishop  Benzelius,  but 
joined  the  Moravian  Church  in  Pennsylvania  in  1748.  He  went  to  England  in  1752  to 
labor  there  and  was  ordained  a  deacon  by  a  Moravian  bishop  in  London.  It  is  the  only 
instance  of  the  kind  on  record.  He  was  ordained  a  presbyter  in  1754.  This  strange  and 
indefensible  procedure  created  much  sensation  in  Sweden.  Eventually  the  Moravian 
Church,  with  unnessary  generosity,  departed  from  that  fair  and  sensible  princijile  in  tlie 
other  direction  by  admitting  men  ordained  in  non-episcopal  churches  at  once  as  presbyters, 
on  the  score  of  their  having  served  as  regular  pastors,  in  the  word  and  sacraments,  in  those 
churches.  The  decision  of  1748  is  consistent  with  the  general  position  of  the  Moravian 
Church  and  makes  all  reasonable  concession  to  ecclesiastical  systems  which  recognize  ami 
have  only  one  grade  of  the  ministry. 


228  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

and  maternal  oversight  of  this  department  of  activity  committed  to 
appointees  called  Kindcrcltcni,  was  explained  by  Bishop  de  Watteville, 
preparatory  to  a  re-organization  of  this  work,  which  will  be  treated 
of  in  the  next  chapter. 

The  principle  of  tropes,  already  referred  to  several  times,  was  also 
more  fully  elucidated,  with  a  view  to  carrying  out  Zinzendorf's 
favorite  idea  of  elasticity  within  the  Church,  fostering  the  several 
historic  cults,  as  a  concession  to  the  differing  ecclesiastical  traditions 
of  people  received  into  its  pale  on  the  new  basis  now  established. 
In  connection  with  this,  the  idea  of  gathering  in  only  genuinely 
awakened  Christians  whose  religion  was  a  matter  of  the  heart,  was 
pressed  to  a  degree,  in  setting  it  forth,  that  betrayed  symptoms  of 
an  unwarranted  assumption  of  superiority  which,  at  that  time, 
found  utterance  in  treating  of  the  headship  of  Christ  in  the  Church. 
Carried  away  by  the  enthusiastic  aspiration  to  present  an  example 
of  a  body  of  people  in  real  living  union  with  Christ,  and  by  the  exalted 
experiences  made ;  giving  w'ay  somewhat  also  to  the  disposition — of 
which  there  have  been  many  other  examples — to  believe  themselves, 
in  a  peculiar  sense,  the  Lord's  people,  because  they  were  so  much 
assailed  and  reviled  from  many  cjuarters,  men  indulged  in  a  kind  of 
speech  which  gave  the  impression  that  they  considered  themselves 
the  Church. 

On  November  5,  1748,  Bishop  Spangenberg,  acquiescing  in  the 
plans  that  had  been  communicated  to  him  and  desiring  to  clear 
the  way  for  the  proposed  reconstruction  in  all  particulars,  placed 
his  resignation  in  the  hands  of  the  Conference  of  Elders,  as  then 
constituted.  His  position  was  peculiar  and  embarrassing.  If  this 
step  asked  of  him  had  been  the  result  simply  of  the  drawing  of  the 
lot,  on  the  whole  question,  in  December,  1747,  it  would  have  had  a 
different  aspect.  But  the  shaping  of  the  matter  in  the  preceding 
plans  so  that  this  became  necessarily  involved  in  the  final  issue,  was 
a  matter  of  deliberate  arrangement,  and  revealed  a  desire  to  have 
him  disconnected  from  the  new  departure,  notwithstanding  that  no 
man  in  the  Moravian  Church  was  as  competent  as  he  would  have 
been  to  inaugurate  the  new  regime.  That  his  coadjutor,  or  assistant, 
Cammerhofif  was  not  likewise  asked  to  retire  from  his  position,  to 
open  the  way  for  the  change  of  system,  w^as  significant  of  what 
appears  from  other  indications.  Spangenberg  had,  with  fearless 
honesty,  raised  his  voice  and  used  his  pen  against  the  trend  of  things 
prior  to  this.  The  men  who  in  their  soaring  enthusiasm  had  cast 
prudence  and  common  sense  to  the  winds  for  the  time  being,  found 


1745- 


•1748. 


229 


him  in  their  way;  for  their  type  of  rehgious  intensity  and  exalted 
spirituaUty,  as  Httle  as  other  types  of  it,  rendered  men  proof  against 
being  piqued  by  objections  to  their  notions;  and  they  put  a  severe 
trial  upon  Spangenberg's  faith  in  the  ingenious  sincerity  of  their 
purposes,  by  thus  constraining  him  to  vacate  a  position  in  which  he 
had  labored  so  arduously  and  accomplished  what  none  of  them  would 
have  been  able  to  do.  On  November  13 — the  day  on  which,  seven 
years  before,  the  conception  of  the  immediate  headship  of  Christ 
in  the  Church  which  displaced  the  ideal  human  General  Eldership 
was  formally  promulgated — the  solemn  declaration  of  the  extension 
of  this  central  principle  of  organization,  administration  and  fellowship 
to  the  Church  in  America,  was  made  at  Bethlehem,  in  connection 
with  high  festivities,  in  which  Spangenberg  was  a  quiet,  unofficial 
participant.  In  its  substantial  quality,  the  act  of  that  day  consum- 
mated the  establishment  of  a  distinct  American  branch  of  the  Mora- 
vian Church.  After  several  busy  days,  the  ceremonious  dedication  of 
the  new  Brethren's  House,  already  referred  to,  took  place  on  the 
i6th,  de  Watteville  officiating.  While  he  was  absent,  December 
4-31,  visiting  the  Indian  converts  remaining  in  New  York  and  Con- 
necticut, Spangenberg  went  to  Philadelphia  to  pay  his  respects  to 
the  new  Governor,  James  Hamilton,  while  his  wife,  relieved  of  official 
duties,  opened  a  writing  school  for  young  working  women  at  Beth- 
lehem. 


RELICS   OF   THE   CROWN    INN. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


The  Course  of  Things  to  the  Indian  Raid. 
1749—1755- 

The  period  of  three  years  after  Bishop  Spangenberg's  temporary 
retirement  brought  developments  that  more  severely  tested  the 
institutions  at  Bethlehem  than  any  experiences  previously  made. 
Abnormal  tendencies,  referred  to  in  the  preceding  chapter,  found 
entrance,  for  a  brief  season,  to  a  sufTficient  extent,  that  the  time  of 
their  invasion  may  be  regarded  as  an  internal  crisis — passed  how- 
ever without  disaster,  and  before  the  time  of  outward  tribulation 
which  followed.  The  nature  of  this  crisis  will  appear  more  clearly 
when  the  administration  of  the  man  sent  over  to  be  Spangenberg's 
successor  opens.  Until  the  autumn  of  1749,  Bishop  John  de  Watte- 
ville  remained  in  control.  In  February  of  that  year  Spangenberg  and 
his  wife  left  Bethlehem  and  located  temporarily  in  Philadelphia, 
where  they  devoted  themselves  to  such  evangelistic  and  pastoral 
duties  as  they  found  to  do  in  that  city.  The  understanding  was 
that  they  would  accompany  de  Watteville  to  Europe  before  the  close 
of  the  year.  The  latter  was  very  busily  engaged  during  the  inter- 
vening months.  The  broad  scope  of  his  commission  required  him  to 
not  only  effect  the  changes  in  view  at  Bethlehem,  but  also  to  visit 
all  the  other  Moravian  fields  of  labor  in  America,  to  organize  the 
work  at  all  of  these  places,  and  to  thoroughly  inspect  the  condition  and 
prospects  of  the  missionary  work  among  the  Indians,  which  involved 
extensive  and  arduous  journeys  in  the  Indian  country.  He  also 
visited  the  stations  in  the  West  Indies,  sailing  from  New  York,  April 
8,  and  returning  to  Bethlehem,  July  4.  On  some  of  these  tours  he 
was  accompanied  by  Spangenberg.  His  wife,  the  Countess  Benigna, 
remained  in  Bethlehem  during  most  of  this  time. 

Conspicuous  among  the  changes  made  in  the  process  of  re-organ- 
ization, are  those  which  went  into  elYect  early  in  1749,  in  connection 
with  the  work  among  the  children.  On  January  6,  the  sixteen  girls 
of  the  boarding-school  which  was  yet  conducted  at  Nazareth,  where, 
in  1746,  Whitefield  had  found  satisfaction  in  associating  it  with  his 

230 


1749 1755-  231 

original  plans,  were  transferred  to  Bethlehem  and  "welcomed,  with 
agreeable  music,"  to  their  new  quarters  in  "the  house  before  that 
occupied  by  married  people  as  dwelling  apartments,"  and  later  called 
the  "children's  house."  This  was  the  stone  building  now  spoken  of 
officially  as  "the  Old  Seminary,"  and  commonly  called  "the  bell 
house,"  already  referred  to.  There,  on  the  above  date,  the  unbroken 
local  existence  of  the  school  now  known  for  many  years  as  the 
Seminary  for  Young  Ladies  began.  Those  girls  were  in  charge 
of  four  teachers  who  accompanied  them  from  Nazareth.  The  next 
day  the  children  of  the  nursery,  twenty-nine  little  boys  and  twenty-six 
little  girls,  were  taken  to  Nazareth  with  their  nurses  and  attendants, 
and  domiciled  in  the  Whitefield  house.  This  nursery,  referred  to 
already  in  the  preceding  chapter,  was  an  institution  of  pathetic 
interest.  Under  the  peculiar  arrangements  of  the  time,  with  no 
proper  provision  yet  for  separate  family  homes,  while  women,  as 
well  as  men,  were  employed,  in  departments  and  companies,  at  the 
various  kinds  of  labor  or  were  traveling  as  missionaries,  it  was 
necessary,  so  long  as  this  system  was  continued,  to  make  special 
provision  for  the  care  of  the  quite  young  children  in  a  special  home. 
In  this  nursery  they  were  placed  as  soon  as  they  were  old  enough 
to  be  taken  from  the  mother's  arms  and  there  certain  of  the  widows 
and  single  women,  or  certain  of  the  married  women  who  were 
physically  unable  to  engage  in  other  duties,  took  care  of  them  until, 
at  three  years  of  age,  they  were  placed  in  the  separate  institutions 
for  little  boys  and  girls.  The  nursery  was  under  the  general  superin- 
tendence of  an  intelligent  and  reliable  married  couple,  with  the 
assistance  of  such  others  in  the  external  work  of  the  establishment, 
as  the  number  of  children,  from  time  to  time,  required ;  and  either 
the  Superintendent  himself,  or  some  one  associated  with  him,  or 
located  near  at  hand,  was  possessed  of  sufficient  medical  knowledge 
to  serve  all  ordinary  needs. 

Furthermore,  on  January  lo,  Dr.  Meyer  brought  a  few  boys  to 
Bethlehem  who  had  been  temporarily  placed  in  the  school  on  the 
farm  of  Antes  in  Frederick  Township.  They,  with  four  boys  who 
had  remained  of  the  little  school  in  the  Ysselstein  house  on  the  south 
side  of  the  Lehigh,  treated  of  in  the  last  chapter,  and  several  others 
brought  down  from  Gnadenthal  and  Nazareth,  were  quartered  in  a 
room  of  the  Brethren's  House,  the  next  day,  and  organized  in  proper 
charge ;  they  having  reached  an  age  at  which  it  was  thought  desirable 
to  have  them  under  further  instruction  and  training  "nearer  to  the 
heart  of  the  congregation,"  so  that  they  should  not  grow  out  of 


232  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

touch  with  the  central  influences.  This  was  the  idea  which  also 
controlled  the  transfer  of  girls,  at  a  certain  age,  to  the  boarding- 
school  now  established  at  Bethlehem.  In  the  following  month  of 
May,  the  school  opened  in  1746,  in  the  house  of  John  Bechtel  at 
Germantown,  was  closed — mainly  because  of  financial  burdens.  On 
May  24,  the  girls  of  that  boarding-school  were  brought  to  Bethlehem, 
and  eleven  of  them  were  placed  in  the,  now  vacant,  Ysselstein  house 
on  the  south  side.  Thus,  that  building  became  a  boarding-school 
for  girls,  but  without  the  slig'ht  stigma  that  attached  to  the  boys' 
school  which  had  occupied  it  before.  This  first  school  for  girls  on 
the  south  side  was  organized,  May  27,  1749,  but  was  only  main- 
tained until  February  25,  1750,  when  the  older  of  the  girls  were 
installed  with  the  older  girls  of  Bethlehem  who  were  engaged  in 
learning  various  kinds  of  female  industries,  and  the  younger  ones 
were  taken  over  to  the  Maguntsche  school.  The  subsequent  school 
history  of  that  house  on  the  south  side  is  the  following:  September 
10,  1 75 1,  eleven  girls  from  the  abandoned  Oley  school,  which  it  will 
be  necessary  to  mention  again,  were  brought  to  Bethlehem  and 
quartered  in  that  house  with  some  from  the  Maguntsche  school,  which 
from  that  time  became  a  school  exclusively  for  boys.  A  few  others 
were  added  later,  and  there,  a  school  for  girls  was  again  organized. 
It  was  continued  until  December  4,  1753,  when  the  use  of  the  house 
for  school  purposes  ceased  and  a  school  for  girls — fourteen  girls 
in  charge  of  two  sisters — was  again  opened  at  Nazareth,  in  the  older 
of  the  two  log  houses — long  ago  demolished — which  stood  near  the 
Whitefield  house.     There  this  school  remained  until  June   18,   1759. 

Therefore,  for  a  while  after  these  shiftings  of  January  to  May, 
1749,  the  children  of  the  Economy,  with  others  under  Moravian  care, 
were  distributed  in  the  following  institutions :  Girls,  in  the  boarding- 
school  at  Bethlehem,  with  an  adjunct  on  the  south  side;  boys,  in 
the  school  in  the  Brethren's  House  at  Bethlehem,  with  an  adjunct 
later  opened  in  the  log  house  next  to  the  Community  House,  where 
the  church  now  stands ;  boys,  in  the  school  at  Fredericktown ;  boys 
and  girls,  in  the  schools  at  Oley  and  Maguntsche ;  the  nursery 
children,  boys  and  girls,  in  the  Whitefield  house  at  Nazareth.^ 

It  is  an  interesting  circumstance,  in  connection  with  the  re-organ- 
ization of  school  work  in  1749,  and  particularly  with  the  permanent 

I  These  changes  and  translocations  are  thus  traced  with  some  minuteness  as  a  matter  of 
reference,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  sometimes  search  for  details  of  the  early  school 
work,  locally  or  generally,  and  find  the  inaccuracies  and  contradictions  in  extant  historical 
papers  confusing.     Subsequent  shiftings  will  in  like  manner  be  noted  as  they  occur. 


1749 1755-  233 

establishment  of  the  boarding-school  for  girls  at  Bethlehem,  that 
Count  Zinzendorf's  daughter  Benigna,  who,  in  1742,  had  made  the 
beginning  in  this  important  branch  of  Aloravian  Church  work  in 
Pennsylvania,  at  Germantown,  was  now  again  here  and  manifesting 
her  warm  interest  in  it  by  helping  to  re-establish  it  on  the  new  basis. 
She  had  more  women  of  education  and  refinement  associated  with 
her,  in  these  efforts,  than  at  the  start,  seven  years  before ;  and  from 
this  time  on,  the  number  of  women,  as  well  as  of  men,  thoroughly 
qualified  for  such  work,  steadily  increased  with  the  demands. 

On  April  25,  1749,  letters  arrived  from  Europe  in  reference  to  the 
sailing  of  the  Irene  from  London  with  the  large  colony  mentioned  in 
the  preceding  chapter,  in  connection  with  the  parliamentary  pro- 
ceedings in  regard  to  the  Moravian  Church.  These  letters  led  to 
active  preparations  for  their  reception.  They  left  London,  February 
20,  put  out  to  sea,  Alarch  i,  and  anchored  at  New  York,  May  12; 
the  very  day  on  which  the  act  of  Parliament,  to  which  their  presence 
at  London  had  helped  to  give  impulse,  was  passed.  Their  arrival 
attracted  considerable  attention  at  New  York  and  was  commented 
on  in  the  newspapers.  Bishop  David  Nitschmann,  accompanied  by 
his  wife,  returned  to  Pennsylvania  with  this  colony  to  resume  his 
travels  and  negotiations,  as  a  missionary  superintendent.  They 
were  the  first  to  reach  Bethlehem,  having  started  from  New  York 
in  advance  of  the  others.  They  came  by  way  of  Nazareth  and  arrived 
at  Bethlehem,  May  15,  late  in  the  evening.  The  leader  of  the  colony 
was  Bishop  John  Nitschmann  who  had  been  chosen  to  succeed  Bishop 
Spangenberg  at  Bethlehem.  Christian  David,  the  indefatigable 
evangelist  who  had  brought  about  the  settlement  of  the  Moravians 
at  Berthelsdorf  and  the  founding  of  Herrnhut  in  1722,  was  also  with 
them — "good  old  Christian  David"  writes  the  Bethlehem  diarist  who 
records  the  surprise  and  pleasure  his  arrival  caused.  The  pioneer 
Greenland  missionary,  Matthew  Stach,  with  whom  Christian  David 
was  associated  in  founding  that  second  mission  of  the  INIoravian 
Church  among  the  heathen,  was  also  one  of  the  company,  with  his 
wife,  his  nephew  Thomas  Stach,  who  was  to  go  with  him  to  Green- 
land, and  three  Greenlanders,  John,  Alatthew  and  Judith,  whom  Stach 
had  taken  to  Europe  and  who  were  now  returning  to  their  home. 
Joseph  Mueller  of  the  Long  Swamp,  mentioned  before  this  several 
times,  who  had  been  in  Europe  since  1743,  studying  medicine  among 
other  things,  and  now  returning  to  serve  the  Church  in  Pennsylvania, 
was  another  passenger,  together  with  his  wife.  W^rona  Prey,  who,  as 


234  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

a  single  woman,  had  also  accompanied  Zinzendorf  s  party  to  Europe 
in  1743.  David  Wahnert,  that  man  of  many  voyages  and  so 
serviceable  to  numerous  colonies  on  ship-board,  and  his  faithful  wife, 
Marv,  were  with  them.  One  ordained  man,  besides  the  two  Nitsch- 
manns,  who  came  with  this  third  Sea  Congregation  was  Samuel 
Krause,  with  his  wife  Rosina.  They  returned  to  Europe  in  1753. 
One  negro  woman,  Magdalena  Mingo  came  with  the  colony. - 

2  Besides  the  above  there  were  four  married  couples  :  Michael  and  Anna  Helena  Haber- 
land,  Christian  Jacob  and  Anna  Margaret  Sangerhausen,  John  and  Anna  StoU,  Christian 
Frederick  and  Anna  Regina  Steinmann ;  also  John  Schneider,  a  widower  and  Magdalena 
Elizabeth  Reuss,  a  widow.  While  recorded  statements  differ  as  to  the  entire  number  on  board, 
there  were  evidently  nearly  150,  including  16  officers  and  sailors,  of  whom  9  were  members 
of  the  Church,  and  some  other  persons  not  bound  for  Bethlehem,  whose  names  do  not 
appear.  106  of  the  115  Moravian  passengers  named  were  permanent  accessions  to  the 
settlements  in  the  Forks  and  to  the  missionary  force  connected  therewith.  The  main  part 
of  the  colony  consisted  of  39  single  men,  besides  Thomas  Stach  who  was  bound  for  Green- 
land, and  48  single  women.  Thirty-one  couples  of  these  young  people  were  betrothed,  and^ 
on  July  1 5,  1 749,  were  married  at  Bethlehem.  This  occasion,  like  the  similar  one  at  Herrn- 
haag  in  1743,  was  commemorated  by  these  families  for  some  years,  and  also  spoken  of  as 
"the  great  wedding."  Some  of  them  rendered  valuable  missionary  service  later  and  a  few 
of  the  men  were  eventually  ordained.  The  majority,  however,  served  the  Economy  in 
various  industries.  There  were  among  them  bakers,  blacksmiths,  a  book-binder, 
carpenters  and  joiners,  cloth-dressers,  cutlers,  farmers,  a  fringe  and  lace-maker,  a  furrier, 
masons,  shoemakers,  stocking-weavers,  tailors  and  weavers.  The  names  here  follow  in 
alphabetical  order : 

SINGLE   MEN. 

Berndt,  Gottlieb,  Opitz,  Carl, 

Bernhardt,  Wenzel,  Pitschmann,  George, 

Birnbaum,  Joachim,  Renner,  John  George, 

Drews,  Peter,  Richter,  John  Christian, 

Doerrbaum,  John  Philip,  Rillmann,  Andrev/, 

Enersen,  Enert,  Schlegel,  Frederick, 

Engel,  John  Godfrey,  Schmidt,  John, 

Fritche,  Henry,  Schmidt,  John  Christopher, 

Gattermeyer,  John  Leonhard,  Schmidt,  Melchior,  (i) 

Gold,  George,  Schmidt,  Melchior,  (2) 

Hohmann,  John  Peter,  Schneider,  Martin, 

Kliest,  Daniel,  Schultze,  Carl, 

^  Kuehnest,  Christopher,  Schultze,  Godfrey, 

Krause,  Andrew,  Schweisshaupl,  John, 

Kunz,  David,  Seiffert,  Andrew, 

Mordick,  Peter,  Straehle,  Rudolph, 

Mueller,  John  Bernhard,  Tanneberger,  David, 

Muenster,  Michael,  Weinland,  John  Nicholas. 
Nitschmann,  Martin, 


1749- 


•1755- 


235 


In  connection  with  this  large  accession  to  the  population  and 
working  force,  some  other  names  began  to  figure  in  the  records  of 
occurrences  during  the  year  1749,  with  which  interesting  and 
important  events  were  afterwards  associated.  The  first  week  in  June, 
John  Jones  of  Skippack  who  had  sold  his  farm  in  order  to  settle 
near  Bethlehem,  came,  with  his  family,  and  took  temporary  possession 
of  one  of  the  houses  on  the  south  side  of  the  river.  In  April,  1750, 
he  bought  the  500  acres  "east  of  Bethlehem  adjoining  the  land  of 
Secretary  Peters  and  including  the  old  field  of  Dr.  Graeme,"  and 
in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  he  finished  his  house  and  took  up  his 
residence  there.  He  eventually  entered  into  regular  connection  with 
the  Moravian  Church.  Thus  began  the  history  of  "the  Jones  place" 
near  Bethlehem  which  stands  in  such  close  and  interesting  relation 
with  the  subsequent  history  of  the  neighborhood. 

Several  Jerseymen,  also  connected  with  later  important  movements, 
appear  upon  the  scene.  Josiah  Pricket — written  also  Bricket,  Bracket 
and  Brickets — who  kept  a  public  house  in  the  neighborhood  known 
as  Greenwich,  a  warm  friend  of  the   Moravians,  who  had  visited 


Arndt,  Rosina, 
Arnold,  Rosina  Barbara, 
Ballenhorst,  Margaret, 
Beyer,  Anna  Rosina, 
Beyer,  Maria, 
Bieg,  Elizabeth, 
Binder,  Catherine, 
Dietz,  Rosina, 
Dominick,  Maria, 
Dressier,  Sophia  Margaret, 
Drews,  Margaret, 
Eis,  Charlotte, 
Engfer,  Maria  Elizabeth, 
Fichte,  Catherine, 
Fischer,  Catherine, 
Galle,  Rosina, 
Groesser,  Margaret, 
Gruendberg,  Helena, 
Haberland,  Juliana, 
Hammer,  Anna  Maria, 
Hans,  Rosina, 
Heindel,  Margaret 
Hendel,  Maria  Barbara, 
Kerner,  Anna  Rosina, 


WOMEN. 

Koffler,  Anna  Maria, 
Krause,  Anna  Maria, 
Krause,  Barbara, 
Maans,  Martha, 
Meyerhoft,  Magdalena, 
Mingo,  Magdelena, 
Nitsche,  Anna  Maria, 
Nuernberg,  Dorothea, 
Nuss,  Helena, 
Oertel,  Elizabeth, 
Opitz,  Maria  Ehzabeth, 
Paulsen,  Catherine, 
Ramsburger,  Anna, 
Rebstock,  Anna  Catherine, 
Roth,  Anna  Maria, 
Seidel,  Juliana, 
Schmatter,  Anna  Maria, 
Schuling,  Rosina, 
Schwartz,  Magdalena, 
Uhlmann,  Dorothea, 
Vogt,  Divert, 
Weicht,  Susanna, 
Wenzel,  Catherine. 


236  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Bethlehem  several  times,  made  formal  application  to  be  received  into 
their  communion,  on  June  7,  1749.  His  house  had  been  one  of  the 
stopping-places  of  itinerants  between  Bethlehem  and  the  Indian 
missions  in  New  York,  and  finally  one  of  their  preaching-places. 
So  also  came,  occasionally,  Samuel  Green,  Jr.,  and  his  wife  Abigail, 
whose  house  in  "the  Great  Meadows,"  in  the  same  neighborhood, 
was  likewise  such  a  stopping-place  and  center  of  stated  religious 
meetings.  They  had  previously  attended  Quaker  meeting  and 
services  of  "the  long  beards"  in  Amwell  Township  where  Green's 
father,  Samuel  Green,  Sr.,  was  a  large  land-owner,  a  surveyor  and, 
for  some  years,  assessor  and  collector  of  taxes,  clerk  and  finally 
Justice  of  the  Peace.  Samuel  Green,  Jr.,  and  his  wife  were  baptized 
at  Bethlehem  on  Whit-Monday,  May  26,  1749,  he  as  John  Samuel 
and  she  as  Anna  Abigail,  and  were  enrolled  as  communicant  members 
of  the  Moravian  Church.  This  connection  with  these  Jersey  people 
was  the  inception  of  the  work  which  resulted  in  the  establishment  of 
a  regular  Moravian  settlement,  in  1770,  on  the  large  tract  of  land 
on  which  Green  had  his  home,  and  which  he  offered,  in  1768,  to 
present  for  the  purpose,  but  which  was  regularly  purchased  in  1770. 
The  place  was,  at  first,  called  Greenland,  but  in  1775,  was  given  the 
name  Hope.'^ 

During  the  summer  of  1749,  visits  by  persons  of  prominence  in 
business  circles  or  in  public  office  were  of  frequent  occurrence.  One 
such  visit,  noted  in  September,  w'as  that  of  Thomas  Penn's  Secretary 
with  "Justice  Anthony  ^'lorris  of  Furnace  ]\Iill,  on  the  road  to  Phila- 
delphia." .This  visit  had  some  connection,  as  it  seems,  with  planning 
and  prospecting  then  in  progress,  with  a  view  to  the  founding  of 
a  new  town  at  the  confluence  of  the  Delaware  and  Lehigh  Rivers 
and  the  eventual  erection  of  the  new  county  which  was  being  agitated. 

An  epoch  in  the  industrial  development  of  Bethlehem  came  with 
the  arrival,  on  June  25,  1749,  of  four  young  men  from  England; 
William  Dixon,  Joseph  Healy,  John  Hirst  and  Richard  Poppelwell, 
to  make  the  first  attempt  at  manufacturing  woolen  cloth.  They 
were  weavers  from  the  Yorkshire   mills  which  were,  at  that  time. 


3  This  church-settlement,  to  which  there  will  be  further  reference  in  these  pages,  had  a 
very  promising  beginning,  with  its  important  mill,  store  and  group  of  other  industries,  its 
community  house,  tavern  and  even  a  boarding-school,  for  a  few  years.  It  also  has  an  inter- 
esting history  during  the  Revolutionary  War.  A  combination  of  causes  led  to  its  decline, 
and  it  was  given  up,  as  a  church-settlement,  in  i8o!i.  Several  of  the  old  buildings  and  the 
cemetery  remain  as  objects  of  interest  in  the  modern  village  which  yet  bears  the  name  Hope. 


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1749 1755-  237 

being  operated  with  vigor  by  men  in  connection  with  the  Moravian 
Church  in  England.* 

Among  the  members  of  the  ^Moravian  Church  won  in  America  who 
became  residents  of  Bethlehem,  the  most  important  man,  after  Antes 
and  Captain  Garrison,  was  Timothy  Horsfield  of  Long  Island.  He 
removed  to  the  place  on  November  8,  1749,  and  took  possession  of 
the  new  stone  house  that  had  been  built  for  him  during  the  summer, 
"outside  of  Bethlehem,  beyond  the  grave-yard."^ 

]\Iuch  attention  was  given  during  the  year  1749  to  plans  for  the 
extension  of  the  work  among  the  Indians.  Under  the  new  policy 
inaugurated  by  de  Watteville,  more  effort  was  to  be  devoted  to  this, 
as  a  special  undertaking  of  the  jMoravian  Church,  while  the  evan- 
gelistic activity  among  white  settlers  was  to  assume  a  more  defined 
and  localized  character,  with  the  abandonment  of  Zinzendorf's 
Pennsylvania  Synod  scheme.  Bethlehem  was  no  longer  to  be 
considered  a  center  from  which  a  comprehensive  plan  of  operations 
among  all  denominations  was  to  be  executed,  but  the  headquarters 
where  the  activity  which  the  previous  course  of  things  had  put  into 
the  hands  of  the  Moravian  Church  was  to  be  prosecuted.  Naturally 
then,  the  Indian  missions  became  relatively  more  prominent,  as  a 
department  of  activity,  for  in  this  the  Moravian  Church  then  stood 
practically  alone.  The  devoted  David  Brainerd,  whose  efforts  among 
the  Indians  along  the  Delaware  and  in  other  regions  are  referred  to 
occasionally  in  the  Bethlehem  records,  departed  this  Hfe  on  October 
9,  1747.  The  Rev.  John  Brainerd,  his  brother,  who  took  up  his  work 
in  the  previous  April  among  the  Indians  of  Crossweeksung,  and 
had  located  at  Cranberry,  N.  J.,  failed  to  establish  it  satisfactorily 
there,    in    consequence    of    comphcations    about    the    land,    which, 


4  Among  contributions  received  from  Europe  by  the  Society  for  the  Furtherance  of  the 
Gospel,  for  the  benefit  of  Indian  missions,  were  several  invoices  of  wares  from  these  York- 
shire mills. 

5  This  house,  then  "outside"  the  village,  is  yet  standing  on  the  north  side  of  Market 
Street  opposite  the  old  cemeter\',  and  is  marked  by  a  tablet  attached  to  it  in  Bethlehem's 
sesqui-centennial  year,  1892.  The  addition  built  to  the  west  side  of  it  in  1753,  for  the  first 
general  store  and  trading-place  of  the  settlement,  was  removed  several  years  before  tlie  town 
became  150  years  old.  Horsfield  was  the  successor  (1752)  of  Antes  as  Justice  of  the  Peace 
at  Bethlehem.  When  he  located  here  he  put  his  Long  Island  home  at  the  disposal  of  tlie 
Church.  A  school  for  boys  was  opened  there  in  the  spring  of  1750,  under  the  supervision 
of  Jasper  Payne  and  James  Greening,  in  connection  with  evangelistic  efforts  in  the  vicinity. 
In  December,  1750,  John  Doehling,  the  teacher,  moved  the  school  into  "  a  house  near  the 
ferry." 


238  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

together  with  the  interference  of  persons  inimical  to  the  mission  and 
desiring  its  disintegration,  led  the  converts,  for  the  most  part,  to 
leave  the  place  and  scatter  before  the  close  of  1749.  During  the 
year  there  are  various  allusions  to  them,  and  to  their  intention 
of  seeking  a  new  location  at  or  near  Gnadenhuetten.  Mr.  Brain- 
erd,  coming  for  a  while  under  the  influence  of  those  untiring 
assailants  of  the  Brethren  who  were  distinguishing  themselves  in 
his  denomination  by  their  zeal  in  this  sort  of  activity,  declared  that 
"if  what  Gilbert  Tennent  had  written  about  the  Moravians  was  true, 
he  had  rather  see  the  Indians  remain  heathen  than  become  Mora- 
vians." Fortunately  the  rabid  things  which  this  redoubtable  defender 
of  the  faith  and  the  State  against  the  Moravian  menace,  and  others 
who  had  joined  in  the  campaign,  said  about  them  were  not  true. 
Brainerd  evidently  so  concluded  when  he  visited  Bethlehem  in 
October  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lawrence  who  preached  in  the  Irish 
settlement.  He  took  friendly  counsel  about  the  Indian  problem  with 
the  missionaries  at  Bethlehem,  against  whom  he  had  some  months 
before  warned  his  Indians,  after  reading  Mr.  Tennent's  statements. 
Just  before  his  visit,  a  number  of  the  Indians  from  Cranberry  who 
had  become  so  dissatisfied  that  they  could  no  longer  be  persuaded 
to  remain,  had  come  to  Bethlehem  and  then  proceeded  on  their 
way,  intending  to  visit  Gnadenhuetten.  Bishop  Cammerhofif,  finding 
these  Indians  at  Bethlehem  on  October  21,  when  he  returned  from 
a  journey,  and  fearing  the  complications  that  might  ensue  from  their 
visit  to  Gnadenhuetten,  set  out  at  once  for  that  place  to  have  a 
consultation  with  the  missionaries  stationed  there  and  to  caution 
the  Indian  congregation  to  be  on  their  guard,  to  show  themselves 
friendly  but  to  answer  discreetly,  and  not  let  themselves  be 
persuaded  into  any  plan  for  joining  interests.  The  danger  that  lay 
in  this  became  apparent  later,  when  it  transpired  that  this  disaffected 
remnant  of  David  Brainerd's  once  flourishing  Indian  congregation 
was  worked  upon  by  emissaries  from  the  tribes  that  had  been  drawn 
into  alliance  with  the  French.  Many  of  them,  like  sundry  Moravian 
converts,  not  remaining  true  to  their  profession,  became  agents  to 
sow  discord  and  bring  the  peaceable  and  loyal  Indians  under 
suspicion.  Some  of  the  Cranberry  Indians  halted  about  eight  miles 
from  Bethlehem,  on  the  Gnadenhuetten  road,  and  spent  the  winter 
there.  Their  occasional  presence  among  the  Indians  at  Bethlehem 
and  at  Gnadenhuetten,  at  that  early  stage  of  the  slowly-working 
intrigues  to  alienate  the  Delawares,  as  well  as  the  Shawanese,  from 


1749 1755-  239 

English  interests,  was  dreaded  almost  more  by  the  Brethren  than 
that  of  strange  and  savage  Indians.  Their  converts  would  be  far 
less  likely  to  heed  the  counsels  of  the  latter  than  those  of  Indians 
who  came  to  them  as  fellow-Christians.  This  is  also  the  reason  why 
renegade  Moravian  Indians,  during  the  following  years,  were  much 
more  troublesome  than  savages  who  tried  to  allure  the  faithful  ones. 
This  first  contact  wath  the  disafifected  Indians  from  Cranberry  thus 
proved  to  be  the  beginning  of  a  series  of  perplexing  experiences 
w^hich  culminated  in  the  horrors  of  1755.  Therefore  it  is  introduced 
at  this  point. 

During  the  summer  of  1749,  it  also  became  clear  that  the  hope 
entertained  for  a  while,  of  being  able  to  resuscitate  the  missions  in 
New  York  and  Connecticut,  was  vain.  Although  Moravian  minis- 
trations among  those  who  stayed  there  in  preference  to  emigrating, 
and  who  remained  faithful,  continued  at  intervals  for  more  than  ten 
years  longer,  the  blind  intolerance  that  ruled  the  counsels  of  the 
Province  of  New  York  w^ould  not  let  the  work  live.  Therefore, 
further  bands  of  the  converts  follow^ed  those  who  had  first  come 
to  Bethlehem.  The  faithful  young  missionary,  David  Bruce,  brought 
a  company  of  twenty-nine  from  Wechquadnach  to  Bethlehem,  the 
middle  of  May,  1749,  less  than  two  months  before  his  lamented 
death  at  that  persecuted  mission.  These,  added  for  a  season  to  the 
number  yet  sojourning  in  Friedenshuetten,  at  Bethlehem's  feet,  near 
the  Monocacy,  and  another  little  company,  temporarily  living  to  the 
north  of  the  place  "above  Burnside's  land  near  the  creek,"  consti- 
tuted quite  a  congregation  of  them  gathered,  at  this  time,  in  the 
vicinity. 

They,  with  a  delegation  of  the  Gnadenhuetten  Indians  participated, 
on  June  9,  in  a  highly  interesting  service  at  Bethlehem,  which,  in 
a  more  tangible  manner  than  the  polyglot  service  of  song  referred 
to  in  the  preceding  chapter,  indicated  the  broad  range  of  Moravian 
missionary  efforts.  On  May  6,  the  missionary  Zander,  whose  wife 
Magdalena  Miller  formerly  of  Germantown,  had  died  at  sea  on  the 
voyage,  arrived  in  Bethlehem  with  his  two  little  children  from  Berbice 
in  South  America,  ^^'ith  him  came  the  missionary  Grabenstein,  and 
two  young  men  from  Berbice,  Lorenz  Van  Wilier  and  Christian 
Eggert.  The  last-named  became  a  resident  of  Bethlehem.  They 
had  landed  at  Bristol,  R.  I.,  the  middle  of  April,  after  a  protracted 
voyage.  They  brought  with  them,  besides  a  four-year-old  mulatto 
bov,  Ari,  an  Arawack  Indian  girl,  Elizabeth,  sixteen  years  of  age. 


240  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PEXNSVLVANIA. 

An  Arawack  boy,  John  Renatus,"  brought  from  Berbice  in  1748  by 
Matthew  Reuz,  was  also  in  Bethlehem  at  this  time. 

The  missionary  Stach  was  yet  sojourning  at  the  place  with  his 
Greenlanders.  They  were  preparing  to  leave  and  a  farewell  service 
was  to  be  held.  When  two  Indian  helpers  came  from  Gnadenhuetten, 
on  June  4,  to  see  the  Greenlanders  and  bring  them  fraternal 
greetings  from  their  congregation,  they  were  commissioned  to  invite 
as  many  of  the  Gnadenhuetten  Indians  as  could  come,  to  attend  this 
farewell  service  on  the  9th.  They,  as  well  as  the  Indians  of  Beth- 
lehem, were  greatly  interested  in  the  Greenlanders,  examined  their 
native  costume  with  much  curiosity  and  tried  to  find  what  similarity 
there  might  be  between  their  language  and  their  own,  as  also  that 
of  the  Arawacks.  This  unique  service,  with  which  a  lovefeast  was 
connected,  took  place  in  the  chapel  of  the  Brethren's  House.  The 
Greenlanders,  in  their  native  dress,  were  the  central  figures  of  the 
group.  Next  to  them  sat  the  Arawacks  and,  in  a  circle  around  them, 
were  gathered  all  the  Indians  present,  Delawares,  Mohicans,  Wam- 
panoags,  and  others,  with  a  few  negroes,  and  such  missionaries  who 
then  happened  to  be  in  Bethlehem.  The  outer  circle  of  the  group 
consisted  of  the  children  and  adults  of  Bethlehem.  One  of  the 
features  of  the  occasion  was  the  singing  of  several  hymns  that  had 
been  translated  into  their  respective  languages — the  same  hymns 
simultaneously  to  the  same  tunes ;  the  white  congregation  joining  in 
English  and  German,  and  the  whole  being  led  by  wind  and  stringed 
instruments.  One  record  calls  it  "an  incomparable  concert."  At 
the  evening  service,  the  Greenlanders  appeared  once  more  in  their 
own  peculiar  garb.  The  missionary  Stach  spoke  to  them  about  the 
significance  of  the  occasion  and  then,  in  the  Greenland  tongue,  said 
the  final  w^ords  of  farewell  in  their  name  to  the  congregation. 

He  w^ent  with  them  to  Philadelphia,  the  next  day,  to  call  on  Gov- 
ernor Hamilton  at  his  special  request,  and  proceeded  from  there  to 
New  York.  Christian  David,  who  had  been  busily  engaged  in  getting 
the  timber  to  New  York  for  a  store-house  he  was  commissioned  to 
build  in  Greenland — helping  the  carpenters  meanwhile  at  the  new 
house  of  Nazareth,  the  main  structure  of  the  group  that  in  later 
years  was  known  as  Old  Nazareth — followed  them  to  Philadelphia 
on  the  1 2th.  and  from  there  also  went  to  New  York,  where  Captain 

6  Renatus  was  taken  to  Europe  by  Zander  and  Grabenstein  in  October,  1749,  and  Eliza- 
beth died  at  Bethlehem,  June  18,  1750. 


1749 1755-  241 

Garrison  had  the  Irene  in  readiness  to  sail.  The  passengers  were 
Matthew  and  Thomas  Stach,  with  their  wives — Thomas  had  been 
married,  June  2.  to  EHzabeth  Lisberger — Christian  David  and 
Catherine  Paulsen.  They  left  the  dock  on  June  2i,  and,  after  taking 
on  a  supply  of  drinking  water  at  Staten  Island,  put  to  sea  early  on 
the  morning  of  the  23d.  This  was  a  remarkable  expedition  and  one 
of  those  voyages  that  justified  the  statements  made  about  the  Irene, 
that  she  was  "as  strong  as  a  tower,"  and  was  "a  very  superior  sailer;" 
also  the  testimony  given  Captain  Garrison,  that  he  had  few  equals 
at  the  time  as  a  skillful  navigator.  They  made  the  voyage  to  Green- 
land in  twenty-six  days,  lay  there  fourteen  days,  during  which  time 
Christian  David  built  the  provision-house  for  which  he  had  taken 
the  timber  along,  all  ready  framed  to  be  set  up,  and  in  six  weeks 
after  this  task  was  completed,  they  were  safely  back  at  New  York, 
with  the  Greenland  missionaries  Frederick  Boehnisch  and  wife  on 
board,  to  go  to  Europe  on  the  Irene  when  she  sailed  again.  Christian 
David  left  the  ship  at  Sandy  Hook  and  hastened  ahead  to  announce 
their  safe  return.  To  the  astonishment  and  joy  of  every  one,  he 
suddenly  appeared  in  Bethlehem  on  September  13.  None  were 
thinking  of  the  Irene  as  yet  possibly  back  from  Greenland.  Without 
delay,  Captain  Garrison  made  preparations  for  another  voyage  to 
Europe,  and,  the  first  week  in  October,  was  ready  to  sail.  Bishop 
John  de  Watteville's  work  in  America  was  finished,  and  he  prepared 
at  once  to  take  passage  on  the  church-ship.  Bishop  Spangenberg 
and  his  wife  had  closed  their  temporary  labors  in  Philadelphia  and 
came  to  Bethlehem.  Early  on  the  morning  of  October  6,  they  bade 
farewell  to  the  place  and  left  for  New  York  to  make  the  final  prepar- 
ations for  the  voyage,  with  Bishop  David  Nitschmann  and  wife,  who 
also  returned  to  Europe.  They  were  followed  by  one  of  the  Beth- 
lehem wagons  containing  the  last  baggage  of  the  company.  With 
the  wagon  went  David  A/Vahnert  and  wife,  the  missionaries  Boehnisch 
and  wife.  Zander  and  Grabenstein,  the  Arawack  boy  John  Rena- 
tus,  the  widow  of  the  missionary  John  Hagen,  and  a  young  man, 
Gottfried  Hofifman.  who  had  come  with  Grube's  company  in  1748 
and  now  returned  to  Europe.  A  merchant,  Lefferts,  is  also  men- 
tioned as  taking  passage  with  them  from  New  York.  Bishop  deWat- 
teville  and  his  wife  left  Bethlehem  on  October  7,  accompanied  by 
various  officials.  Henry  Antes,  who,  at  first,  intended  to  take  leave 
of  them  at  the  Delaware,  there  concluded  to  make  it  his  gallant  duty 

17 


242  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

to  himself  drive  the  chaise  that  he  had  procured  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  "Sister  Benigna,"  all  the  way  to  New  York  and  look  after 
her  personal  comfort.  It  seemed  very  empty  at  Bethlehem  after 
their  departure,  with  so  many  others  accompanying  them  to  New 
York,  remarks  the  chronicler.  After  some  delay,  the  Irene  left  her 
dock,  October  15,  and  finally  sailed  off  from  Sandy  Hook  at  sunrise 
on  the  i6th.  There  the  gentle  and  devoted  Cammerhoff  took  his  last 
leave  of  them  on  earth  and  returned  on  a  pilot  boat.  He  journeyed 
afoot  to  Philadelphia  to  make  another  official  tour,  and  threw  himself 
with  greater  energy  than  before  into  the  arduous  labors  of  his  remain- 
ing brief  term  of  service.  These  labors  were  mainly  in  connection  with 
the  Indian  missions  which  were  now  to  be  prosecuted  with  renewed 
vigor.  Some  incidents  of  this  work  during  the  following  year,  which 
belong  essentially  to  the  course  of  events,  and  with  which  he  was 
conspicuously  associated,  may  be  mentioned  here.  At  two  Synods 
held  before  the  close  of  1749,  one  in  August  in  Philadelphia,  and 
another  in  November  at  Warwick  in  Lancaster  County,  the  Indian 
missions  constituted  the  most  prominent  subject  deliberated  on. 
Moreover,  in  July,  1749,  de  Watteville  had,  in  company  with  Span- 
genberg,  Cammerhoff,  Pyrlaeus  and  Nathanael  Seidel,  met  the 
deputies  of  the  Six  Nations  in  Philadelphia,  when  they  were  there 
for  an  interview  with  the  Governor.  On  that  occasion,  de  Watteville 
renewed  the  covenant  made  with  them  by  Zinzendorf  in  1742,  and 
the  way  was  prepared  for  sending  missionaries  among  them,  not- 
withstanding the  hostility  in  New  York  and  the  precarious  condition 
of  things  generally,  as  regards  government  relations  to  this  dominant 
Indian  confederacy.  In  connection  with  that  covenant  the  Indian 
deputies,  who  honored  de  Watteville  as  the  son-in-law  and  messenger 
of  Johanan — the  name  by  which  Zinzendorf  was  known  among  them — 
adopted  him  into  one  of  their  clans  and  gave  him  the  name  Tgari- 
hontie — the  messenger.'^ 

7  As  a  matter  of  curiosity,  the  names  by  whic!i  various  others  were  known  among  the 
Indians  may  be  here  mentioned.  Spangenberg,  in  1745,  received  the  name  Tgirhitontie 
(row  of  trees);  Zeisberger,  in  1745,  that  of  Ganousseracheri  (on  the  pumpkin);  Cammerhoff, 
in  1 748,  that  of  Galichwio  (good  words);  Pyrlaeus,  in  1 748,  that  of  Ti^anniatarechev  (between 
two  seas);  Mack,  in  1748,  (7rt«rtf/;;-«f^/(7/ (the  first  man  or  leader);  Seidel,  \']i,'i,  Aretiiintschi 
(the  head),  Rauch  was  known  as  Z^higochgoharo.  Anton  Schmidt,  when  he  went  to  Sha- 
mokin,  was  given  the  name  Rachivistcni.  John  Joseph  Bull,  who  was  commonly  known  as 
Shebosh  (running  water),  was  also  called  I/n  jingo  it  is  (twister  of  tobacco).  Post  bore  the 
name  Ahammuad.  On  one  occasion  the  explanation  was  made  to  some  of  the  missionaries 
by  the  Indians  that  all  were  given  names,  in  this  way,  because  their  German  and  English 
names  were  too  difficult  to  be  pronounced  by  them.  Tiieir  judgement  on  this  question  of 
comparative  difficulty  would  hardly  find  universal  acceptance. 


1749 1755-  243 

Those  consultations  led  also  to  a  conviction  that  it  was  important 
to  make  the  life  at  Gnadenhuetten  as  agreeable  as  possible  for  their 
Indian  converts,  and  to  put  forth  every  effort  to  hold  them  together 
at  that  point,  while  endeavoring  to  prevent  the  scattering  of  those 
who  yet  lingered  about  Bethlehem.  This  was  felt  to  be  increasingly 
desirable  amid  the  prevailing  public  conditions  and  in  view  of  the 
signs  of  the  times,  which  the  Brethren  did  not  fail  to  discern,  even 
if  their  quiet  perseverence  in  the  effort  to  push  out  farther  into  the 
Indian  country  with  their  evangelistic  work,  seemed  to  some  of 
their  friends  to  indicate  that  they  were  not  aware  of  the  critical  devel- 
opments. Those  who  took  a  sinister  view  of  their  movements  became 
more  firmly  persuaded  that  there  must  be  some  kind  of  an  under- 
standing between  them  and  the  secret  conspirators  which  made  them 
feel  safe  among  the  Indians  everywhere.  There  were  some  restless 
spirits  at  Gnadenhuetten  who  needed  patient,  watchful  care,  and  some 
of  those  at  Bethlehem  were  not  reliable.  Not  only  was  it  the  desire  of 
the  Brethren  to  keep  a  firm  hold  on  all  these  for  their  own  good,  but 
also  to  prevent  them  from  becoming  agents  of  mischief.  Hence,  when 
dissatisfaction  began  to  be  expressed  by  some  at  Gnadenhuetten  with 
the  stiff  clay  soil  of  the  ridge,  and  the  idea  was  also  fostered  among 
them  that  they  ought  to  have  more  land,  steps  were  at  once  taken 
to  remove  this  cause  of  discontent  and  possible  pretext  for  yielding 
to  the  persuasions  of  schemers  who  were  tampering  with  them,  and 
for  removing  to  Wyoming.  In  March,  1750,  a  tract  of  130  acres 
of  rich  bottom-land  was  purchased  of  Secretary  Peters,  on  the  east 
side  of  the  river,  for  £75.  There,  in  May,  1754,  their  nineteen  cabins 
transferred  from  Gnadenhuetten,  were  set  up  again  in  another  vil- 
lage which  suited  them  better  and  was  called  New  Gnadenhuetten. 
The  mission  compound  on  the  other  side  continued  to  be 
occupied  by  the  corps  there  stationed  to  carry  on  the 
work.  x\t  the  very  time  when  the  new  tract  of  land  was  pur- 
chased, an  event  occurred  at  Gnadenhuetten  that  first  brought  con- 
spicuously to  the  front  the  famous  Indian  who,  above  all  others,  was 
associated  with  the  plots  and  intrigues  of  the  following  years.  In 
connection  with  the  baptism  of  certain  Indians,  on  March  16,  1750, 
the  statement  is  on  record  that  "another  Indian,  a  half-brother  of 
Nicodemus  and  Peter,  Tadcuscont,  called  among  the  English  Honest 
John,  who  had  long  been  acquainted  with  the  Brethren,  had  repeat- 
edly asked  to  be  baptized."  It  is  stated  that  it  was  declined  "for  the 
present,"  there  being  misgivings  about  his  case.     Finally,  after  much 


244  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

hesitation,  he  was  baptized  at  Gnadenhuetten,  together  with  his  wife, 
on  March  19,  by  Bishop  Cammerhoff.  His  position  among  the 
Indians,  his  commanding  personaHty,  his  tribal  and  family  preten- 
sions, and  his  previous  character  as  a  reckless  man  who  gloried  in 
his  contempt  of  all  restraints  and  of  the  opinions  of  others  in  refer- 
ence to  his  conduct,  served  to  render  the  occasion  a  peculiarly 
impressive  one  for  the  Indian  congregation.  Teedyuscung^  received 
the  name  Gideon,  which  would  have  been  eminently  suitable  if  he 
had  proven  to  be  such  a  man  as  Wasamapah  the  Mohican.  His  wife 
was  named  Elizabeth. 

At  this  period,  pilgrimages  to  and  fro  between  Bethlehem  and 
another  point  on  the  border  of  the  Indian  country  became  frequent. 
This  was  the  village  of  Meniolagomeka,  in  the  valley  of  the  Aquan- 
shicola  Creek,  north  of  the  Blue  Mountains,  where  Zinzendorf  had 
stopped  on  his  first  tour  in  1742,  and  various  missionaries  had 
occasionally  visited.  In  1749,  the  chief  of  the  village  was  baptized 
at  Gnadenhuetten  and  in  1752,  a  regular  mission  was  established 
there.  It  came  to  an  untimely  end  in  May,  1755,  when  the  Indians 
were  compelled  to  remove  because  the  land  was  wanted.  They 
retired  to  Gnadenhuetten  and  recruited  that  station,  from  which 
twenty  of  the  people  had  been  lured  away  to  Wyoming  by  Teedyus- 
cung  in  May,  1754,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  the  missionaries.  The 
journal  of  a  Synod  held  at  Bethlehem  in  March,  1750,  records  that 
at  that  time  there  were  102  baptized  Indians  at  Gnadenhuetten  and 
about  20  at  Meniolasfomeka.^ 


8  There  is  hardly  a  hmit  to  the  variations  in  the  spelling  of  his  Indian  name  to  be  found 
in  print  and  manuscript,  then  and  since — Deedjascon,  Dadjuscong,  Tadeuscong,  Tadeus- 
cundy  Tadyuscofig,  Tcdeuscont^  Teedetisctind,  Teedetiscioig,  Teedyuscung,  etc.  The  last, 
having  become  one  of  the  most  common  forms,  will  be  used  in  these  pages,  without 
attempting  to  decide  which  is  the  most  correct.  Cammerhoff,  in  the  record  of  his  baptism 
in  the  Bethlehem  register,  calls  him  "  ein  Kar  e^o^vv  grosser  Sunder.'"  The  Greek  expression 
is  used  in  Acts  25  :  23 — "principal  men" — and  Cammerhoff  means  what  St.  Paul  says  of 
himself,  I.  Tim.  1:15,  the  chief  of  sinners.  Unfortunately,  as  subsequent  events  proved, 
Teedyuscung  did  not  cease  to  be  this  after  his  baptism.  At  this  very  time  he  was  un- 
doubtedly trying  to  inveigle  the  Gnadenhuetten  Indians. 

9  The  site  of  this  village  in  Smith's  Valley,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Aquanshicola,  eight 
miles  west  of  the  Wind  Gap,  is  marked  by  a  granite  monument  erected  by  the  Moravian 
Historical  Society  and  dedicated  October  22,  1901.  It  stands  near  the  side  of  the  road  that 
leads  up  from  the  creek  towards  Kunkeltown  on  the  farm  of  the  aged  Benjamin  Schmidt, 
who  generously  manifested  his  interest  in  this  desire  to  preserve  the  historic  associations  of 
the  spot  from  oblivion. 


1749 1755-  245 

The  increase  of  travel  between  Bethlehem  and  the  Indian  country, 
occasioned  by  the  opening  of  this  new  station,  added  to  the  uneasy 
suspicions  of  the  people  living  in  the  neighborhood  between,  espe- 
cially so  the  frequent  coming  and  going  of  Indians  which  could  not  be 
prevented.  But  far  more  excitement  was  caused  by  the  malicious 
stories  set  afloat  through  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  by  evil- 
minded  persons,  and  believed  by  many  anxious  people  who  had  no 
means  for  ascertaining  the  truth,  in  connection  with  an  extraordinary 
journey  undertaken  by  Cammerhoff  in  company  with  David  Zeis- 
berger  to  Onondago,  in  the  summer  of  1750.  Cammerhoff  started 
from  Bethlehem  with  some  companions  on  May  14,  was  joined  by 
Zeisberger  far  up  the  country  and,  after  they  had  journeyed  about 
sixteen  hundred  miles  by  canoe,  afoot  and  on  horse-back,  they  got 
back  to  Bethlehem  at  midnight  on  August  16,  with  Cammerhoff's 
health  permanently  impaired  and  his  constitution  broken.  This  jour- 
ney was  undertaken  with  government  sanction  and  passport,  and 
was  in  pursuance  of  a  preliminary  understanding  had  with  the  depu- 
ties of  the  Six  Nations  at  the  treaty  of  the  previous  iVugust.  Its 
sole  object  was  to  gain  a  foothold  for  permanent  missionary  work 
among  people  under  their  control.  It  was  a  journey  of  such  extra- 
ordinary hardship  and  attended  with  so  much  adventure  that  the 
narrative  reads  like  a  romance.  The  result  was  such  public  sensation 
created  by  the  wild  fictions  circulated  in  reference  to  it,  that  an 
official  examination  by  the  government  of  Pe'nnsylvania  became 
necessary  to  clear  these  heroic  men  and  the  authorities  at  Bethlehem 
from  the  suspicion  engendered.  This,  of  course,  did  not  change  the 
minds  of  those  who  were  determined  to  think  evil  and  to  believe 
no  good  of  their  movements.  Thus,  with  the  renewed  efforts  for  the 
evangelization  of  the  Indians,  at  a  time  when  the  ominous  outlook  in 
the  matter  of  relations  to  them  kept  the  minds  of  so  many  in  a  state 
of  constant  dread,  the  eye  of  suspicion  was  anew  turned  upon  Beth- 
lehem. 

This  was  contemplated,  however,  with  less  anxiety  by  men  at 
Bethlehem,  like  Antes,  who  were  most  capable  of  understanding  the 
whole  situation  and  were  of  most  service  in  explaining  the  principles 
and  purposes  of  the  Brethren  to  people  of  all  kinds  and  in  correcting 
popular  misapprehensions,  than  the  internal  tendencies  that  had 
set  in  since  Spangenberg's  retirement,  and  were  being  propagated 
by  his  successor,  John  Nitschmann,  supported  by  the  new  element 
he   had   brought   with   him   to   Bethlehem.      Nitschmann   began    his 


246  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

administration  with  the  understanding  that  he  was  to  foster  and 
establish  certain  things  that  were  products  of  the  unhealthy  spirit 
which  was  then  prevailing  in  the  central  circles  in  Europe  and  in  some 
respects  yet  holding  Zinzendorf  under  a  spell  for  a  season ;  things 
which,  although  promulgated  from  headquarters,  Spangenberg  had 
been  discreetly  evading.  They  had  taken  pronounced  form  and 
become  matters  of  deliberate  official  annunciation  in  Europe  since 
Cammerhoff  came  to  Pennsylvania,  at  an  earlier  stage  of  the 
distemper,  and  are  therefore  not  to  be  laid  to  his  charge.  They 
were  advanced  to  a  certain  degree  by  de  Watteville  before  he  left 
Bethlehem,  but  with  caution  and  with  an  intelligent  tact  superior 
to  that  of  the  man  now  installed  to  bring  the  spirit,  language  and 
practices  of  Bethlehem  into  full  accord  with  the  most  recent  fancies. 
The  things  thus  referred  to  were  an  exaggerated  idealizing  of  certain 
offices  and  functions ;  the  adoption  of  unwarrantable  titles  and 
prerogatives  by  the  incumbents,  corresponding  to  this ;  the  exaltation 
of  the  persons  to  a  kind  of  spiritual  pre-eminence  and  a  laudation  of 
them  in  over-wrought  terms  that  were  distasteful  to  sober-minded 
people,  startling  when  suddenly  introduced  and  regarded  as  danger- 
ous. With  this  came  methods  of  conducting  internal  affairs  in  the 
spirit  of  these  eccentricities  and  the  cultivation  of  a  novel  liturgical 
system  elaborated  to  give  expression  to  the  underlying  conceptions. 
While  Zinzendorf  was  not  responsible  for  every  absurdity  that  issued 
from  this  tendency,  yet  primarily  it  was  all  the  fruit  of  his  propensity, 
already  mentioned,  to  follow  out  and  experimentally  apply  every 
idea  or  fancy  with  which  he  started,  to  the  utmost  extent  and  in 
minutest  detail.  This  eccentric  regime  brought  in  by  John  Nitsch- 
mann  was  something  later  than  the  mere  reveling  in  extravagant 
language  that  is  associated  with  Cammerhofif.  The  latter  had  been 
more  tolerable  to  solid  and  staid  men  at  Bethlehem  than  what  now 
followed,  for  they  had  recognized  under  the  effervescing  surface  the 
sound,  true  gospel  of  the  cross.  They  were  impressed  by  his  heroic, 
self-sacrificing  devotion  to  arduous  duty.  He  was  as  ready  as  any 
of  them  to  endure  every  kind  of  hardness ;  was  gentle,  unassuming, 
and  won  the  hearts  of  all. 

John  Nitschmann's  name  is  not  associated  with  apostolic  labors 
among  the  Indians,  like  that  of  Cammerhofif.  It  cannot  be  said 
of  him  that  he  was  "in  journeyings  often,  in  perils  of  waters,  in 
perils  of  robbers,  in  perils  by  the  heathen,  in  perils  in  the 
wilderness,  in  weariness  and  painfulness,  in  hunger  and  thirst,  in 
cold  and  nakedness,"  to  carry  the  word  of  life  to  brutal  savages 


1/49 1755-  247 

and  to  serve  men  of  every  kind  in  the  spirit  of  his  Divine 
Master,  as  can  be  said  of  Cammerhoff.  The  sturdy  men  who 
laid  the  material  and  spiritual  foundations  of  Bethlehem,  who 
battled  with  the  stern  realities  of  the  beginning,  who  opened  the 
farms  and  built  the  mills  while  they  preached  the  gospel  of  the  love 
of  Christ  in  plainness  to  plain  people,  were  personally  attached  to 
CammerhofT,  with  all  his  extravagancies  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
he  was  sent  to  work  at  cross  purposes  in  certain  respects  with  the 
policy  of  Spangenberg,  whom  they  esteemed  above  all  others,  but 
who  was  not  considered  sufficiently  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the 
time  by  those  in  control  in  Europe.  Antes,  Garrison,  Horsfield, 
Payne,  Brownfield  and  other  such  men  who  were  of  most  value 
at  the  time  and  were  Spangenberg's  most  staunch  friends  loved 
Cammerhofif,  notwithstanding  all  this.  The  Indians  sent  messages 
of  sorrow  from  distant  places  when  they  heard  that  he  had  passed 
away,  and  years  afterward  the  name  of  GalicJizvio,  by  which  they 
knew  him,  was  spoken  among  them  with  reverence  and  affection. 
His  memory  deserves  to  be  exonerated  from  the  exclusive  respon- 
sibility for  introducing  fanatical  tendencies  at  Bethlehem  which  has 
commonly  been  laid  upon  him  by  Moravian  writers. 

He  was  the  diarist  and  correspondent  with  the  European  author- 
ities during  the  greater  part  of  his  term  of  service  at  Bethlehem.  He 
was  a  voluminous  writer  who  went  into  great  detail  on  all  subjects 
and  wrote  without  reserve  in  the  kind  of  expressions  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  use.  Thus  what  there  was  in  his  words  and  ways  that  was 
objectionably  eccentric  became  conspicuous  afterwards  in  the  written 
evidences.  John  Nitschmann  did  very  little  of  the  writing.  He  was 
the  central  manager  who  gave  the  impulse  and  steered  the  course 
of  things.  His  chief  mission  was  to  establish  himself  at  headquarters 
and  press  the  innovations  he  was  authorized  to  introduce.  He  had 
been  held  in  high  esteem  in  Europe  and  had  rendered  service  in 
various  ways  that  was  much  prized.  He  enjoyed  the  full  confidence 
of  those  who  wished  him  to  rectify  what  were  thought,  in  the 
infatuation  of  the  time,  to  be  internal  defects  of  Spangenberg's 
administration.  Not  only  did  he  throw  himself  completely  into  that 
infatuation,  so  that  he  was  not  disposed  to  be  cautious  and  reserved 
in  propagating  it,  but  he  thought  himself  under  obligation  to  follow 
the  letter  of  his  instructions  blindly,  no  matter  what  obstacles  and 
embarrassments  he  met.  Lacking  the  degree  of  scholarly  culture 
possessed  by  Spangenberg  and  Cammerhofif,  as  well  as  the  broad- 


248  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

mincledness,  the  extensive  knowledge  of  men  and  things  and  the 
excellent  common  sense  and  tact  that  distinguished  the  former,  he 
was  not  able  to  see  where  and  how  he  ought  to  adapt  himself  and 
his  course  to  conditions  that  were  different  from  those  out  of  which 
he  had  come  and  different  from  what  he  anticipated.  From  first  to 
last,  he  quite  failed  to  get  into  touch  ^vith  his  larger  surroundings  in 
the  New  World. 

He  moreover  felt  fortified  in  things  which  he  soon  discovered 
w^ere  not  acceptable  to  those  who  were  the  most  substantial  and 
forceful  men  at  Bethlehem,  for  most  of  those  whom  he  had 
brought  over  with  him  had  come  right  out  of  the  atmosphere 
of  Herrnhaag  and  rallied  around  him.  Some,  previously  at  Bethle- 
hem, were  drawn  in,  and  in  the  summer  of  1750,  a  large  colony  of 
those  who  had  made  up  the  population  of  the  Herrnhaag  Brethren's 
House  and  had  been  constrained  to  emigrate  when  the  abandonment 
of  the  place  became  necessary,  arrived  at  Bethlehem  with  yet  more 
offensive  assumption  of  superiority  over  against  the  original  congre- 
gation and  yet  more  distasteful  parade  of  sentimental  puerilities ; 
posing,  besides,  as  persecuted  exiles  deserving  admiration.  Many  of 
them,  when  they  later  came  to  their  senses  and  settled  down  to 
soberness,  became  stalwart  pillars  in  the  Church,  but  many  were 
unreliable  and  unsound — mere  useless  nurslings.  They  spoke  in 
terms  of  disparagement  of  the  people  who  were  previously  at  Beth- 
lehem and  strutted  before  them  like  religious  coxcombs,  assuming  to 
be  the  select  clientelage  of  the  man  at  the  head.  A  schism  was  cre- 
ated between  "the  old  congregation  and  the  new  congregation." 
Many  of  the  former  were  filled  with  grief  and  indignation. 

Some  resented  such  assumptions  and  spoke  their  minds  plainly  to 
certain  of  the  new-comers,  who  had  stepped  in  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of 
their  sacrifice  and  toil,  but  hardly  any  dared  to  express  open  dissent 
and  object  to  the  innovations  in  official  quarters.  One  man,  however, 
whose  position  was  such  that  he  most  readily  could,  did  so  honestly 
and  fearlessly.  This  was  Henry  /\ntes.  Not  only  was  the  new 
departure,  with  its  speech  and  manner,  exceedingly  distasteful  to  him 
personally,  just  as  it  was  to  other  sensible  men  at  Bethlehem,  but 
he  discerned  under  it  the  beginning  of  a  drift  away  from  scriptural 
soundness,  and  recognized  a  new  occasion  that  would  be  given  for 
sensational  public  discussion  of  the  Brethren.  He  understood — as 
John  Nitschmann  and  those  who  went  with  him  did  not — how  serious, 
in  spite  of  the  act  of  Parliament  passed  in  1749,  the  constant  agita- 
tions of  those  who  were  trying  to  inflame  the  public  against  them 


1749 1755-  249 

as  alleged  Papists,  and  therefore  allies  of  the  French,  intriguing  with 
the  Indians,  might  become,  if  anything  within  the  Church  should 
seem  to  lend  new  color  to  this  accusation.  He  knew  the  readiness 
of  ill-informed  and  credulous  masses  to  exaggerate  every  eccentricity 
or  oddity  reported  of  Bethlehem  and  to  draw  groundless  inferences. 

Therefore,  when  he  heard  absurd  titles  applied  to  Zinzendorf,  to 
Anna  Xitschmann  and  to  others  who  held  general  offices  of  a  spir- 
itual nature  among  men  or  women,  and'  heard  John  Nitschmann 
declare  that  the  members  must  all  now  call  these  persons  by  such 
names  according  to  instructions  from  abroad — names  that  could  be 
easily  construed  by  some  people  as  indicating  Romish  institutions, 
orders  and  functions ;  by  other  people  as  evidences  of  fanatical  mys- 
ticism like  that  into  which  Conrad  Beisel  had  led  the  Ephrata  com- 
munity— he  found  in  this  something  far  more  objectionable  and 
ominous  than  the  mere  affectation  of  spiritual  child-talk  in  which 
Cammerhoff  and  others  had  before  been  indulging.  He  wrote  a 
plain,  manly  letter  to  Zinzendorf  on  the  subject  in  September,  1749. 
He  had  been  in  correspondence  with  him  occasionally  since  1743. 
To  his  great  perplexity  this  letter  remained  unanswered.  Subse- 
quently he  became  convinced  that  it  had  been  intercepted  in  Europe 
and  had  never  been  seen  by  the  Count.  He  followed  this  with  pro- 
tests and  even  entreaties  addressed  to  Bishop  John  Nitschmann,  face 
to  face  and  in  writing.  Failing  to  accomplish  anything,  he  concluded 
to  go  to  Europe  and  present  the  case  to  Zinzendorf  and  the  general 
conference  personally,  but,  although  he  was  encouraged  to  do  so  by 
leading  men  at  Bethlehem,  his  wife  objected  and  he  did  not  go. 

Under  these  trying  circumstances  John  Nitschmann  became  some- 
what obstinate  and  imperious,  and,  in  addition  to  other  blunders, 
played  the  martinet  in  disciplinary  matters,  going  to  lengths  so  auda- 
cious, in  dealing  with  recalcitrants,  that  Antes,  as  local  magistrate, 
warned  him  that  he  would  not  only  create  fatal  dissension  and  jeopar- 
dize everything  that  had  been  accomplished  at  Bethlehem,"  but  might 
even  get  himself  into  serious  trouble  under  the  law  of  the  Province. 
In  this  blind  pursuance  of  what  he  understood  by  his  "instructions" 
and  this  infatuated  determination  to  assert  the  authority  with  which 
he  thought  himself  clothed,  he  was  sustained  by  his  wife,  who  had 
been  placed  in  similar  authority  over  all  the  female  membership — a 
woman  of  rare  gifts,  intense  devotion  and  great  personal  influence, 
but,  like  her  husband,  carried  ofT  beyond  reason  by  the  idea  of  the 
functions  supposed  to  be  committed    to    them;    sustained    also    by 


2  50  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Samuel  Krause,  who  had  been  sent  over  with  him  as  coadjutor  at 
Nazareth  in  his  efforts  to  bring  things  in  Pennsylvania  into  "com- 
plete conformity." 

Finally  Antes  tried  to  persuade  the  Bishop  to  simply  suppress 
the  objectionable  sayings  and  doings  of  the  "new  congregation" 
and  to  let  the  peculiar  innovations  in  official  regime  and  terminology, 
in  which  Nitschmann  appealed  to  his  "instructions,"  stand  in 
abeyance  until  proper  communications  with  the  authorities  in  Europe 
could  be  had ;  for  Antes  believed  that  if  the  case  was  properly 
stated  to  Zinzendorf,  in  connection  with  his  interview  with  Spangen- 
berg,  everything  would  be  set  right.  In  this  effort  he  was  supported 
by  Cammerhoff  and  Nathanael  Seidel,  whose  ofBcial  connection  with 
Nitschmann  and  partial  agreement  with  his  course  on  the  one  hand, 
and  their  w^arm  attachment  to  Antes  and  to  the  "old  congregation" 
on  the  other,  made  their  position  very  embarrassing.  John  Nitsch- 
mann, shut  off  to  the  choice  between  receding  even  to  this  extent  or 
breaking  with  Antes  and  risking  all  that  this  might  involve,  chose 
the  latter,  and  then  Antes  concluded  to  withdraw  from  Bethlehem, 
retire  to  his  farm  and  there,  out  of  immediate  connection  with  the 
things  which  he  could  not  be  reconciled  to,  await  further  develop- 
ments. His  breach  was  only  with  John  Nitschmann  officially  and 
with  current  tendencies  which  he  believed  would  be  rectified  in  due 
time.  Meanwhile  he  felt  that  less  harm  would  be  done  by  his  quiet 
withdrawal  than  by  the  possible  further  centralizing  of  factions  pro 
and  con  if  he  remained  at  Bethlehem. 

While  much  consternation  followed  the  announcement  of  his 
intentions,  and  there  were  rumors  on  all  sides  of  others  doing 
likewise.  Antes  used  the  great  influence  he  possessed  among  the 
former  residents  of  Bethlehem  and  the  Nazareth  stations,  in  the 
interests  of  peace  and  quiet  and  patient  waiting.  He  faithfully 
completed  the  work  he  had  in  hand,  especially  the  important  large 
milP"  on  the  Bushkill  where  the  colony  of  Friedensthal  was  estab- 

lo  This  mill,  built  east  of  Nazareth,  where  the  first  purchase  of  324  acres  was  made  in 
the  autumn  of  1749,  "  at  the  kill,"  as  the  place  was  called  for  a  while  —  Lefevre's  Creek, 
Leheitan,  Bushkill  —  was  the  largest  and  most  complete  that  Antes  had  erected  for  the 
Economy.  Work  at  the  spot  was  commenced,  January  6,  1750,  and,  August  21,  the  first 
grinding  was  celebrated  by  a  lovefeast  in  the  mill.  A  visitor  in  April,  1 751.  thus  described 
its  mechanism :  "  It  grinds  and  bolts  all  at  once,  there  being  no  trouble  in  hoisting  the  flour 
as  in  common  mills,  but  as  the  stones  deliver  it  so  the  bolting  cloth  receives  it,  and  so  it  is 
bolted  as  fast  as  ground.  Another  contrivance,  which  is  very  extraordinary,  is  that  when 
the  wheat  is  within  about  a  peck  of  being  ground  out  of  the  hopper,  there  is  a  stick  so 
fixed  that  one  end  shall  strike  against  the  stone  as  it  runs  round  which  has  a  bell  fastened  at 


^749 i/SS-  251 

lished,  and  got  all  the  affairs  with  which  he  was  further  connected 
into  such  a  shape  that  he  could  give  them  what  further  attention 
they  required  from  him  at  his  home  or  by  occasionally  coming  to 
Bethlehem,  and  on  the  morning  of  September  5,  1750 — before  day- 
break, when  few  were  astir,  in  order  to  avoid  painful  scenes 
— he  started  with  his  wife  and  some  of  his  children  for  Frederick- 
town.^^  Cammerhof¥  accompanied  him,  weeping,  across  the  river 
and  some  distance  on  the  way,  and  then  took  an  affectionate  leave 
of  him  and  turned  sadly  back  to  Bethlehem. 

When  Antes  reached  his  home,  the  premises  which  he  had  turned 
over  to  the  use  of  the  Church  in  1745  were  nearly  vacated.  The 
flourishing  school  was  closed.  John  Nitschmann,  having  determined 
not  to  yield  any  points  and  knowing  that  this  would  cause  a  breach 
between  them,  instituted  measures,  without  consulting  Antes,  to 
remove  the  children  from  Fredericktown.  These  were  carried  into 
effect  in  August,  1750.  On  the  12th  of  that  month  a  number  of  boys 
were  taken  to  the  Maguntsche  school  and  a  few  of  the  Indian  boys 
were  removed  to  Bethlehem  and  Gnadenhuetten.  Two  weeks  later 
the  remaining  boys  were  placed  in  the  school  at  Oley.  Pyrlaeus  and 
his  wife,  who  had  stood  at  the  head  of  the  work,  came  to  Bethlehem 
the  first  week  of  September,  with  Peter  Sehner  and  wife,  John  Mich- 


the  other  end,  which  rattles  in  a  surprising  manner,  to  give  the  miller  warning  that  the  mill 
is  near  running  empty."  In  this  contrivance,  which  seemed  a  novelty  to  that  visitor,  many 
a  reader  will  recognize  a  familiar  feature  of  old-time  grist-mills.  It  was  equipped  with 
double  water-wheels  and  two  run  of  stones.  The  settlement  which  arose  there  received  the 
name  Friedensthal — Vale  of  Peace  —  at  the'  dedication  of  its  community  house  and  the 
organization  of  its  milling,  farming,  dairying  and  stock-raising  personnel,  with  chaplain, 
steward,  etc.,  April  27,  1751,  in  the  season  just  after  Easter,  when  the  peace  greeting  of  the 
risen  Lord  called  to  mind,  suggested  the  name.  The  mill  was  stockaded  and  turned  into  a 
fort  during  the  Indian  war,  1755-56.  The  property  was  sold  to  private  parties  by  the 
church  authorities  in  1771,  and  a  second  mill  was  built  there  in  1794.  The  history  of 
Friedensthal  and  its  Stockaded  Mill,  entertainingly  written  by  the  Rev.  \Vm.  C.  Reichel.  is 
to  be  found  in  Vol.  II,  Transactions  of  the  Moravian  Historical  Society. 

II  Some  readers,  to  whom  the  whole  subject  is  new,  may  fail  to  appreciate  the  reason  for 
introducing  this  episode,  little  to  the  credit  of  those  in  control  at  Bethlehem.  Like  the 
general  fanatical  distemper  of  that  period  with  which  it  was  connected,  it  might  have  been 
passed  with  a  brief  reference  or  left  quite  untouched,  if  it  were  never  mentioned  by  other 
writers.  But  since  it  has  been  frequently  written  about  and  occasionally  over-stated,  mis- 
stated or  alluded  to  in  that  manner  which  sets  readers  to  guessing,  or  perhaps  drawing 
groundless  inferences  in  view  of  the  many  calumnies  of  the  time  that  have  found  their  way 
into  print,  it  has  seemed  best  to  present  the  whole  offence  given  —  the  gravest  that  Antes 
himself  ever  adduced  against  them  according  to  his  own  statements.  It  is  true,  as  some- 
times stated,  that  he  objected  to  the  sudden  introduction  of  robing  by   Bishop  John   Nitsch- 


252  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

ler  and  several  farm  laborers  who  had  been  employed  at  the  estab- 
lishment. John  Levering  and  his  wife  and  Peter  Braun  accompanied 
the  detachment  to  Oley.  Dr.  Adolph  Meyer  and  wife  remained 
after  this  at  Fredericktown.  September  14,  he  brought  the  closed 
out  accounts  of  the  institution  to  Bethlehem  and  returned  two  days 
later,  and  thus  ended  the  history  of  the  Fredericktown  school. 

In  this  connection  the  various  changes  made  in  the  schools  to  the 
next  epoch  may  be  noted.  Financial  strain  in  the  summer  of  1751 
caused  the  abandonment  of  the  important  Oley  school,  which  had  been 
organized  in  February,  1748.  The  institution  was  closed  on  Septem- 
ber 10,  when  the  boys  were  transferred  to  Maguntsche — after  this 
more  frequently  spoken  of  as  Salisbury — and  the  girls  of  this  latter 
school,  as  previously  stated,  were  brought  to  Bethlehem  with  those 
from  Oley,  during  the  following  two  weeks  and  distributed  between 
the  boarding-school  and  its  adjunct  in  the  Ysselstein  house  on  the 
south  side,  the  school  history  of  which  to  the  end  has  already  been 
given.  In  August,  1753,  the  authorities  decided  to  close  the  boys' 
school  at  Salisbury  and  on  the  27th  of  that  month  fourteen  boys  were 
brought  from  there  to  Bethlehem  and  quartered  in  a  room  in  the 
Brethren's  House,  which  had  been  occupied  by  the  boys  of  the  Beth- 
lehem school  now  domiciled  in  one  of  the  log  houses  on  the  site  of 
the  present  church.  In  December,  1754,  however,  it  was  concluded 
to  move  them  back  to  Salisbury,  and  this  was  done,  January  10,  1755, 

nann  at  the  celebration  of  communion,  May  2.  1750,  the  first  time  a  surplice  was  worn  by  a 
Moravian  minister  in  Pennsylvania.  But  a  large-minded  man  like  Antes  would  not  have 
made  an  open  grievance  of  a  thing  like  this,  even  if  he  were  strongly  averse  to  it,  under 
circumstances  otherwise  normal.  Associating  it  as  an  innovation  with  the  more  important 
things  against  which  he  had  protested,  his  disturbed  mind  found  in  it  the  proverbial  "  last 
straw,"  while  he  thought  with  dread  of  the  ill-natured  gossip  this  new  thing,  so  unfamiliar 
in  the  region,  would  stir  up  among  those  who  were  watching  for  new  evidences  of  ''Romish 
practices,"  in  addition  to  the  foregoing  offences  of  following  the  new  style  dates  of  a 
"  Popish,"  calendar,  kneeling  in  worship,  etc.,  which  vigilant  neighbors  had  made  much  ado 
about.  Another  point,  always  in  question,  has  been  the  extent  to  which  his  removal  from 
Bethlehem  meant  withdrawal  from  the  Moravian  Church.  That  it  was  quite  generally  so 
interpreted  and  published  abroad  by  those  with  whom  the  wish  was  father  to  the  thought,  is 
very  natural,  and  even  Moravian  writers  have  frequently  adopted  this  supposition.  A  more 
complete  examination  of  the  subject  in  the  light  of  all  authentic  sources  of  information 
extant,  including  statements  by  Antes  himself  and  subsequent  lists  of  members,  than  has 
probably  been  given  to  it  hitherto  by  any  one,  has  made  it  quite  clear  to  the  writer  of  these 
pages  that  his  removal  from  Bethlehem  was  not  so  intended  by  him  and  was  not  so  regarded 
afterwards  by  the  Church  authorities.  Antes  considered  himself  and  was  considered  in  the 
fellowship  of  the  Church  to  his  death. 


1749 1755-  253 

when  a  new  school  was  opened  there,  with  Joachim  Sensemann  and 
wife  in  charge  of  the  household  and  Hans  Petersen  serving  as  pre- 
ceptor, the  whole  under  the  general  superintendence  of  John  Ettwein 
and  Francis  Boehler  with  their  wives,  now  in  charge  of  the  entire 
department  of  work  among  the  children  at  outlying  places.  This 
school  existed  when  the  dire  times  to  be  treated  of  in  the  next  chap- 
ter suddenly  brought  such  peril  to  old  and  young  at  these  places. 

Antes,  after  he  returned  to  his  farm,  seems  not  to  have  visited 
Bethlehem  until  the  following  spring.  He  came  early  in  March,  to 
transact  business,  and  went  up  to  the  Bushkill  to  examine  the  new 
mill  and  see  that  it  was  operating  properly.  He  also  had  consulta- 
tions with  those  in  charge  of  the  work,  in  reference  to  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  grist-mill  at  Bethlehem,  the  building  of  a  fulling-mill  in 
connection  with  it,  needed  repairs  to  the  bark-crushing-mill  and  the 
dye-house,  the  proposed  extension  of  the  Sisters'  House  and  the 
building  of  another  wing  to  the  west  of  the  Children's  Home  ('"bell 
house")  occupied  by  the  boarding-school  for  girls,  to  contain  a 
larger  place  of  worship,  a  wing  having  been  added  on  the  east  side 
in  1748,  and  one  to  the  west  in  1749.  Some  of  these  tasks  were  then 
being  commenced.  The  large  accession  to  the  working-force  the 
previous  June^-  rendered  these  undertakings  possible,  and  the  expec- 
tation of  yet  other  colonists  in  the  course  of  the  following  year,  made 
it  desirable  to  proceed  with  them  as  rapidly  as  possible. 

12  This  large  number  of  young  men,  mainly  from  Herrnhaag,  in  part  also  from  the  settle- 
ments of  the  Church  in  Holland,  has  already  been  referred  to.  They  came  under  the 
leadership  of  Henry  Jorde  and  are  sometimes  called  the  "  Henry  Jorde  Colony."  There 
were  81  besides  Jorde,  one  of  them  being  a  Negro  called  "  London,"  and  they  were  accom- 
panied by  two  married  couples;  the  Rev.  Frederick  Emanuel  and  Susan  Maria  Herrmann, 
and  Francis  and  Sophia  Steup.  The  most  important  man  among  them  was  Dr  John 
Matthew  Otto,  the  second,  and  more  distinguished,  of  these  two  brother-physicians  of  ]>eth- 
lehem,  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter.  This  colony  sailed  on  the  Irene  from  London, 
May  9.  put  off  from  Dover,  May  li,  and  reached  New  York,  June  22.  It  is  stated  that 
they  came  up  the  bay  enveloped  in  such  a  dense  fog,  the  entire  way  from  Sandy  Hook,  that  all 
the  seamen  in  the  harbor  were  astonished  at  Captain  Garrison's  skill.  They  arrived  at 
Bethlehem  in  squads  from  June  25  to  July  2.  On  July  13,  thirty  of  them  located  at  Chris- 
tian s  Spring.     The  following  is  the  iist  for  reference  : 

Albrecht,  John  Andrew,  Erd,  Justus.  Fockel,  John  Godfrey, 

Baumgarten,  George,  Euler,  Nicholas,  Fockel,  Samuel, 

Bergmann,  Henry,  Feldhausen,  Christopher,  Fritz,  Henry, 

Borheck,  John  Andrew,  Feldhausen,  Henry,  Freyhube,  Andrew, 

Eckhard,  Zacharias,  Feldhausen.  John  George,         Fuss,  Lucas, 

Ernst,  ^Yalter,  Fockel,  Godfrey,  Gerstberger,  Henry, 


254 


A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 


Besides  the  external  improvements  already  mentioned,  material 
additions  to  the  agricultural  and  industrial  equipment  were  made 
during  1750.  A  large  increase  of  barn-space  and  stabling  was  in 
readiness  for  use  before  winter.  A  new  blacksmith-shop,  with  facili- 
ties for  the  employment  of  more  workmen  to  meet  the  growing  needs 
of  the  Economy  and  the  calls  for  such  work  from  the  surrounding 
region,  was  added.  The  establishment  of  a  battery,  long  under  dis- 
cussion, was  also  consummated.  After  the  plan  of  locating  it  in  the 
Ysselstein  house,  south  of  the  river,  had  been  abandoned,  the  build- 
ing formerly  occupied  by  the  blacksmiths  and  locksmith  was  fitted 
up  for  the  purpose,  the  latter  part  of  the  year,  and  before  the  middle 
of  January,  1751,  it  was  put  into  operation.  These  various  indus- 
tries, with  the  accumulating  buildings  of  the  stock-yard — the  latter 
grouped  about  the  original  log-house  of  the  settlement,  in  which  the 
man  in  charge  of  this  department  was  living — were  strung  along 
what  is  now  the  old  west  side  of  Main  Street,  from  above  the  present 
Goundie's  Alley,  down  to  Church  Street,  and  turning  toward  the  Old 
York  Road,  the  first  thoroughfare  following  the  Indian  trail.  That 
row,  with  the  increasing  cluster  about  the  grist-mill  below,  made  up 
the  busy  section  of  the  place,  which  was  an  object  of  surprise  and 
admiration  to  visitors.  Nothing  like  it,  in  the  extent  and  variety  of 
industries,  could  have  been  found  anywhere  in  the  country,  outside 


Giersch,  Christian, 
Groen,  John  George, 
Gross,  Andrew, 
Haensel,  John  Christian, 
Hasselberg,  Abraham, 
Hege,  Balthasar, 
Hennig,  Paul, 
Herbst,  John  Henry, 
Herr,  Samuel, 
Herrmann,  Jacob, 
Heydecker,  Jacob, 
Hoepfner,  Chrislian  Henry, 
Hoffmann,  John  Gottlob, 
Hoffmann,  Thomas, 
Ingebretsen,  Eric, 
Jaencke,  Andrew, 
Kornmann,  John  Theobald, 
Lange,  John  Gottlieb, 
Lauck,  John  Samuel, 
Lindemeyer,  Henry, 
Loether,  Christian  Henry, 


London,  the  Negro, 
Ludwig,  Carl, 
Lung,  Jacob, 
Masner  John  George, 
Matthicben,  Christopher, 
Matthiesen,  Nicholas, 
Merck,  John  Henry, 
Merkle,  Christopher, 
Meyer,  Jacob, 
Meyer,  John  Stephen, 
Meyer,  Philip, 
Muensch,  John, 
Muenster,  Melchior, 
Nagel,  John  Jacob, 
Neilhock, 

Odenwald,  John  Michael, 
Ortlieb,  John, 
Otto,  John  Matthew, 
Pell,  John  Peter, 
Presser,  Martin, 
Petersen,  Hans, 


Pfeil,  Frederick  Jacob, 
Pitzmann,  John  Michael, 
Priessing,  Jacob, 
Ralffs,  Marcus, 
Richling,  John  Henry, 
Richter.  John, 
Roesler,  Godfrey, 
Ruenger,  Daniel, 
Sauter,  Michael,  ^ 

Sherbeck,  Paul  Jansen, 
Schoen,   Henry, 
Schweigert,  George, 
Schwartz,  Christian, 
Schwartz,  Gottfried, 
Stauber,  Paul  Christian, 
Strauss,  Abraham, 
Sydrich,  John  Daniel, 
Theodorus, 
Thomas,  John, 
Wagenseil,  John  Andrew, 
Weber,  Andrew. 


1749 1755-  2.55 

of  the  several  principal  cities  on  the  sea-board.     A  visitor,  in  April, 

1751,  said:  "Though  this  place  at  Bethlehem  seems  but  small,  you 

can  scarcely  mention  any  trade  which  is  in  the  largest  city  in  this 

country,  but  what  is  at  this  place,  and  carried  on  after  the  best  man- 
ner."i3 

On  February  i,  1751,  the  plans  drawn  for  the  new  stone  wing  that 
was  to  complete  the  connection  between  the  Community  House  and 
the  girls'  school,  and  to  contain  a  larger  place  of  worship,  were 
examined  and  adopted.  It  was  decided  that  this  structure  should  be 
erected  without  delay,  because  of  the  pressing  need  that  was  observed 
already  on  Whit-Sunday,  1749,  when  the  people  had  to  assemble  in 
successive  sections  to  receive  the  communion,  on  account  of  the  con- 
tracted quarters  in  the  original  chapel  of  the  Community  House. 
That  chapel  had  remained  in  its  first  interior  form,  with  the  rough 
logs  of  the  walls  and  the  joists  and  flooring  above  appearing,  until 
February,  1750,  when  it  was  plastered  and  two  pillars  of  black  wal- 
nut were  placed  in  it  to  support  the  heavy  ceiling.  The  excavation 
for  the  foundation  of  the  new  building  was  commenced  on  April  5, 
after  the  adoption  of  the  plans,  and  the  masons  began  their  work  at 
once.  The  most  of  the  timber  was  floated  down  the  Lehigh  from 
the  Gnadenhuetten  saw-mill.  On  July  9,  it  was  entirely  finished  and 
the  next  day,  July  10,  1751,  this  second  place  of  worship  in  Bethle- 
hem was  dedicated.  It  was  Saturday,  and  at  eleven  o'clock  the  cus- 
tomary meeting  and  lovefeast  for  the  children  took  place  in  the  old 
chapel.  Then  followed  the  dedicatory  service  in  the  new  building, 
which  was  entirely  filled  by  the  adult  congregation;  many  being 
present  "from  the  upper  places" — an  expression  often  used  in  refer- 
ence to  the  stations  on  the  Nazareth  land  and  Friedensthal — and 
some  came  from  Maguntsche,  or  Salisbury.  This  service  was  in 
charge  of  Bishop  John  Nitschmann.  He  had  composed  some  verses 
for  the  occasion  that  were  sung,  together  with  other  hymns.  After 
the  service  of  consecration,  a  special  service  of  the  time,  known  as 
the  Tc  Agmim,  was  sung  kneeling.  At  the  general  "Sabbath  love- 
feast,"  at  one  o'clock,  a  cantata  arranged  for  the  occasion  was  ren- 
dered by  the  musicians  of  Bethlehem,  and  at  the  close  the  Bishop 
discoursed  on  the  watchword  for  the  day:  "And  Sharon  shall  be  a 
fold  of  flocks." — Isaiah  65:10.     Besides  these,  there  were  two  even- 


's This,  and  the  remarks  about  the  Friedensthal  mill  in  note  lo,  from  the  journal  of  two 
young  men,  Kennedy  and  High,  transcribed  at  the  Delaware  Water  (Jap,  and  published  in 
the  Mountain  Echo,  in  August,  1879. 


256  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENXSVLVANIA. 

ing  services  for  the  communicant  membership.  The  first  was  of  the 
ordinary  character — singing  and  prayer,  with  a  discourse  suitable  to 
the  hour.  The  second  consisted  of  another  formal,  chanted  prayer 
characteristic  of  the  time,  called  Tc  Plciiram,  expressing  the  thoughts 
associated  wath  the  significance  of  the  Saviour's  pierced  side.  The 
regular  order  of  daily  evening  prayer  followed  and  closed  the  festivi- 
ties. Thus  began  the  history  of  the  present  venerable  "Old  Chapel" 
of  Bethlehem. 

The  original  roof  of  the  building  was  of  tiles.  On  account  of  their 
great  weight,  they  were  removed  in  1753,  and  shingles  were  substi- 
tuted. Under  the  chapel  a  large  dining-room  for  the  married  people 
was  fitted  up.  It  was  opened  on  February  8,  1752,  by  a  formal  din- 
ner of  roast  venison,  of  which  fifty  men  and  thirty-two  women  par- 
took. Meanwhile,  the  other  wing  which  formed  the  connection 
between  the  Sisters'  House  and  the  eastern  end  of  the  girls'  school- 
building — "bell  house" — was  being  completed,  as  an  extension  of 
the  Sisters'  House,  affording  a  larger  dining-room  and  a  new  dormi- 
tory and  later  the  chapel  of  that  institution.  This  new  dining-room 
was  first  occupied  on  May  10,  1752,  when  a  dinner  of  shad  from  a  catch 
of  a  thousand  made  the  previous  day  in  the  Lehigh — "many  of  them 
the  size  of  the  carp  in  Germany,"  remarks  one  chronicler — was  served 
to  one  hundred  young  women  and  girls.  Yet  other  structures  were 
under  way,  or  had  in  view,  and  the  Gnadenhuetten  saw-mill,  which 
at  that  time  was  supplying  all  the  lumber  used  at  Bethlehem,  was 
kept  busy.  It  is  recorded  that  on  May  13,  seventeen  rafts  and,  two 
days  later,  fourteen  rafts,  containing  together  thirteen  hundred 
boards,  reached  Bethlehem  from  that  mill.  The  statement  is  made 
that  these  rafts  were  usually  built  one  board's  length  and  high  enough 
that  one  man  could  steer  and  control  two  rafts. 

On  September  2,  1751,  the  rebuilt  grist-mill  was  put  into  opera- 
tion and  on  November  18,  the  fulling-mill,  connected  with  it  and 
worked  by  the  same  power,  was  started.  A  second  run  of  stones 
was  added  to  the  mill  and  set  to  grinding.  May  11,  1753,  to  meet  the 
demand  from  an  ever-widening  extent  of  country  that  found  the 
Bethlehem  mill  the  most  convenient  and  satisfactory.  In  June,  1752, 
the  apothecary  shop  was  finished  and  on  July  10,  Dr.  Otto  began 
to  move  the  stock  and  outfit  of  his  pharmacy  from  the  room  before 
occupied  in  the  western  wing  of  the  girls'  school-building  into  the 
new  quarters.  In  October,  a  new  building  in  which  to  break  and 
prepare  hemp  was  erected  and  on  November  6,  the  masons  com- 


1749 1755-  257 

menced  work  at  an  addition  to  Timothy  Horsfield's  house,  already 
mentioned.  After  some  delay  this  structure  was  finished  in  July, 
1753-  O^  the  17th  of  that  month  the  occupation  of  these  subse- 
quently interesting  and  important  apartments  began.  Here  was 
opened  the  first  general  store  and  trading-place  of  Bethlehem,  long 
desired  by  the  numerous  customers  of  the  grist-mill  and  others  of 
the  surrounding  region,  and  long  planned  as  a  desirable  addition  to 
the  establishments  of  the  village. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  masters  of  trades,  the  previous  March,  the 
subject  of  stocking  this  store  was  discussed  and  over  a  hundred 
distinct  items  in  the  line  of  commodities  for  such  a  stock  were 
enumerated  that  could  be  produced  by  industries  then  in  operation  at 
Bethlehem.  Joseph  Powell,  who,  by  turns,  was  employed  in  evan- 
gelistic work  and  in  various  local  capacities,  had  temporary  charge  of 
it  until  December  11,  1754,  when  it  was  entrusted  to  William 
Edmonds,  who  had  been  assisting  at  the  Crown  Inn,  south  of  the 
river,  and  whose  name  was  later  associated  with  the  tavern  built  in 
1752,  north  of  Nazareth,  known  as  "the  Rose,"^*  having  charge  of  the 
store  that  was  carried  on  for  a  while  there.  Edmonds  was  elected  to 
the  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  in  October,  1755,  as  the  second  repre- 
sentative from  Northampton  County.  In  that  building  were  also 
quartered  John  Okely,  the  conveyancer  and  agent  of  the  Bethlehem 
authorities  in  land  matters ;  Abraham  Boemper  and  John  Leighton 
who,    in    addition    to    other    duties,    were    appointed    to    serve    as 

14  For  some  years  Friedensthal  (note  lo)  and  the  Rose  were  mentioned  together  in  refer- 
ences to  the  group  of  settlements,  because  of  near  neighborhood  relation.  That  inn  on  the 
north-eastern  confines  of  the  Barony  of  Nazareth  and  by  its  name  perpetuating  the  remem- 
brance of  the  quit-rent  token — a  red  rose  in  June— associated  with  the  domain,  was  designed 
originally  to  serve  the  double  purpose  of  quartering  the  men  who  were  to  build  the  projected 
village  of  Gnadenstadt  north  of  Nazareth — of  which  the  only  outcome  was  the  organization, 
in  1762,  of  the  congregation  of  Schoeneck  (Fairnook) — and  to  accommodate  travelers,  up  and 
down  the  Minnisink  road,  wlio  often  sought  hospitality  at  Nazareth,  which  under  existing 
arrangements  was  difficult  to  furnish.  i6o  acres,  bordering  on  the  Nazareth  land,  were 
surveyed  as  the  site,  January  3,  1752.  The  designs  for  the  building  were  ordered  by 
the  board  at  Bethlehem,  February  2,  and,  on  March  27,  1752,  the  corner-stone 
was  laid.  On  September  15  of  the  same  year  the  finished  building  was  opened 
as  an  inn,  with  John  Frederick  Schaub  and  Divert  Mary,  his  wife,  as  the  first  of 
the  succession  of  inn-keepers.  August  6,  1754,  it  first  displayed  its  sign  with  the 
emblem  of  the  rose.  Like  Friedensthal,  it  had  a  thrilling  connection  with  the 
frontier  horrors  of  1755-56.  The  store  was  opened,  1763,  in  a  near-by  log  house.  In  1771 
the  property  was  sold  to  private  parties.  In  1772  the  inn  was  closed.  The  building  dis- 
appeared in  1858. 
18 


258  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

cicerones  and  otherwise  attend  to  the  wants  of  visitors.  A  little 
later  two  rooms  were  fitted  up  in  it  to  lodge  guests.  These  various 
associations  of  the  house,  together  with  the  public  business  trans- 
acted in  the  office  of  Justice  Horsfield,  the  successor  of  Henry  Antes, 
made  it  the  principal  rendezvous  of  strangers  and  people  from  the 
neighborhood. 

Another  house, built  in  1752,  that  deserves  to  be  mentioned  was  the 
"Indiaiicr  Logis"  (Indian  lodge  or  inn),  which  stood  near  the  west 
bank  of  the  Monocacy,  immediately  north  of  the  present  stone  bridge 
at  the  mill.  It  w-as  a  stone  building  of  one  story,  fifty-two  by  forty 
feet  in  dimensions,  erected  as  a  temporary  dwelling  for  the  Indians 
of  Friedenshuetten  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  to  the  south,  after  it  had 
been  decided  to  transfer  them  to  another  spot.  It  was  then  to  serve 
as  the  regular  Indian  tavern  of  the  place,  in  which  an  Indian  couple, 
or  some  white  persons  adapted  to  the  task,  were  to  have  the  over- 
sight and  attend  to  the  entertainment  of  Indian  visitors.  In  the 
sequel,  after  all  the  Indians  had  removed  from  Bethlehem,  it  was 
fitted  up  to  serve  for  a  while  as  a  lodging  for  travelers,  when 
inclement  weather  or  high  water  rendered  it  too  dif^cult,  or  even 
dangerous,  to  cross  the  river  to  the  Crown  Inn  at  night;  and  the 
first  public  house  of  Bethlehem  had  not  yet  been  built.  That 
"Indian  house"  therefore  shared,  with  the  rooms  over  the  store  in 
the  Horsfield  house,  the  honor  of  being  the  first  hotel  on  the  north 
side  at  Bethlehem,  of  more  pretensions — being  built  of  stone — than 
the  primitive  guest-room  of  1743,  in  one  of  the  hastily-constructed 
log  cabins.  The  first  foundation-stone  was  laid,  August  14,  1752, 
and  on  October  25,  the  house  was  ready  to  be  occupied.  On  that 
day  about  twenty  Indians  moved  in  procession  from  Friedenshuetten 
to  the  new  building  and  took  formal  possession,  partaking  together 
of  a  meal,  with  songs  of  praise.'^  In  the  summer  of  1756  a  log 
house,  sixty-three  by  fifteen  feet,  was  built  just  south  of  it,  near  the 
creek,  containing  a  chapel  for  the  Indians.  This  was  taken  down 
and  transferred,  in  1758,  to  the  Indian  village  of  Nain  near  Bethle- 
hem, to  which  reference  will  be  made  in  another  chapter. 

While  these  various  building  operations  were  in  progress,  time  was 
found  to  also   make   numerous   improvements   which   enhanced  the 

15  The  Rev.  Wm.  C.  Reichel,  in  Memorials  of  the  Moravian  Churchy  publislied  in  1870, 
states,  on  page  23,  that  the  spring  which  empties  into  the  creek  near  the  bridge,  on  the  north 
side,  rose  in  the  cellar  of  the  Indian  house,  that  the  building  was  removed  early  in  the  cen- 
tury, and  that  portions  of  the  tiling,  with  which  it  was  paved,  remained  at  the  time  of 
writing. 


f 


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S  z 

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1/49 1755-  26i 

Perhaps  the  most  important  man  at  Bethlehem  during  this  time  was 
the  Rev.  Frederick  Emmanuel  Herrmann,  although  his  is  not  one 
of  the  more  familiar  names  of  that  period.  He  appears  to  have 
been  a  man  of  uncommon  executive  ability  and  capacity  for  affairs. 
Besides  fulfilHng  his  duties  as  an  influential  member  of  the  central 
executive  board,  and  as  a  preacher  of  ability,  he,  for  more  than  a 
year,  served  as  a  general  inspector  of  trades  and  industries,  and 
did  much  to  perfect  system  and  order.  With  Brownfield,  the  faithful 
steward,  until  his  death  in  April,  1752,  and  Okeh^,  as  men  experienced 
in  the  business  affairs  of  the  Economy ;  Timothy  Horsfield  as  a  new 
adviser,  and  the  patriarch,  Father  Nitschmann,  whose  great  personal 
influence  was  daily  exerted  in  the  interest  of  harmony  and  smooth- 
ness, all  rallying  together,  things  moved  on  without  very  serious 
disturbance. 

In  the  night  of  September  24,  1751,  Captain  Garrison  suddenly 
brought  the  long-expected  Irene  into  port  at  New  York.  Nathanael 
Seidel  and  David  Zeisberger  were  on  board,  returning  to  Bethlehem. 
With  them  came  two  married  couples  and  two  single  men  who  all 
rendered  conspicuous  service  in  their  several  spheres :  John  Michael 
and  Gertrude  Graff,  Joachim  and  Elizabeth  Busse,  John  Jacob 
Schmick  and  Hans  Christian  Christiansen.^^ 

Bishop  John  Nitschmann  received  intimation  in  letters  brought  by 
Seidel,  of  his  recall  to  Europe,  but  this  did  not  come  formally  until 
November  14.  He  immediately  finished  his  preparations,  took  leave 
of  Bethlehem  three  days  later  and  went  to  New  York  where  Captain 


18  Graff  and  Schmick  were  both  ordained  men  and  university  graduates ;  the  first  of  Jena 
and  the  second  of  Koenigsberg.  Busse  was  likewise  an  ordained  man  who  had  been  serv- 
ing the  Church  in  Berlin.  He  and  his  wife  went  to  St.  Thomas  before  the  close  of  the  year, 
as  missionaries.  Graff  and  his  wife  came  to  devote  themselves  especially  to  the  work  among 
the  children.  They  located  at  Nazareth  in  1755.  He  became  a  bishop,  1772,  and  settled 
at  Salem,  N.C.,  where  he  died  in  1774.  Schmick  entered  the  Indian  mission  service  in 
which  he  figured  conspicuously  amid  the  tribulations  of  a  few  years  later.  Christiansen  was 
an  eminently  skilful  mill-wright  who  rendered  valuable  service  at  Bethlehem  and  other 
places.  Others  who  came  with  them  were  Adam  Foelker,  blacksmith  and  farmer  from 
Wuertemberg,  with  his  family ;  Andrew  Giering,  journeyman  shoemaker  from  near  Suelz, 
on  the  Neckar,  Wuertemberg,  who,  on  October  24,  went  to  Maguntsche  to  work  for  J.acob 
Ehrenhardt ;  a  merchant  named  Schlosser  from  Pforzheim,  Durlach,  with  two  children 
attended  by  a  maid  named  Schaemel.and  Maria  Barbara  Meyer,  who  accompanied  Foelker's 
family  as  a  redemptioner.  None  of  these  people  were  members  of  the  Moravian  Churcli,  but 
some  of  them  became  such.  The  maid  with  Foelkers  was  released  for  ;,^o  by  the  single 
sisters  at  Bethlehem  and  taken  into  service  in  the  Sisters'  House.  The  girl  .Schaemel,  upon 
application,  was  likewise  so  employed.     Abraham  Boemper's  son  was  also  a  passenger. 


262  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,   PENNSYLVANIA. 

Garrison  was  getting  the  Irene  ready  for  her  fifth  voyage.  Those 
who  were  to  accompany  him  to  Europe  were  assembled  there  or 
went  with  him  from  Bethlehem. ^^  On  November  26,  the  vessel  left 
the  dock.  After  nearly  drifting  upon  a  reef  in  consequence  of  an 
almost  instantaneous  cessation  of  the  wind,  she  lay  to  in  a  cove  on 
the  Staten  Island  shore,  on  account  of  a  heavy  storm  that  broke 
upon  the  coast,  until  December  4,  when  the  Captain  put  out  to  sea. 
Moving  down  the  narrows,  they  passed  the  ship  that  was  bringing 
Bishop  Spangenberg  back  to  America  to  again  take  charge  of  the 
work.  He,  of  course,  recognized  the  Irene,  but  in  consequence  of 
the  stormy  weather,  attempts  to  communicate  with  her  by  means 
of  the  speaking-trumpet  failed.  Bishop  Matthew  Hehl  came  with 
him  as  coadjutor,  accompanied  by  his  wife  and  a  young  woman, 
Henrietta  Petermann,  as  attendant.  Other  Moravian  passengers 
were  Philip  Christian  Bader,  Nicholas  Henry  Eberhardt,  Matthew 
Kremser,  Henry  Miller  the  printer,  who  had  again  been  in  Europe, 
and  Carl  Godfrey  Rundt.  They  reached  Bethlehem,  December  10. 
Spangenberg  and  Hehl  went  to  Philadelphia  on  the  17th,  to'  pay 
their  respects  to  the  Governor.  Returning  to  Bethehem,  they  stopped 
at  Fredericktown  to  visit  Henry  Antes.  Dr.  Adolph  Meyer  accom- 
panied them  from  there,  more  than  half  way  to  the  Lehigh.  There 
was  general  rejoicing  and  a  restored  feeling  of  confidence  at  Beth- 
lehem. It  had  not  been  known  with  certainty,  even  by  the  principal 
officials,  that  Spangenberg  would  return,  and  his  sudden  appearance 
immediately  after  the  departure  of  his  predecessor,  was  a  great 
surprise  to  every  one. 

One  of  his  first  important  acts  was  to  convene  a  Synod  at  Beth- 
lehem on  December  22,  to  commvuiicate  various  necessary  matters, 
both  of  principle  and  method,  in  the  general  work ;  to  get  back  into 
personal  connection  with  all  ministers  immediately  and  to  reach 
as  many  spots  in  the  varied  activities  as  possible  with  such  new 
regulations  as  were  to  be  introduced.  From  this  time,  all  that  was 
abnormal  in  the  tone,  language  and  manner  of  the  preceding  few 
years  rapidly  disappeared. 

19  The  company  consisted  of  John  Nitschmann,  J.  C.  Pyrlaeus  and  wife,  John  PhiHp 
Doerrbaum  and  wife,  James  Greening  nnd  wife,  the  widow  of  CammerhofT,  Henry  Jorde, 
John  Eric  Westmann,  Matthew  Kuntz  and  Christian  Frederick  Post,  from  among  the  persons 
who  had  come  over  from  Europe  as  members  of  the  Church;  also  Ferdinand  Fend  (Vend), 
son  of  ''  Kiefer  "  Fend,  of  Germantown,  and  the  boy  James  Noble.  Samuel  Fockel,  of  the 
colony  brought  over  by  Henry  Jorde,  intended  to  return  to  Europe  with  them,  but  at  New 
York  changed  his  mind  and  remained. 


1749 1755-  263 

At  Bethlehem,  and  in  the  affairs  of  the  Economy  throughout, 
broken  ends  had  to  be  caught  up  and  tangled  threads  unraveled. 
A  situation  now  existed  that  required  stronger  external  regulation, 
for  the  somewhat  demoralizing  effects  of  temporary  variance  between 
factions,  and  the  presence  of  numerous  elements  that  were  not  in 
sympathetic  unity,  made  it  less  easy  than  in  previous  years,  to  main- 
tain the  necessary  order  through  mere  spontaneous  sentiment.  An 
evidence  of  what  appeared  necessary  in  this  direction  was  the 
decision,  in  February,  1752,  to  resuscitate  the  Richtcr  Collegium, 
explained  in  the  preceding  chapter.  John  Bechtel,  David  Bishop, 
John  Brownfield  and  Jasper  Payne  now  constituted  this  board  and 
were  formally  inducted  by  Spangenberg  on  February  16,  with  Herr- 
mann and  Pezold  as  advisory  members.  The  former  name,  Richter 
Collegium,  had  been  subject  to  misconception,  not  only  by  the  public 
but  even  by  some  within  the  congregation.  It  was  spoken  of  now 
for  a  while  as  eine  Commission — a  Board  of  Commissioners — and 
finally,  in  1754,  to  indicate  more  clearly  to  the  English-speaking  part 
of  the  public  and  to  the  civil  authorities,  what  the  nature  of  its 
functions  was,  it  was  given  the  English  name — officially  used — "Com- 
mittee for  Outward  Affairs."  In  this,  one  line  of  internal  organi- 
zation may  be  traced  from  the  beginning  through  to  the  final  system 
that  existed,  as  in  all  exclusive  Moravian  Church-settlements,  on  to 
the  eventual  abolition  of  this  system  at  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  at  Bethlehem — the  Gemein-Richter,  an  individual  office,  the 
Richfcr-CoUegiiun,  the  Commission,  the  Committee  for  Outward  Affairs, 
and  finally  the  Aufseher  Collegium,  or  Board  of  Supervisors,  which 
existed  imtil  1851.  The  general  executive  board  which  at 
different  times  bore  various  names,  was  not  only  the  ultimate 
local  authority,  but  the  board  in  central  control  of  the  whole 
Economy,  or  co-operative  union,  and  likewise  superintended  the 
entire  work  in  America.  It  was  not  until  after  the  dissolution  of 
the  Economy  that  this  general  executive  authority  began  to  be 
differentiated  from  the  central,  local  authority,  and  the  latter  came 
to  be  embodied  in  a  board  of  purely  local  executive  control  and 
spiritual  oversight ;  and  various  functions  distributed  among  a 
group  of  organized  bodies  of  somewhat  nebulous  appearance,  when 
superficially  viewed,  were  concentrated  in  a  smaller  number  of  more 
clearly  defined  boards  under  a  simplified  arrangement.-** 

'o  As  a  sample  of  this  elaborate  and  intricate  organization,  the  following  array  of  official 
bodies,  some  executive,  others  merely  deliberative,  that  existed  in  1752  may  be  mentioned: 
Juenger  Collegium  (the  highest  central  authority),   Richtcr  Collcgitoii  (elucidated  above). 


264  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA, 

It  was  a  happy  turn  in  season  when  the  exotic  administration  and 
whimsical  ideas  that  prevailed  at  Bethlehem  from  1749  to  1751  were 
succeeded  by  the  influence  of  men  and  measures  less  distinct  from 
their  surroundings ;  for  developments  were  taking  place  which  left 
Bethlehem  no  longer  an  almost  isolated  settlement,  having  no  other 
connection  with  outside  movements  and  public  affairs  than  that  which 
lay  in  its  general  relations  to  the  government  of  the  Province  and  to 
the  distant  Court  of  Bucks  County  at  Newtown.  The  foundations  of 
a  neighboring  town  had  been  laid  "at  the  point"  in  the  Forks  of  the 
Delaware,  where  the  plans  of  the  Proprietors  for  opening  up  new 
bodies  of  land  yet  lying  unoccupied  in  the  upper  part  of  the  extensive 
territory  included  in  Bucks  County ;  the  restive  desire  of  the  Scotch- 
Irish  people  in  the  Forks  to  cut  loose  from  the  incompatible  Quaker 
element  dominant,  with  its  German  support,  in  the  old  county,  and 
to  have  a  seat  of  justice  nearer  home;  and  the  political  calculations 
of  various  parties,  with  the  growing  German  population  of  the  region 
to  be  catered  to  or  manoeuvred  against  as  the  case  might  be,  would 
all  have  a  center  at  which  they  might  be  promoted.     The  importance 

Oeconomische  Conferenz  (conferring  on  general  management),  Diaconafs  Conferenz  (more 
strictly  financial),  Kinder  Conferenz  (department  of  children  and  schools),  Chor  Conferenzen 
(on  special  affairs  of  the  several  choir  divisions  and  houses),  Diener  Conferenz  (on  various 
branches  of  service  and  attendance  —  sacristan's  corps,  culinary  department,  attention  to 
visitors,  strangers,  etc.),  Kranken-  Waerter  Conferenz  (conferences  of  nurses,  male  and 
female),  Hand'verker  Conferenz  (heads  of  handicrafts),  Ackerbau  Conferenz  (relating  to  the 
agricultural  department),  Heifer  Conferenz  (advisory  to  central  management  giving  some 
opportunity  for  the  representative  feature  in  control),  Geinein  Rath  (more  fully  representative 
in  deliberation — vox  populi),  Polizei  Tag  (general  town-meeting  to  statedly  hear  exposition 
of  principles  and  regulations  that  concerned  all,  to  disseminate  general  information  on  public 
affairs,  to  preserve  order  and  correct  irregularities  and  periodically  tone  up  the  common 
morale).  The  name  Juenger  Collegium  applied  to  the  central  authority,  being  a  unique 
term,  requires  some  elucidation.  Juenger,  the  well-known  equivalent  of  Disciple  in  the 
German  Bible,  gave  Zinzendorf  one  of  his  favorite  conceptions  of  religious  life  and  activity 
expressed  hy  Jue7igerschaf I  (discipleship).  It  came  into  use  in  connection  with  the  general 
directing  body  in  Europe,  which  received  the  name  Juenger  Haus,  literally  Disciple  House 
(corps  or  conference  of  Disciples  directing  the  whole).  The  word  was  then  attached  also 
to  the  quarters  occupied  by  this  body.  This  fanciful  term  was  made  to  imply  unwarrantable 
spiritual  prerogatives  and  exaggerated  dignities  during  the  abnormal  period  that  has  been 
described ;  but  these  were  set  aside,  even  though  the  name  remained  for  a  while,  after  the 
close  of  John  Nitschmann's  administration  at  Bethlehem.  Spangenberg  did  not  permit 
himself  to  be  czS\.t.d.  Juenger,  although  at  the  head.  Later,  after  all  this  official  terminology 
ceased,  this  name  was  exclusively  applied  —  unofficially  and  harmlessly  —  to  Zinzendorf, 
merely  in  the  sense  of  one  who  lived  in  very  close  spiritual  communion  with  his  Saviour, 
cherishing  the  disposition  of  a  John,  the  beloved  disciple.  After  his  death  he  was  spoken 
of  in  reverent  affection  as  ^^  der  selige  Juenger  " — the  sainted  disciple. 


1749 1755-  265 

of  the  Moravian  settlements  was  duly  considered  in  all  of  these 
designs,  from  various  standpoints,  by  men  of  widely  different  atti- 
tude towards  them.  William  Parsons,  the  former  Surveyor  General 
of  Pennsylvania,  who  took  the  leading  part  in  founding  the  new 
town,  being  spoken  of  now  as  "the  Father  of  Easton;"  who  repre- 
sented the  Proprietary  interests  and  filled  various  important  offices 
at  this  new  center  during  the  first  years,  was  disposed  to  be  anti- 
German  in  general,  as  well  as  anti-Moravian  in  particular. ^^  This 
was  very  acceptable  to  those  men  of  the  region  who  had  looked 
askance  at  Bethlehem  from  the  first  and  now,  in  forming  their  plans, 
proposed  to  have  the  importance  of  the  Moravians  consist  mainly 
in  their  usefulness  as  tax-payers.     It  was  desirable,  therefore,  that 

21  Mr.  Parsons,  with  all  his  abilities  and  his  energetic  services  in  the  early  years  of  Easton 
which  deserved  better  than  that  even  his  grave  should  be  left  neglected  in  after  years,  and 
for  a  time  entirely  lost  sight  of,  was  a  man  of  perverse  disposition,  in  some  respects,  that 
marred  his  relations  to  people  in  many  directions  without  real  occasion.  Apart  from  the 
anti-German  position  which  he  thought  the  Proprietary  interests  he  represented  demanded 
of  him,  intensified  by  his  irritation  at  being  out-voted  several  times  in  the  new  county,  his 
grudge  against  that  nationality,  and  his  prejudice  against  the  Moravian  settlements  in  the 
Porks  —  a  prejudice  which  he  tried  to  impart  to  Proprietor  Penn  —  had,  back  of  all  this,  a 
personal  reason,  which  is  not  commonly  known.  His  wife  was  a  German  woman,  Johanna 
Christiana  Zeidig,  a  niece  of  the  brothers  John  Henry  and  Christian  Ludwig  Sprogel,  well 
known  to  students  of  Pennsylvania  history.  Her  almost  morbidly  emotional  and  pensive 
piety,with  which  he  hadneither  sympathy  nor  patience,  and  which  he  tried  to  dispel  by  alternate 
ridicule  and  harshness,  led  to  estrangement  between  them.  When  she  joined  the  Moravian 
Church  in  Philadelphia,  he  deserted  her  and  took  with  him  to  Lancaster  Counly  and  finally 
to  Easton,  his  two  youngest  daughters,  Johanna  Grace,  later  married  to  Nicholas  Garrison, 
Jr.,  son  of  Captain  Garrison,  and  Juliana  Sarah,  who  became  the  second  wife  of  Timothy 
Horsfield,  Jr.,  son  of  Justice  Horsfield,  of  Bethlehem.  Both  of  them,  as  well  as  an  older 
•daughter,  Ann  Mary,  familiarly  known  as  Molly  Parsons,  who  was  married  to  a  Moravian 
minister,  Jacob  Rogers,  and  another  daughter,  Susan,  who  died  single  in  Philadelphia,  were 
all  members  of  the  Moravian  Church.  His  son  Robert,  whom  he  threatened  to  disinherit 
for  the  same  reason,  and  a  married  daughter,  Hanna  Warral,  both  died  young  in  Philadel- 
phia, receiving  the  ministrations  of  the  Church.  A  bitterness  possessed  him  in  consequence 
of  all  this  that  became  almost  a  mania.  It  is  not  difficult,  therefore,  to  understand  why  the 
Moravian  settlements  were  represented  by  him  in  an  unfavorable  light  in  official  correspon- 
dence. He  never  resumed  relations  to  his  wife,  who  continued  to  live  in  Philadelphia  until 
after  his  death,  when  she  removed  to  Bethlehem,  where  she  died.  When,  after  he  had 
mellowed  greatly  in  his  feelings,  long  recovered  from  his  prejudice  against  the  Moravians, 
come  to  cordial  terms  with  them  and  embraced  evangelical  faith,  his  end  drew  near,  he 
desired  to  have  all  his  family  gathered  around  him,  but  in  that  pathetic  hour  it  was  too  late 
for  his  wife  to  come  from  Philadelphia.  He  died  at  Easton,  December  17,  1757.  A  simple 
service  was  conducted  in  accordance  with  his  request,  by  his  son-in-law,  the  Rev.  Jacob 
Rogers,  at  the  funeral,  Deceniber  19,  which  was  attended  by  a  number  of  Bethlehem  people. 
Timothy  Horsfield,  Esq.,  was  executor  of  his  estate. 


266  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

well-informed  men  of  understanding  and  tact  as  well  as  of  integrity, 
patience  and  peaceable  disposition ;  men  of  ability  and  force,  more- 
over, as  w^ell  as  of  piety  and  enthusiasm,  should  be  in  control  at 
Bethlehem. 

The  first  reference  to  the  new  town  of  Easton  appears  in  the 
Bethlehem  records,  July  27,  1751  ;  a  little  more  than  a  year  after  the 
first  survey  was  made  there  by  Parsons  and  Nicholas  Scull,  his  suc- 
cessor in  the  office  of  Surveyor  General.  On  that  date  it  is  stated 
that  Scull  and  Dr.  Thomas  Graeme,  Proprietary  Commissioner,  came 
to  Bethlehem  "on  their  way  to  the  Delaware  to  inspect  the  spot  and 
neighborhood  where  the  new  town  in  Bucks  County  is  to  be  built,  to 
make  a  draft  of  the  place,  to  be  submitted  to  Proprietor  Penn  for 
his  information  and  consideration."  The  next  morning  they  pro- 
ceeded on  their  way  to  the  spot,  accompanied,  at  their  request,  by 
John  Okely  of  Bethlehem.  Parsons  was  not  with  them  on  this  occa- 
sion. The  first  allusion  to  the  erection  of  the  new  county  occurs  on 
jMarch  ii,  1752,  when  it  is  stated  that  Jasper  Payne  and  John  Brown- 
field,  of  Bethlehem,  while  visiting  their  old  neighbor  Solomon  Jen- 
nings, were  told  by  him  that  this  new  county  "to  which  Bethlehem 
would  belong"  was  now  to  be  formed  and  that  the  proposed  Trustees 
(to  purchase  land  and  erect  buildings  for  a  county-seat  at  Easton) 
were  Thomas  Armstrong,  Thomas  Craig,  John  Jones,  James  Martin 
and  Hugh  Wilson.--  The  first  Court  of  the  new  county  was  held  at 
Easton,  June  16,  (old  style)  1752,  and  is  referred  to  in  the  Bethlehem 
diary  on  the  corresponding  new  style  date,  June  2"].  Timothy 
Horsfield,  of  Bethlehem,  having,  the  previous  day,  received  his  com- 
mission as  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  by  the  hand  of  William  Parsons, 
participated  in  that  first  session.  The  other  justices  were  Thomas 
Craig,  William  Craig,  James  Martin  and  Hugh  Wilson. 

The  opening  of  the  new  county-seat  led  to  the  first  recorded  visit 
to  Bethlehem  by  a  Governor  of  Pennsylvania.  On  July  13,  1752, 
Governor  Hamilton  and  his  staff  passed  through  to  Easton,  one  of 


22  At  this  time — new-style  date — the  final  discussions  were  being  concluded  in  the  Assem- 
bly. The  petition,  after  several  years  of  agitation,  was  formally  presented,  May  II,  1751, 
by  William  Craig.  The  act  was  passed,  March  6,  and  signed  by  the  Governor  March  11, 
O.  S.,  1752.  The  territory  included  in  the  present  Northampton,  Lehigh,  Carbon,  Monroe, 
Pike,  and,  in  part,  Wayne  and  Susquehanna  Counties  and  beyond  to  the  then  uncertain 
limits  of  the  Province  was  the  portion  of  Bucks  County,  thus  originally  cut  off  into 
Northampton  County.  The  new  county  was  called  Northampton  and  the  new  town  Easton, 
by  direction  of  Proprietor  Thomas  Penn,  after  Northampton,  England,  the  seat  of  his  father- 
in-law  Lord  Pomfret,  in  that  shire. 


I 


TIMOTHY    HORSFIELD    (Ist)  JOHN    VALENTINE    HAIDT 

NICHOLAS    GARRISON 
JOSEPH    OERTER  BERNHARD    ADAM    GRUBE 


1749 1755-  269 

that  had  been  acquired,  secured  in  a  satisfactory  manner.  Purchases 
had  originally  been  made  by  individuals  acting  for  the  Brethren,  and 
were  held  by  such  individuals  in  their  own  name ;  there  being  no 
legal  corporation.  After  April,  1746,  the  500  acres  on  which  Beth- 
lehem was  built,  the  large  island  in  the  river  and  some  other  lands 
had  been  held  by  three  Joint  Tenants,  Spangenberg,  Antes  and 
David  Nitschmann,  Sr.,  to  whom  they  had  been  conveyed  through 
John  Okely,  Notary  and  Conveyancer;  he  having  acquired  them 
through  deed  (1745)  from  Antes  the  original  purchaser,  and  given 
a  declaration  of  trust.  Upon  consultation,  when  Antes  removed 
from  Bethlehem,  it  was  concluded,  for  various  important  reasons, 
to  change  this  and  concentrate  these  holdings  in  the  hands  of  one 
man  as  individual  Proprietor.  Father  Nitschmann,  one  of  the 
Joint  Tenants,  was  selected  and,  the  first  week  in  October,  1750, 
he  went  to  Philadelphia  and  took  out  naturalization  papers,  to  qualify 
him  to  be  a  free-holder.  November  21,  O.  S.,  1751,  Spangenberg 
and  Antes,  the  other  two  Tenants,  conveyed  their  nominal  shares  to 
him.  Thus  a  system  was  introduced,  in  the  holding  of  title  to  the 
lands  of  the  Church,  that  was  maintained  for  more  than  a  hundred 
years.  With  this  succession  of  Proprietors  were  eventually  associ- 
ated Administrators  to  whom  the  Proprietors  gave  the  necessary 
authority  to  transact  business  in  connection  with  the  real  estate. 
Sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  the  last  of  the  succession,  the  Proprietor 
and  Administrator  were  the  same.  In  connection  with  the  beginning 
of  the  process,  it  may  be  added  that  in  1757,  David  Nitschmann 
executed  a  will  and  constituted  Bishops  Spangenberg  and  Boehler 
Executors  to  sell  the  properties  for  his  heirs  legally  inheriting  it. 
After  Father  Nitschmann's  death,  in  1758,  they  made  such  sale  to 
Nathanael  Seidel,  who  became  the  next  Proprietor,  assuming  all  debts 
in  lieu  of  purchase  money.  Thus,  at  the  period  now  treated  of,  all 
the  real  estate  acquired  and  controlled  by  the  authorities  at  Beth- 
lehem, in  addition  to  the  Barony  of  Nazareth,  the  purchase  of  which 
took  place  in  a  different  manner  at  the  start,  was  held  by  the  first 
such  Proprietor.  The  debts  figuring  in  the  transaction  with  Seidel 
were  the  incumbrances  resting  upon  the  estate  in  consequence  of 
purchases  on  credit  with  security.  In  this  a  connection  existed  with 
the  financial  management  in  Europe,  which  now  brought  a  new  strain 
upon  affairs  of  a  very  different  kind  from  that  described  in  the  fore- 
going pages.  That  central  financial  management  of  the  whole,  called 
the  General  Diaconate,  endeavoring  to  carrv  all  the  heavy  burdens 


2/0  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

of  the  work  in  all  countries  with  inadequate  resources — the  income 
from  Zinzendorf's  estates,  loans  by  mortgage  on  some  of  them, 
occasional  gifts  by  wealthy  friends  supplemented  by  the  revenue 
derived  from  the  several  missionary  societies  organized — had  become 
deeply  involved  and  seriously  embarrassed.  The  immense  losses 
suffered  through  the  disastrous  end  of  the  Herrnhaag  settlement, 
lavish  and  reckless  expenditures  by  those  in  charge  during  the  period 
of  folly  just  past,  precarious  shifts  to  meet  pressing  obligations  and 
tide  over  emergencies,  and  over-confident  manufacturing  and  com- 
mercial ventures  in  England,  in  the  hope  of  largely  increasing  revenue 
— much  of  this  concealed  from  Zinzendorf,  who  proceeded  without 
comprehending  the  real  condition  of  things — brought  a  crisis  in  the 
early  part  of  1753,  when  a  Jewish  banker,  with  whom  the  General 
Diaconate  had  large  monetary  transactions,  suspended  payment  and 
a  panic  ensued  among  their  creditors.  In  this  crisis,  which  fully 
opened  Zinzendorf's  eyes  to  the  condition  of  things  and  came  near 
bringing  financial  ruin,  he  unhesitatingly  stepped  into  the  breach 
personally  with  all  his  property  and  credit.  Some  who  could  be  of 
similar  service  stood  by  him. 

In  spite  of  the  advantage  taken  of  this  crisis  by  hostile  parties 
who  proposed  to  now  ruin  everything,  the  Brethren  were  enabled  to 
adjust  matters  and  prevent  a  complete  crash.  The  claims  of  some 
obdurate  creditors — among  them  a  woman  who  held  a  lien  against 
the  Barony  of  Nazareth  and  was  inspired  to  press  relentlessly,  by 
the  Rev.  George  Whitefield,  who  just  at  this  time  excitedly  joined 
the  pasquil-mongers  and  printed  his  most  vigorous  attack  upon 
Zinzendorf  and  the  Brethren — were  purchased  by  other  creditors  who 
agreed  to  make  terms  and  give  the  financial  managers  time  to  settle. 
Then  the  whole  system  of  things  was  re-organized  and  put  into 
competent  hands.  The  debts  of  all  kinds  that  finally  accumulated, 
amounted  in  the  aggregate  to  far  beyond  a  million  of  dollars.  Half 
a  century  was  required  to  completely  extinguish  this  great  sum. 

In  March,  1753 — just  at  the  time  when  the  crisis  came — Bishop 
Spangenberg  prepared  for  another  journey  back  to  Europe  to 
help  plan  measures  to  meet  the  critical  situation,  of  which 
he  was  fully  aware,  and  in  anticipation  of  which,  the  steps 
before  described  to  get  the  real  estate  at  Bethlehem  into  satis- 
factory order  were  taken.  He  also  wished  to  report  and  consult 
on  two  important  matters  of  1752  which  have  not  yet  been  referred 
to,  as  well  as  on  numerous  details  of  the  general  work  that  could 


1749 1755-  271 

better  be  treated  through  personal  interviews  than  through  corre- 
spondence. One  of  these  matters  was  the  survey  of  the  immense 
tract  of  land  in  Xorth  Carolina  secured  from  the  Earl  of  Granville, 
which  received  the  name  Wachovia  (die  IVachau)  from  one  of  the 
Zinzendorfian  estates ;  and  on  which  the  Aloravian  settlements  in  that 
State  were  founded.  August  25,  1752,  Spangenberg  had  started 
from  Bethlehem  for  Xorth  Carolina  with  his  selected  company  to 
undertake  the  survey.  Count  Reuss  XXVIII,  commonly  spoken  of 
as  Ignatius,  a  nephew  of  the  Countess  Zinzendorf,  had  been  expected 
in  America  in  connection  with  this  expedition,  but  plans  were  changed 
and  he  did  not  come.  Spangenberg  was  accompanied  from  Beth- 
lehem by  Timothy  Horsfield,  Herman  Loesch,  John  ^lerck  and 
Joseph  jNIueller.  At  Fredericktown  they  were  joined  by  Henry  Antes, 
although  he  had  just  arisen  from  a  sick-bed,  and  together  they 
proceeded  on  their  way,  making  most  of  the  journey  on  horseback. 
It  required  until  after  X>w  Year  to  complete  their  formidable  task, 
in  the  course  of  which  much  sickness,  privation  and  hardship  were 
experienced. 

Spangenberg  got  back  to  Bethlehem,  February  12,  1753. 
The  other  matter  alluded  to  was  the  suspended  project  of 
building  the  villages  of  Gnadenhoeh  and  Gnadenstadt  on  the 
X^azareth  domain,  as  residence-places  for  families,  different  from  the 
kind  of  institutional  arrangement  existing  at  Bethlehem,  X^azareth, 
Gnadenthal,  Christiansbrunn  and  Friedensthal ;  completing  thus  the 
original  scheme  of  six  centers  on  the  X'azareth  land  on  a  more 
elaborate  scale  than  was  at  first  proposed.  The  start  made  with 
founding  these  villages  has  been  referred  to.  When  Spangenberg 
returned  from  X^'orth  Carolina  he  not  only  observed  that  the  zeal  for 
these  undertakings  had  waned  somewhat,  but  prudently  concluded, 
in  the  light  of  the  latest  correspondence  from  Europe,  that  the 
financial  outlook  did  not  warrant  any  headlong  movements.  During 
March,  1753,  there  were  numerous  official  consultations  on  these 
things  and  on  affairs  arising  out  of  the  new  county  organization. 
Antes  was  in  Bethlehem  at  these  meetings,  ]\Iarch  16-24,  and  helped 
to  form  further  plans  for  securing  the  Church  property  against  any 
sudden  adverse  turn;  to  sketch  a  scheme  for  occupying  the  Xorth 
Carolina  land;  and  to  frame  a  petition  to  the  Assembly  for  relief 
from  what  was  felt  to  be  an  oppressive  principle  of  taxation  applied 
to  the  Economy,  but  which  the  County  Commissioners  declined  to 
relax,    because    thev    held    that    technical    constraint    bound    them. 


272  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Successive  representations  to  the  Court  of  Appeals  were  unavailing 
and  in  pursuance  of  legal  counsel,  the  assessments  were  paid  under 
protest  and  an  appeal  finally  taken  to  the  Assembly.-* 

Several  church  councils  were  held  at  which  all  of  the  communicant 
members  were  assembled  to  hear  what  it  was  deemed  expedient  to 
publish  at  that  time  about  all  of  these  precarious  matters;  to  also 
hear  the  ad  interim  management  arranged  for  the  time  of  Spangen- 
berg's  absence,  the  suspension  of  plans  on  the  Nazareth  land,  and 
the  measures  urged  to  be  able  to  proceed  on  a  self-sustaining  basis 
as  nearly  as  possible.  Spangenberg  then  went  to  New  York,  on 
Alarch  26,  preparatory  to  sailing  for  Europe.  The  Irene  was  lying 
at  New  York  where  Captain  Garrison  was  getting  her  ready  for 
the  seventh  voyage.^' 


24  Their  main  contention  was  in  reference  to  the  taxes  assessed  on  the  large  number  of 
single  men  individually.  It  was  claimed  that  they  should  not  be  taxed  personally,  on  the 
basis  of  the  valuation  put  on  the  properties  of  their  establishments  and  the  magnitude  of 
the  agricultural  and  manufacturing  operations  in  which  they  were  jointly  engaged,  because 
they  were  not  part  owners,  enjoyed  no  share  of  any  profits,  received  no  wages,  but  merely 
got  their  subsistence  from  the  common  store,  giving  all  their  labor  to  a  common  cause, 
which  was  not  for  the  material  aggrandizement  of  any  individual  or  body  of  individuals, 
but  for  benevolent  and  charitable  objects  in  the  furtherance  of  evangelistic  work.  It  was 
argued  that  they  should  be  taxed  jointly  as  large  families  in  their  several  houses.  This  was 
met  by  the  opponents  in  two  ways.  Some  flatly  refused  to  believe  these  statements.  This, 
of  course,  was  no  argument,  and  was  not  to  be  reasoned  with.  Others  took  the  position, 
that,  if  such  was  the  case,  the  organization  for  which  they  labored  was  under  obligation  to 
pay  the  individual  taxes  for  them  as  a  part  of  the  body  of  current  expenses  necessarily  in- 
volved ;  and  that  the  law  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  question  of  what  was  done  with  the 
proceeds.  The  position  taken  by  the  courts  seems  to  have  been  that  the  plea  made  in 
behalf  of  the  single  men  could  only  be  admitted  if  they  stood  on  the  basis  of  indentured 
"  servants  "  like  "redemptioners";  and  this  was  not  the  case.  This  question  continued  to 
be  agitated  for  some  years.  Their  contention  had  been  admitted  by  the  court  of  Bucks 
County,  and  they  had  been  thus  taxed  as  family  establishments.  It  is  on  record  that  the 
amount  of  such  tax  collected  from  the  single  Brethren  in  April,  1753,  was  ^73,  while  the  taxes 
of  the  whole  County,  with  its  population  of  over  6000,  was  slightly  more  than  ;,^300.  So 
the  new  county  managed  to  make  the  Moravian  settlements  rather  profitable,  while  Parsons 
was  declaring  them  "  detrimental  to  its  prosperity." 

25  Two  companies  had  arrived  from  Europe  on  the  Iretu'  since  Spangenberg's  return  to 
America,  December,  1751.  Returning  from  her  fifth  voyage.  May  17,  1752.  she  brought, 
besides  the  Rev.  Andrew  Anthony  Lawatsch,  with  his  wife  Anna  Maria;  the  Rev.  Jacob 
Rogers,  a  widower ;  Francis  Boehler,  later  ordained,  and  his  wife  Anna  Catherine  ;  Rosina 
Pfahl,  a  widow,  and  Margaret  Wernhamer,  a  single  woman.  They  were  accompanied  by 
the  faithful  and  valuable  steward,  David  Wahnert,  who  was  now  a  widower.  After  another 
voyage  on  the  Irene',  July  6  to  November  20,  1752,  he  was  married  at  Bethlehem,  January 
29,  1753,  to  Rosina  Pfahl,  who  then  accompanied  him  on  the  next  voyage  in   April,  1753. 


1749 1/55-  273 

Spangenberg  had  hoped  to  have  some  leisure,  after  getting  away 
from  Bethlehem,  to  dispose  of  a  mass  of  important  writing  before 
the  ship  sailed,  that  he  had  no  time  for  during  the  preceding 
extremely  busy  weeks,  and  was  much  disconcerted  when  he  found 
everything  in  readiness  to  leave.  Just  then  a  letter  came  to  him 
from  Zinzendorf  intimating  that,  as  matters  then  were,  he  might 
delay  until  after  Easter  if  he  preferred.  So  he  let  the  Irene  sail-** 
without  him  and,  while  the  people  at  Bethlehem  supposed  he  was  on 
the  ocean,  he  retired  to  a  house  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York,  where 
he  quietly  finished  his  voluminous  report  on  the  North  Carolina 
plans,  and  other  writing,  and  did  much  thinking  on  affairs,  that  had 
not  been  possible  in  the  whirl  of  the  previous'  weeks.  On  April  20, 
he  preached  the  Good  Friday  sermon  in  New  York  and  directly  after 
the  service  hurried  aboard  the  ship  on  which  he  had  engaged  passage. 

After  his  departure,  yet  other  important  conferences  on  the 
financial  situation  were  held  by  Bishop  Matthew  Hehl,  who  now 
took  his  place ;  Nathanael  Seidel,  Herrmann  and  Lawatsch,  the 
temporary  Board  of  Wardens ;  Nicholas  Henry  Eberhardt  who  had 
come  over  in  December,  1751,  and  now  temporarily  took  Pezold's 
place  as  Warden  of  the  single  men ;  Antes,  Horslield  and  Okely ; 
these  being  principally  the  men  who  had  to  worry  with  the  uncertain 
problems  of  the  hour.    One  such  session,  May  25  to  28 — during  which 

When  the  vessel  returned  to  New  York  from  her  sixth  voyage,  November  20,  1752,  she  had 
on  board  John  Toeltschig,  who  had  been  one  of  the  early  Georgia  colonists,  and  Anna 
Johanna  Piesch,  daughter  of  John  George  Piesch,  the  conductor  of  the  First  Sea  Congre- 
gation, grand-daughter  of  Father  Nitchmann  and  later  the  wife  of  Nathanael  Seidel.  She 
had  charge  of  seventeen  single  women.  Johanna  Dorothea  Miller,  wife  of  the  printer 
Henry  Miller,  and  a  certain  widow  Schultz,  were  also  passengers,  and,  as  stated,  David 
"Wahnert  was  again  along  as  steward.  The  single  women  were  the  following : 
Beyer,  Anna  Maria,  Klingelstein,  Margaret  Catharine,     Ruch,  Catherine, 

Dietz,  Maria  Catherine,         Mann.  Anna,  Schuster,  Felicitas, 

Ebermeyer,  Maria  Margaret,  Meyer,  Maria  Agnes,  Seidner,  Margaret  Barbara, 

Gaupp,  Dorothea,  Morhardt.  Christina,  Sperbach,  Johanna  Rebecca, 

Gerhardt,  Catherine,  Neumann,  Regina,  Waeckler,  Juliana. 

Heyd,  Inger,  Redelerburg,  Helena, 

26  The  company  that  sailed  in  the  /ir/te  were  John  Toeltschig  and  Anna  Johanna  Piesch, 
returning;  Samuel  Krause  and  wife,  now  also  leaving  Pennsylvania;  David  Wahnert,  the 
steward  and  his  wife  ;  Judith,  widow  of  the  missionary  Abraham  Meinnung;  Gottlieb  Pezold, 
who  was  to  bring  a  large  colony  of  single  men  to  Pennsylvania;  Dorothea  Bechtel,  a 
daughter  of  John  Bechtel;  Bally  Noble,  a  girl,  and  the  young  men  Jacob  Adolph  and 
William  Okely,  the  latter  a  sailor  and  ship's-carpenter  who  was  with  the  crew  of  the  /n-m 
on  several  voyages. 
19 


2/4  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

time  Antes  remained  in  Bethlehem — was  occasioned  by  the  receipt 
of  a  letter  from  Bishop  John  de  Watteville  in  reference  to  the 
extensive  credit-system  that  had  been  carried  on  and  now  rendered 
the  crisis  the  more  critical ;  stating  what  steps  had  thus  far  been 
taken,  and  expressing  concern  about  the  credit  in  Pennsylvania, 
where  the  difficulties  in  Europe  had  become  known  and  a  panic  was 
imminent.  After  mature  deliberation,  all  the  communicant  members 
at  Bethlehem  were  summoned  and  were  told  how  matters  stood, 
de  Watteville's  letter  was  read  to  them,  and  they  were  called  upon 
to  manifest  united  loyalty.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  conference, 
Antes  and  Lawatsch  started  for  Philadelphia,  followed  later  by  Father 
Nitschmann,  Joseph  Mueller,  Hermann,  Horsfield  and  Okely,  to 
have  interviews  with  the  men  who  had  made  loans  in  this  country,  to 
explain  the  entire  situation,  so  far  as  they  could  at  that  time,  and 
correct  erroneous  and  exaggerated  reports  that  had  gotten  afloat, 
when  the  news  of  the  failure  of  Gomez  Serra,  the  banker,  and  the 
connection  of  the  General  Diaconate  of  the  Church  with  him  first 
reached  Philadelphia.  They  succeeded  in  allaying  the  excitement  and 
the  creditors  had  sufficient  confidence  to  wait.  At  another  such 
conference  in  June,  yet  fuller  explanations  were  made  to  the  people 
at  Bethlehem,  and  it  was  decided  to  give  every  one  an  opportunity 
to  express  his  views  and  wishes  on  the  question  of  standing  by  the 
Economy,  and  continuing  to  serve  on  the  basis  hitherto  maintained. 
They  were  reminded  that,  while  they  were  important  producers  for 
the  general  cause,  their  transportation  and  keeping  had  occasioned 
a  considerable  part  of  the  great  debt  that  had  accumulated.  They 
were  asked  to  devote  themselves  anew  to  the  task  of  helping  to  bear 
the  common  burden,  and  to  be  ready  for  yet  more  plain  and  frugal 
living  for  a  season. 

In  addition  to  these  trying  financial  circumstances,  the  outlook  for 
the  harvest  of  that  year  was  by  no  means  promising.  In  that,  and  the 
two  following  years  there  was  a  very  general  failure  of  crops 
throughout  Pennsylvania,  succeeding  several  years  of  plenty.  The 
spirit  manifested  by  the  people  generally,  in  response  to  this  appeal, 
was  highly  gratifying,  and  when  the  intimation  was  given  that  if  any 
preferred  to  sever  their  connection  with  the  Economy  under  this  test, 
they  should  feel  at  liberty  to  do  so  and  might  go  in  peace,  no  disposi- 
tion to  withdraw  was  apparent.  The  sensations  set  afloat  by  these 
circumstances  attracted  new  attention  to  Bethlehem  in  business 
circles  and  among  civil  officers,  not  only  in  Pennsylvania,  but  also  in 


1/49 1755  275 

New  Jersey  and  New  York.  j\Iany  men  of  prominence  visited  the 
place  during  the  summer  of  1753,  either  to  inspect  the  situation  and 
talk  with  the  officials  in  order  to  form  a  better  judgment  about  matters 
from  a  business  point  of  view,  or  to  merely  gratify  awakened  curiosity. 
Among  other  visitors  noted  in  June,  was  "Mr.  |ohn  Penn,  the  son 
of  Richard  Penn,  one  of  the  Proprietors,  with  two  gentlemen  who 
looked  about  Bethlehem  with  pleasure."  In  September,  besides 
many  others  referred  to,  were  "a.  number  of  gentlemen  from  Phila- 
delphia, among  them  the  Director  of  the  Academy,  Mr.  Allison,  and 
two  of  his  colleagues."  Merchants  from  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
and  a  number  of  sea  captains  were  among  the  visitors.  In  June, 
1753,  three  weeks  after  Bishop  Spangenberg  reached  England, 
Bishop  Peter  Boehler  sailed,  with  his  wife,  for  America  on  the  Irene 
to  take  Spangenberg's  place  until  the  end  of  the  year,  and  oversee 
the  further  work  of  settlement  with  creditors  in  Pennsylvania,  in 
harmony  with  the  policy  and  method  which  had  been  instituted  in 
England.  Boehler  was  not  only  fully  acquainted  with  the  plans  of 
the  hour  and  possessed  of  more  than  ordinary  ability  in  such  matters, 
but  had  been  one  of  those  who  deplored  the  heedless  methods  of  the 
preceding  few  years  and  raised  his  voice  against  various  measures 
and  ventures,  to  the  displeasure  of  those  who  were  running  things 
down  the  road  to  ruin.  He  landed  at  New  York,  September  9.  They 
were  accompanied  by  two  married  couples,  Jacob  and  Elizabeth  Till, 
and  George  Stephen  Wolson  and  his  wife  Susan  Rebecca,  with  David 
Wahnert,  the  steward,  and  his  wife,  again  in  attendance.  Besides 
these,  there  came,  under  the  leadership  of  Gottlob  Koenigsdoerfer,  a 
colony  of  twenty-three  single  men,  to  engage  in  the  service  of  the 
Church  in  various  ways.  It  was,  on  the  whole,  a  body  of  superior  men. 
Nine  of  them  had  studied  at  universities,  and  some  others  were  men 
of  considerable  education.  They  added  eight  men  to  the  educated 
ministry,  while  several  more  of  good  natural  abilities  joined  the 
ranks  of  the  assistant  missionaries.  There  were  also  a  surgeon,  a 
surveyor  and  an  experienced  scrivener  among  them,  while  nine  other 
trades  were  represented.-^ 

Bishop    Boehler   reached    Bethlehem,    September    13,    and.    after 
protracted  consultations  with  Antes,   Horsfield,   Okely  and  others, 


27  Jacob  and  Elizabeth  Till  also  entered  the  ministry,  engaging  at  first,  with  great  zeal  and 
faithfulness,  in  the  work  among  the  children.  The  university  men  later  best  known  in  the 
ministry  among  those  in  the  list  which  follows,  were  Friis,  Krogstrup,  Rusmeyer  and  Soelle. 
The  surgeon  was  Kalberlahn,   who  later   went   to   North   Carolina,   and   the   surveyor  was 


2/6  A    HISTORY    OF    BliTHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

applied  himself  to  the  difficult  task  before  him.  The  formal  com- 
mission and  guarantees  he  brought  with  him,  the  detailed  statements 
he  was  able  to  make,  together  with  his  own  personal  standing  in 
Philadelphia,  eventually  restored  confidence  and  enabled  him  to  so 
arrange  matters  witn  the  creditors,  who  had  agreed  to  wait  only  to 
the  end  of  the  year  before  foreclosing,  that  everything  was  gotten 
into  order  and  the  properties  of  the  Church  were  secured.  While 
engaged  with  these  things,  he  also  held  a  Synod  in  November,  to 
deliberate  on  such  matters  as  required  the  attention  of  all  who  were 
engaged  in  church  work  at  that  time.  Furthermore,  on  October  8, 
the  first  colony  of  thirteen  men — some  from  among  those  who 
arrived  with  Boehler — started  for  North  Carolina  to  found  a  settle- 
ment on  the  new  domain  of  Wachovia. 

At  that  time  another  project  of  some  extent,  which  however  was 
never  consummated,  began  to  engage  attention  at  Bethlehem.  Just 
before  Spangenberg  sailed  for  Europe,  a  proposition  came  to  him 
by  a  company  which  owned  about  fifty  thousand  acres  of  land  in  New 
York,  to  give  four  thousand  acres  and  sell  seven  thousand  additional 
acres  at  a  very  low  figure,  to  the  Moravian  Church  to  found  a  settle- 
ment. The  land  lay  in  Ulster  County,  a  short  distance  east  of  the 
Delaware  River  between  the  Minnisinks  and  Schoharie.  In  May, 
after  Spangenberg's  departure,  men  were  appointed  to  inspect  the 
tract  and  send  a  report  to  Europe.  This  report  was  such  that,  not- 
withstanding the  financial  embarrassment  of  the  time,  it  was  con- 
cluded to  investigate  the  proposition  further.  Boehler  had  been 
requested  to  give  attention  to  it,  but  the  early  beginning  of  a  severe 
winter  prevented  him  from  visiting  the  neighborhood.  When  Bishop 
David  Nitschmann  returned  to  America  the  following  year,  he  was 
commissioned  to  take  the  matter  in  hand.     May  2,  1754,  he  started 

Golkowsky,  Krause  was  a  butcher,  and  the  first  of  the  line  of  that  name  who  have  conducted 

the  business  at  Bethlehem.     The  following  is  the  complete  list : 

Backhof,  Ludolph  Gottlieb,  Juergensen,  Jacob, 

Baehrmeyer,  Christopher  Henry,  Kalherlahn,  Hans  Martin, 

Beyer,  Frederick,  Krause,  Henry, 

Daehne,  Ludwig  Christopher,  Krogstrup,  Otto  Christian, 

Eyerie,  Jacob,  Lemmert,  Joseph, 

Fabricius,  George  Christian,  Rusmeyer,  Albrecht  Ludolf, 

Friis,  Jacob,  Soelle,  George, 

Golkowsky,  George  Wenzeslaus,  Toellner,  Christian  Frederick, 

Haberland,  Joseph,  Wedsted,  Christian, 

Herr,  Jacob,  Weicht,  Peter, 

Hunt,  Samuel,  Worbass,  Peter, 

Ziegler,  Curtins  Frederick. 


1749 1755-  2/7 

from  Bethlehem  with  David  Zeisberger  for  Ulster  County  to  select 
a  site  for  a  settlement.  On  that  day,  thirty  years  before,  he  and 
the  other  "Moravian  churchmen"  had  started  from  Zauchtenthal,  the 
old  Moravian  home  of  the  Nitschmanns  and  Zeisbergers,  on  the 
pilgrimage  which  led  them  to  Herrnhut,  and  this  suggested  the  idea 
of  calling  the  new  settlement  Zauchtenthal.  Further  visits  and 
negotiations  with  the  owners  followed  and  progressed  so  far  that, 
at  the  end  of  November,  what  promised  to  be  mutually  satisfactory 
terms  and  forms  of  deeds  for  the  land  had  been  agreed  to,  and  Bishop 
Nitschmann  had  arranged  to  take  up  his  residence  there  and  open 
the  settlement,  for  which  elaborate  plans  had  been  made.  Then  a 
closer  inspection  of  the  land  revealed  that  the  variety  of  uses  to 
which  it  could  be  put  was  too  limited  to  meet  the  stipulations,  on 
the  part  of  the  owners,  that  had  been  accepted,  and  at  last  the  scheme 
collapsed.  A  new  individual  offer  of  another  tract  in  that  region 
by  Mr.  Livingston,  one  of  the  company,  was  taken  into  consideration 
the  next  summer,  but  nothing  came  of  it. 

A  more  promising  opening  was  at  that  time  being  taken  advantage 
of.  This  was  the  donation,  by  George  Klein,  of  his  entire  farm  at 
Warwick,  in  Lancaster  County,  where  a  little  congregation  had 
existed  since  1749.  On  that  body  of  land,  first  offered  in  1753,  the 
important  settlement  of  Lititz  was  founded  under  the  superintendence 
of  Bishop  Matthew  Hehl,  who  had  been  Bishop  Spangenberg's 
coadjutor  at  Bethlehem.  This  settlement,  which  was  planned  to 
be  more  fully  one  of  separate  homes  than  Bethlehem  and  the 
Nazareth  places  had  been,  and  at  which  no  such  arrangements  as 
the  Economy  of  these  places  was  ever  instituted,  not  only  diverted 
attention  from  the  opening  in  Ulster  County,  New  York,  but  took  the 
place  of  the  proposed  villages  of  Gnadenhoeh  and  Gnadenstadt  on 
the  Nazareth  land. 

Bishop  Spangenberg  got  back  to  Bethlehe(m,  April  22.  1754; 
having  arrived  at  New  York  on  the  Irene  on  the  15th.  The  record 
states  that  the  return  of  "Brother  Joseph"-^  to  Pennsylvania  caused 
great  joy  at  Bethlehem.  Besides  a  number  of  other  persons,  Bishop 
David  Nitschmann  accompanied  him,  after  an  absence  of  more  than 

28  This  name  by  which  Spangenberg  was  commonly  known  then  and  on  to  the  end  of  his 
life— he  often  used  it  himself  signing  his  name  even  officially  ''Joseph,  alias  Augustus 
Gottlieb  Spangenberg" — was  a  metonymy  first  applied  to  him  by  Zinzendorf,  substituting  the 
sacred  Bible  name  for  Augustus,  which  had  radically  the  same  meaning.  In  his  provision 
for  the  sustenance  of  so  many  dependent  upon  his  wise  fore-thought  and  good  management 
at  Bethlehem,  he  was  compared  to  Joseph,  the  provider  in  Egypt. 


278  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,   PENNSYLVANIA. 

four  years,  to  pass  the  rest  of  his  life  in  America.     Like  Spangen- 
berg,-''  he  was  at  this  time  a  widower.^° 

There  were  others  of  note  among  the  passengers :  the  Rev.  John 
Ettwein,  with  his  wife  Joanetta  Maria  and  his  infant  son  Christian — 
the  zealous  superintendent  of  work  among  the  children,  the  inde- 
fatigable itinerant,  the  commanding  spirit  at  Bethlehem  during  the 
Revolution,  and  then  the  bishop  of  such  extensive  acquaintance  and 
correspondence  with  public  men ;  the  Rev.  Francis  Christian  Lenibke, 
a  widower,  the  accomplished  schoolman  and  preacher  who  became 
the  pastoral  head  at  Nazareth  the  next  year;  John  Valentine  Haidt, 
with  his  wife  Catherine,  less  known  as  a  minister  than  as  a  painter 
of  pictures  in  oil,  whose  numerous  scenes  from  the  Saviour's  passion 
and  portraits  of  prominent  Moravians  remain,  both  in  Europe  and 
America,  as  mementos  of  those  days — his  studio  was  in  the  Horslield 
house  at  Bethlehem  for  a  season,  and  nearly  all  the  oil  portraits  in 
the  Church  archives  are  his  work ;  Andrew  Hoeger  the  architect  and 
building-inspector  who  rendered  important  service  at  Bethlehem ; 
the  Rev.  Christian  Thomas  Benzien,  with  his  wife  Anna  Maria  and 
his  two  children  Anna  Benigna  and  Christian  Lewis — worn  and 
broken  by  the  harassing  ordeal  of  the  financial  crisis  in  England 
during  which  he  had  to  bear  a  heavy  load.  The  Rev.  Paul  Daniel 
Bryzelius,  with  his  wife  and  three  children,  were  also  passengers. 
But  the  most  interesting  name  in  the  company  was  that  of  Hecke- 
welder.  The  parents,  David  and  Regina  Heckewelder,  subsequently 
joined  the  missionary  force  in  the  West  Indies.  Their  children  were 
John,  David,  Christian  and  Mary.  The  name  of  John  Heckewelder, 
Indian  missionary,  linguist  and  archaeologist,  founder  of  settlements, 
government    agent    and   man   of   afifairs,   figures    in   the    Bethlehem 

29  Spangenberg  was  married  again  at  Bethlehem,  May  19,  1754.  His  second  wife  was  a 
widow  who  had  been  engaged  in  official  work  among  her  sex  in  Europe,  Mary  Elizabeth 
Miksch,  m.n.  Jaehne.  She  was  one  of  the  passengers  with  him  on  the  Irene.  He  later 
called  her  his  "  Martha,"  and  she  came  to  be  known  by  this  name  so  exclusively  that  it  has 
often  been  taken  by  writers  to  have  been  her  real  name.  She  was  an  excellent  woman  and 
of  great  value  to  him  as  an  assistant.     Spangenberg  left  no  issue  by  either  marriage. 

30  Bishop  Nitschmann's  wife  Rosina  died  at  Marienborn,  near  Herrnhaag,  August  10,  1753. 
Intending  to  locate  m  Ulster  Co.,  N.  Y.,  at  the  head  of  the  projected  settlement,  Zauchten- 
thal,  he  married  again,  September  7,  1754,  at  Bethlehem.  His  second  wife  was  Mary 
Barbara  Martin,  m.n.  Leinbach,  widow  of  Frederick  Martin,  missionary  bishop  in  the  West 
Indies.  They  had  a  daughter,  Anna  Mary,  who  became  the  wife  of  Christian  Heckewelder, 
brother  of  the  celebrated  missionary  John  Heckewelder,  both  of  whom  were  among  the  boys 
of  the  company  that  arrived  on  the  Ii-eiie  in  April,   1754. 


1749- 


•1755- 


279 


records  until  his  death  in  1823.  As  missionary  and  master  of  Indian 
languages  and  traditions,  his  name  stands  second,  in  the  Moravian 
Church,  only  to  that  of  David  Zeisberger.  Captain  Garrison  was 
accompanied  by  his  wife  on  this  voyage,  and  his  son  Nicholas 
Garrison,  Jr.,  was  again  with  the  crew,  who  this  time  were  exclusively 
Moravian  sailors.  Christian  Jacobsen,  later  Captain  of  the  Irene,  was 
again  along;  also  Andrew  Schoute,  one  of  the  most  useful  and 
interesting  men  in  this  service ;  William  Edmonds  who  served  as 
ship's  cook,  later  inn-keeper,  shop-keeper,  county  officer  and  Assem- 
blyman, and  the  Norwegian  sailor,  Jost  Jensen,  who  later  was  inn- 
keeper at  Bethlehem.  Dr.  John  Michael  Schmidt,  subsequently 
apothecary  at  Lancaster  and  (1757)  at  Lititz,  and  three  young 
women,  with  David  Wahnert,  the  veteran  steward  and  his  wife  were 
also  on  board. 

Returning  from  her  ninth  voyage,  on  November  16,  the  Irene 
brought  Gottlieb  Pezold  back  to  America  with  the  large  colony  of 
single  men  he  had  gone  to  bring  over.  He  was  accompanied  by 
the  missionary  Christian  Frederick  Post,  who  had  gone  to  Europe 
in  1 75 1,  and  the  next  year  was  with  the  unsuccessful  missionary 
expedition  to  Labrador.  A  sturdy  company  of  farmers  and  mechanics 
was  now  added  to  the  membership,  in  the  arrival  of  this  colony. 
They  represented  no  less  than  sixteen  trades.  One  person  of  special 
interest  was  Samuel  Johannes,  the  one  Alalabar  convert  of  the  Mora- 
vian Church  from  the  Island  of  Ceylon,  who  was  taken  to  Europe 
in  1742.  was  baptized  at  Marienborn  and  died  at  Bethlehem  in  1763. 
Some  of  these  young  men  were  had  in  view  for  the  new  settlement 
in  North  Carolina  and  for  that  to  be  founded  in  Warwick  Township, 
Lancaster  Countv.^^ 


3'  The  following  is  the  list 
Anspach,  Nicholas, 
Anst,  Gottfried, 
Bagge,  Lawrence, 
Bailey,  Joseph  (?), 
Bulitschek,  Joseph, 
Coeln,  Nicholas, 
Colckier,  Jens, 
Cramer,  Adam, 
Conrad,  Melchior, 
Delfs,  Detlef, 

Diemer,  Franz  Christopher, 
Dreyspring,  Carl  Joseph, 


of  names  for  reference : 
Dust,  Gottfried, 
Ernst,  Jacob, 
Fischer,  Caspar, 
Francke,  August  Henry, 
Friebele,  Christian, 
Funck,  Hans  Nicholas, 
Giers,  Joseph, 
Gruenewald,  John  Henry, 
Gimmele,  Matthias, 
Hassfeldt,  John  Adam, 
Huepsch,  Joseph, 
Jag,  John, 


Johannes,  Samuel, 
Klein,  John, 
Kloetz,  Christopher, 
Koffler,  Adam. 
Kriegbaum,  John  George, 
Kuerschner,  Christopher, 
Kunz,  David, 
I.enzner,  John  Henry, 
Linstroem,  Michael, 
Miksch,  John  Matthew, 
Meisser,  Henry  George, 
Nielsen,  Lawrence, 


280  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

The  course  of  events  in  Europe  altered  many  previous  plans  and 
led  to  new  ones  in  America  also,  some  of  which  were  carried  out 
while  others  were  not.  Among  the  latter  was  no  less  a  scheme  than 
that  which  Count  Zinzendorf,  as  clearly  appears,  entertained  quite 
seriously  for  a  while,  when,  after  the  storm  of  financial  trouble  lulled, 
and  he  was  preparing  to  leave  England  where  he  had  his  residence 
for  some  time,  he  thought  of  coming  to  Pennsylvania  again  and 
establishing  himself  here,  a  project  alluded  to  in  a  previous  chapter. 
This  thought,  which  at  one  time  took  sufifiiciently  definite  shape  that 
details  were  already  being  considered  at  Bethlehem,  brought  about 
an  enterprise  on  the  Nazareth  land  that  did  not  remain  merely  on 
paper,  like  those  two  projected  villages,  but,  even  though  Zinzendorf 
did  not  return  to  Pennsylvania,  resulted  in  the  erection  of  an  imposing 
building  which  remains  standing,  the  most  conspicuous  edifice  in  the 
vicinity  and  richest  in  historic  associations.  At  the  general  meeting 
of  the  people  in  March,  1753,  before  Bishop  Spangenberg  started 
for  Europe,  when  the  suspension  of  operations  in  founding  Gnad- 
enhoeh  was  spoken  of,  he  intimated  that  the  site  had  in  view  for  it 
might  be  utilized  for  the  ''Jncngcrhaus"^-  the  building  of  which  had 
been  under  consideration.  The  favorable  location  of  the  site  "in 
the  midst  of  the  group  of  other  places"  was  pointed  out  and  the 
collection  of  some  building  material  at  the  spot  preparatory  to  the 
founding  of  the  village,  that  might  be  made  use  of,  was  referred  to. 
The  outcome  of  the  enterprise  thus  mooted  may  be  here  given.  At 
another  Church  Council  on  November  18,  1754,  Spangenberg  stated 
that  the  "Disciple" — Der  Jiienger,  i.  e.  Zinzendorf — now  needed  a 
house  to  dwell  in,  with  his  little  company,  for  things  had  come  so 
far  that  he  might  be  expected  in  Pennsylvania,  and  timely  provision 
should  be  made.  He  added  that  a  site  between  Bethlehem  and  Naz- 
areth was  at  one  time  had  in  view  but  could  not  be  secured, ^^  and 
then  another  between  Nazareth  (Old  Nazareth)  and  Gnadenthal  had 
been  proposed — the  site  eventually  selected. 

Ollendorf,  Carl,  Schindler,  George,  Weinecke,  Carl, 

Petersen,  Hans,  Sproh,  Christian,  Willy,  Joseph, 

Ring,  Philip  Henry,  Stiemer,  Anton,  Wittenberg,  Jens, 

Rohleder,  Martin,  Stark,  John  George,  Wuertele,  John, 

Saxon,  Samuel,  Stettner,  John,  Zillman,  Henry. 

Schenk,  Martin,  Thorp,  Edward, 

32  ()n  this  word  see  note  19,  this  chapter. 

33  The  plan  to  secure  a  tract,  on  which  it  was  thought  for  a  while  such  a  manor  house 
might  be  built,  between  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  and  the  new  county  seat,  on  the  proprietary 
manor  of  Fermor — so  named  by  Thomas  Penn  in  honor  of  the  maiden  name  of  his  wife,  the 


1/49 1755-  28i 

Spangenberg  stated,  furthermore,  at  that  meeting,  that  Zinzendorf 
had  been  written  to  about  this  site  between  Nazareth  and  Gnaden- 
thal  and  was  agreed  that  his  house  should  be  built  there,  provided 
that  it  did  not  bind  him  exclusively  to  Nazareth,  in  view  of  the  special 
attention  he  desired  to  devote  to  certain  features  of  the  work  at 
Bethlehem  also.  When  it  was  suggested  that  if  the  enterprise  were 
undertaken  energetically  and  building  material  gotten  together  dur- 
ing the  approaching  winter,  the  erection  of  the  house  could  easily 
be  accomplished  the  next  year,  general  willingness  was  cheerfully 
expressed.  Already  on  December  3,  a  site  for  the  proposed  manor 
house  was  selected  at  the  place  referred  to.  On  the  8th,  the  building 
committee  was  announced  and  the  statement  was  made  that  this 
house  would  be  planned  to  contain  the  central  place  of  worship  for 
the  people  on  all  parts  of  the  Nazareth  domain,  in  addition  to  the 
provisions  for  separate  services  by  the  several  colonies  at  their 
respective  places ;  such  a  common  place  of  assembly  having  been  one 
of  the  features  had  in  view  in  planning  the  village  of  Gnadenhoeh. 
Zinzendorf  changed  his  mind  and,  after  he  broke  up  his  establishment 
in  England  and  returned  to  the  continent  in  March,  1755,  concluded 
to  retire  to  Herrnhut  and  remain  there ;  but  with  these  plans  and 
movements  on  the  Barony  that  had  been  the  property  of  his  wife, 
the  Countess  Erdmuth  Dorothea  who,  not  long  after  this — June  19, 
1756 — departed  this  life  at  Herrnhut,  the  history  of  Nazareth  Hall 


lady  Juliana — was  evidently  thwarted  by  the  opposition  of  William  Parsons  who  strongly 
represented  to  Penn,  the  undesirability  of  permitting  this  tract  or  any  part  of  the  so-called 
"  dry  lands  "  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Moravians,  even  though  it  was  all  for  sale  and 
hard  to  sell  on  account  of  the  absurd  supposition  that  it  was  worthless;  and,  much  as  he  dis- 
liked the  ''Dutchmen"  who  were  coming  into  the  neighborhood  to  locate  farms,  the  lesser 
prejudice  gave  way  to  the  greater  in  his  mind  and  he  advocated  selling  it  off  to  them  in 
smaller  parcels.  The  matter  of  the  acquisition  of  land  between  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  to 
complete  a  connection  between  the  domains,  had  been  under  consideration  from  1 743.  In 
that  year  Zinzendorf,  who  had  also  gotten  the  current  bad  opinion  of  the  ''  dry  lands,"  writing 
in  a  letter  about  the  practice  of  granting  proprietary  lands  gratuitously  for  opening  highways 
and  about  applying  to  Thomas  Penn  for  a  strip  of  this  land  for  such  purpose,  observes  that 
even  if  a  strip  of  this  "  barren  and  worthless  "  land  a  mile  in  width  were  given  for  a  road,  it 
would  be  of  little  consequence  to  the  Proprietary.  This  remark  gave  rise  to  the  absurd 
statement  which  has  been  put  into  print  as  history,  that  Zinzendorf  projected  a  road  a  mile 
wide,  from  Bethlehem  to  Nazareth  At  a  later  time,  patents  held  by  the  authorities  at  Beth- 
lehem, to  certain  parcels  in  this  neighborhood,  led  to  disagreeable  complications  with  their 
conveyancer,  John  Okely,  when  he  used  his  position  to  further  his  private  plans  to  the 
detriment  of  the  common  interest.  It  led  to  litigation  and  Okely's  removal  from  Bethlehem 
and  severance  of  all  connection  with  the  Church,  in  17SS. 


282  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

begins — this  name  being  applied  to  the  intended  Zinzendorfian  manor 
house  the  first  time  in  the  records  on  October  25,  1756. 

A  company  of  single  men  went  up  to  Christiansbrunn,  December 
17,  1754,  and,  joined  by  a  number  of  those  who  lived  there,  began  to 
quarry  stone  and  fell  timber  for  the  building.  Ground  was  broken 
for  the  foundation  on  April  i,  and,  iVIay  3,  1755,  the  corner-stone  was 
laid  with  elaborate  services,  attended  by  all  the  people  of  Bethlehem 
and  the  Nazareth  places  who  could  be  present.  A  lengthy  document 
in  Latin  prepared  by  the  learned  Nazareth  minister,  the  Rev.  Francis 
Christian  Lembke,  was  deposited  in  the  stone,  with  various  other 
manuscripts,  the  principal  of  which  were  the  following:  an  ode  by 
Bishop  Matthew  Hehl  which  embodied  the  names  of  all  the  Moravian 
congregations,  missions  and  preaching-places  in  America ;  hymns 
composed  for  the  occasion — some  of  them  sung — by  Lembke, by  John 
Michael  Graff  and  John  Ettwein  who  represented  the  department  of 
work  among  the  children,  and  by  George  Neisser,  Christian  Frederick 
Oerter  and  Anna  Maria  Beyer;  verses  composed  in  Indian  languages 
by  missionaries  representing  this  field  of  activity — by  Bernhard  Adam 
Grube,  in  the  Delaware  tongue,  and  by  John  Jacob  Schmick  and 
George  Christian  Fabricius,  a  student  of  Indian  language  at  Gnaden- 
huetten,  in  Mohican.  The  copies  deposited  in  the  stone  had  inter- 
linear translations.  Besides  all  this,  there  was  a  catalogue  of  1034 
persons,  who  on  that  date  were  counted  as  connected  with  the  General 
Economy,  wherever  stationed  or  employed,  including  all  the  Indians 
then  under  the  care  of  its  missionaries  and  all  the  children,  both  of 
members  and  others,  in  the  several  institutions  with  their  overseers 
and  teachers ;  the  offices  of  all  who  held  positions  being  carefully 
noted.  Not  the  least  interesting  feature  of  the  occasion  was  the 
address  of  Bishop  Peter  Boehler  at  the  lovefeast,  held  in  the  after- 
noon at  the  "stone  house"  (Whitefield  House),  in  which  he  enter- 
tained the  assembly  with  historical  reminiscences  of  the  locality,  from 
the  time  when  he  led  the  first  band  of  pioneers  to  the  place  in  1740. 
The  walls  of  the  new  building  were  laid  up  to  the  top  of  the  first 
story  at  the  end  of  June  and  on  August  31,  the  masonry  was  finished 
to  the  eaves  of  the  roof.  When  Boehler  left,  on  September  18,  to  sail 
from  New  York,  he  expressed  his  delight  at  seeing  the  frame-work 
of  the  roof  raised,  and  being  able  to  report  the  building  as  nearing 
completion  when  he  reached  Europe.  But  it  was  not  finished  until 
more  than  a  year  after  this,  and  was  first  dedicated,  November  13, 
1756.     The  panic  of  the  awful  November  of   1755,  interrupted  the 


1749 1/55  283 

rapidly  progressing  work,  and  during  the  months  of  terror  that 
ensued,  it  was  entirely  suspended. 

Meanwhile  another  commodious  structure,  one  of  the  most 
substantial  in  the  group,  had  been  erected  at  Bethlehem  in  1754. 
This  was  the  large  stone  house  that  stood  until  1869  on  the  site 
of  the  present  Moravian  Publication  Office  and  of  the  building 
adjoining  it  to  the  north.  It  was  variously  known  at  different  periods 
as  the  "men's  house,"  the  "boys'  institute,"  the  "new  children's 
house" — when  the  turreted  building  on  Church  Street  was  known  as 
the  old  one — the  "family  house"  and  the  "economy  house."  Originally 
it  was  intended  to  afford  better  quarters  for  a  considerable  number 
of  married  men  who,  under  the  make-shift  necessities  of  that  time, 
when  dwelling  apartments  for  separate  families  were  yet  very  limited, 
had  to  be  thus  arranged  in  large  room  companies,  while  their  wives 
occupied  several  rooms  in  another  house.  Part  of  the  building  was 
designed  also  for  such  separate  family  dwellings.  It  was,  further- 
more, to  contain  more  working  room  for  the  increased  number 
needed  of  such  artisans  as  shoe-makers  and  tailors,  the  work-shops 
in  the  Brethren's  House  being  over-crowded.  At  the  same  time  it 
was  to  enable  the  authorities  to  provide  more  satisfactory  accom- 
modations for  the  large  number  of  boys  who  were  to  take  possession 
of  the  rooms  before  this  occupied  by  the  men.  This  is  why  this  stone 
building  was,  at  first,  called  simply  the  men's  house. 

The  project  of  building  such  a  house  had  been  broached  by 
Spangenberg  already  in  March,  1753.  A  few  weeks  later  it  was 
discussed  at  a  general  meeting,  when  it  was  proposed  to  construct 
it  with  two  main  entrances,  one  for  this  body  of  men  and  for  access 
to  the  workshops,  the  other  to  lead  into  the  part  designed  for  family 
dwellings.  On  April  2,  the  plans  having  been  finished,  the  foundation 
lines  were  staked  off.  In  June,  when  it  appeared  that  it  could  not 
be  proceeded  with  on  account  of  the  harvest  and  other  pressing 
work,  it  was  decided  to  merely  lay  up  the  walls  of  the  cellar  that 
had  been  excavated,  so  it  should  not  cave  in  if  left  during  the 
following  winter.  Thus  it  remained  until  the  spring  of  1754.  Having 
been  completed  during  the  summer,  it  was  formally  taken  possession 
of  on  September  30.  A  procession  was  formed  at  the  Community 
House,  headed  by  Bishops  Spangenberg  and  David  Nitschmann, 
with  Father  Nitschmann  walking  between  them,  and  they  were 
greeted  by  a  band  of  music  stationed  on  the  balcony  that  extended 
along   the    east    side    of   the   new   building.      Matthew    Schropp,    as 


284 


A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 


Warden  of  the  house,  met  them  at  the  door  and  escorted  them  in, 
and  then  a  lovefeast  was  held.  That  building  which  had  a  history 
in  connection  with  school-work  and  with  the  military  occupation 
of  Bethlehem  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  is  remembered  by  many 
as  one  of  the  plain,  solid  structures  of  the  olden  time  which  helped 
to  give  the  place  "a  foreign  look."  The  character  of  the  work  done 
bv  the  old  Bethlehem  builders  was  tested  in  the  hard  labor  it  cost  to 


THE    FAMILY    HOUSE,    1 754- 1 869. 


demolish  the  structure.  It  was  sixty  by  thirt}^  feet  in  dimensions 
and  three  stories  high.  The  large  attic  floor  was  lighted  by  dormer 
windows.  It  had  two  front  entrances  with  passages  running  through 
the  house.  There  were  corresponding  passages  in  the  second  story 
with  communication  at  the  rear  by  means  of  the  balcony  on  the 
east  side,  from  which  doors  opened  into  the  passages.  On  the  first 
floor  the  entire  north  section  was  used  as  a  shop  by  the  cabinet- 
makers and  joiners.  The  corresponding  south  section,  front  to  rear, 
was  the  shoe-makers'  shop.  In  the  middle  section  were  the  Warden's 
room  and  a  conference  room.  The  second  story,  middle  and  north 
sections,  was  cut  into  four  dwelling  rooms  and  the  south  section  was 


1/49 1755-  285 

left  in  one  large  room  for  any  purpose  for  which  it  might  be  needed. 
The  third  story  was  used  as  a  dormitory,  in  sections  and  the  attic 
floor  contained  clothing  and  store  rooms.  It  had  a  cellar  with 
massive  vaulted  masonry  along  the  west  side,  towards  the  street,  and 
the  east  half  of  the  basement  was  used  as  the  linen-w^eaving  room. 
But  a  large  part  of  it  was  soon  turned  to  another  use. 

The  home  and  school  for  boys  needed  more  space.  The  room  in  the 
Brethren's  House  had  to  be  vacated  and  the  quarters  in  the  log  house, 
to  the  west  of  the  Community  House,  then  in  use  by  them,  were  insuffi- 
cient. The  other  log  house,  west  of  that,  at  the  end  of  which  the  water 
tower — familiar  from  extant  pictures — was  built,  was  uncomfortable 
and  unsuitable  for  the  purpose  to  which  it  was  then  being  devoted — 
hospital  quarters  for  women  and  rooms  for  the  accommodation  of 
mothers  with  infants.  The  men  w^ere  ready  at  once  to  cheerfully 
surrender  their  commodious  rooms  in  the  new  building,  for  the 
comfort  of  waves  and  children  was  in  question.  On  February  20, 
1755,  it  became  the  "boys'  institute."  The  boys  moved  into  the  new 
stone  house,  the  invalid  women,  the  nursing  mothers  and  the 'several 
widows  who  lived  with  them  as  nurses  and  attendants,  were  trans- 
ferred to  the  inner  log  house  near  the  Community  House  w^hich  the 
boys  had  just  left,  and  the  company  of  men  estabhshed  their  quarters 
in  the  less  desirable  outer  log  house — the  w^ater  tower  building. 
These  changes  which  involved  the  moving  of  a  hundred  and  sixty-five 
persons  with  their  effects,  including,  in  part,  even  beds,  were  accom- 
plished in  twelve  hours  on  February  20.  A  chain  of  incidents  like 
these  reveals  the  kind  of  system  and  arrangements  that  had  to  be 
resorted  to  under  the  circumstances  of  that  time.  It  may  be  men- 
tioned, in  connection  with  these  references  to  institutional  and 
private  dwelling  arrangements,  that  on  j\Iay  2,  1755 — the  day  before 
the  corner-stone  of  Nazareth  Hall  was  laid — the  widows  of  the 
Economy  w^ho  had  to  frequently  shift  their  c'ommon  quarters  to 
accommodate  themselves  to  changing  arrangements,  with  the 
exception  of  several  who  filled  special  positions  at  Bethlehem,  all 
removed  to  Nazareth  and  took  possession  of  the  better  of  the  two 
original  log  houses  built  in  1740 — that  which  is  yet  standing.  This 
became  the  home  for  the  widows  of  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  until 
the  large  stone  building  on  Church  Street  was  erected  for  this  pur- 
pose in  1768. 

During  the  summer  of  1754  plans  began  to  take  definite  shape 
for    adding    another    important    building,    a    tavern    on    the    north 


286  A    HISTORV    OF    BETHLEHEM.    PENNSYLVANIA. 

side  of  the  river,  "not  too  near  to  Bethlehem  nor  yet  too  far 
away."  This  need  began  to  be  spoken  of  as  early  as  1747,  when  the 
frequent  difliculty  experienced  in  conveying  travelers  across  to  the 
Crown  Inn  at  night  in  bad  weather,  or  when  the  water  was  high,  led 
to  the  consideration  of  the  subject.  On  July  10,  1754,  it  was  first 
formally  discussed  by  a  general  meeting  of  men.  This  difBculty  was 
again  spoken  of,  and  it  was  remarked  that  the  prevalent  ideas  of  hos- 
pitality to  strangers  required  that  courtesies  should  be  shown  to  trav- 
elers who  wished  to  pass  the  night  at  Bethlehem,  and  that  this  was 
often  a  very  difficult  and  perplexing  matter  under  existing  arrange- 
ments, because  there  were  hardly  any  private  family  homes  that 
could  offer  such  accommodation.  It  was  observed  also  that  one  of 
their  neighbors,  "a  man  of  some  standing,"  had  declared  his  inten- 
tion to  open  a  tavern  quite  near  the  Bethlehem  line,  if  one  was  not 
soon  erected  by  the  authorities  of  the  place.  This  was  probably  their 
neighbor  eastward,  John  Jones,  who  had  been  appointed  constable  of 
the  township  to  succeed  Anton  Albrecht,  who  removed  to  Phillips- 
burg.  A  committee  of  six  was  appointed  to  select  a  site.  On  July 
16,  they  reported  to  the  Church  Council  a  site  "on  the  road  to  the 
brick  sheds,  opposite  the  stone  quarry  at  the  Monocacy."  It  was 
proposed  "to  open  the  road  to  Easton  right  across  the  field,  so  that 
it  would  lead  to  the  tavern,  and  to  vacate  the  road  hitherto  running 
across  the  Bethlehem  line  and  forming  an  elbow;  this  to  be  presented 
to  Court  for  approval."  The  report  was  adopted.  Further  steps 
were  then  postponed.  It  was  decided  to  proceed  first  with  the  erec- 
tion of  Nazareth  Hall.  Besides  this,  in  February,  1755,  when  this 
conclusion  was  reached,  the  necessity  of  enlarging  the  grain-growing 
area  at  Bethlehem  by  grubbing  and  cleaning  fifty  acres  of  new  land 
south  of  the  Lehigh  in  time  for  spring  ploughing,  called  for  a  num- 
ber of  laborers.  The  great  scarcity  of  grain  was  being  felt.  A 
thousand  bushels  had  been  bought  during  the  winter  in  addition  to 
what  had  been  raised  on  all  the  farms,  and  much  more  was  needed 
before  the  next  harvest.  Thus  the  building  of  the  Inn  was  delayed, 
and  when  it  might  otherwise  have  been  begun,  the  demoralizing 
ordeal  of  the  Indian  w^ar  occasioned  further  postponement,  so  that 
it  was  not  proceeded  with  until  1758.  It  will  be  referred  to  again  in 
another  chapter. 

At  the  time  when  this  enterprise  was  first  being  seriously  consid- 
ered, the  increase  of  travel  through  Bethlehem,  and  of  visitors  from 
all  parts,  in  consequence  of  the  establishment  of  the  county-seat  at 


1749 1755-  28/ 

Easton  and  of  highways  from  there  to  different  points  in  the  country 
that  were  being  opened  up  and  developed,  led  to  the  more  frequent 
consideration  of  various  matters  involved  in  relations  to  the  public 
by  the  Bethlehem  authorities.  Thus  in  the  autumn  of  1754,  two  inci- 
dents, in  connection  with  the  growth  of  communication  and  traffic  by 
land  and  water,  occurred  that  deserve  mention.  The  first  w^as  of 
some  importance  in  the  topography  of  the  region ;  the  second  was 
interesting  merely  as  an  episode  of  local  enterprise.  On  September 
26,  the  records  refer  to  the  order  of  the  Provincial  Council  to  the 
authorities  of  Northampton  County  to  lay  out  a  road  from  Easton 
to  Reading,  in  the  new  County  of  Berks ;  and  to  an  inquiry  on  the 
part  of  the  county  authorities  addressed  to  the  board  at  Bethlehem 
in  regard  to  their  preference  in  the  matter  of  its  course  past  the  town. 
It  was  not  deemed  desirable  to  have  the  highway  pass  near  the  cen- 
tral establishments,  even  so  near  as  along  the  line  on  which  the  store 
stood — the  present  Market  Street.  Therefore,  two  propositions  were 
favored  and  referred  to  a  committee  to  be  formulated.  One  was  to 
direct  its  course,  in  approaching  Bethlehem  from  the  east,  so  that  it 
would  pass  along  the  foot  of  the  hill,  south  towards  the  river,  where 
the  Indian  cabins  of  Friedenshuetten  had  stood,  and  thence  to  the 
ferry.  The  other  was  to  run  it  along  the  northern  line  beyond  the 
site  chosen  for  the  projected  tavern,  there  turning  southward — the 
present  Main  Street — to  the  ferry,  and  to  adapt  the  proposed  change 
of  roads  intended  to  suit  the  establishment  of  the  public  house  at  that 
point,  to  the  larger  plan  of  this  new  highway.  The  latter  proposi- 
tion was  adopted  and  on  October  15,  1755,  it  is  stated  that  Justice 
Horsfield  went  to  Easton  to  help  lay  out  "the  King's  Road  to  Read- 
ing." The  dire  events  that  caused  a  long  suspension  of  this  enter- 
prise, as  well  as  of  the  tavern  building,  opened,  like  the  burst  of  a 
tornado,  a  Httle  more  than  a  month  after  this  beginning  was  made. 
The  other  incident  alluded  to  was  an  experiment  in  river  naviga- 
tion from  Bethlehem  to  Philadelphia  made  in  1754.  On  July  10,  the 
same  day  on  which  the  building  of  the  tavern  was  discussed,  the 
project  was  broached  in  the  general  Church  Council,  of  building  a 
boat  to  run  down  the  river  with  products  for  the  Philadelphia  market 
and  return  with  w'ares  for  the  store  and  other  purchases.  Two  sailors 
from  the  Irene,  Andrew  Schoute  and  Peter  Brink,  with  the  negroes, 
Anthony  and  Thomas,  were  appointed  to  explore  the  channel  from 
Bethlehem  to  Philadelphia  when  the  water  was  low,  noting  obstruc- 
tions and  tracing  a  course  over  the  falls.     A  fiat-boat  was  built,  pro- 


288  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHKM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

videcl  with  two  masts  to  carry  what  was  thought  would  l)e  adequate 
sail.  The  rigging  was  constructed  by  Schoute  and  Brink,  with  the 
assistance  of  two  other  sailors  of  the  Irene,  Peter  Drews  and  Lam- 
bert Garrison.  The  launch  at  the  Bethlehem  boat-yard,  where  the 
several  ferry  flats  had  been  built,  took  place  on  September  27.  The 
school  boys  were  given  a  holiday,  and  they  helped  to  haul  it  on  roll- 
ers to  the  water.  When  it  was  floated,  some  of  the  officials  of  Beth- 
lehem were  taken  a  little  way  down  the  river  on  a  trial  trip.  The 
record  states  that  seven  men  and  seven  women,  accompanied  by 
seven  boat-builders  and  sailors,  were  on  board.  Meanwhile,  Father 
Nitschmann  served  a  luncheon  on  shore  to  the  boys  who  had  helped 
to  tug  at  the  ropes.  He  and  they  all  then  boarded  the  boat — fifty- 
six  boys  and  eleven  men — and  sailed  up  and  down  the  stream,  sing- 
ing hymns.  The  record  states  that  with  the  first  load,  the  boat  drew 
nine,  and  with  the  second  load,  eleven  inches  of  water.  At  the  sug- 
gestion of  Bishop  Spangenberg,  the  favorite  name  Irene  was  given 
this  Delaware  boat,  and  she  was  then  referred  to  as  the  '^Little 
Irene,"  in  distinction  from  the  larger  Moravian  ship  that  ploughed 
the  Atlantic.  This  gala-day  was  closed  with  the  harvest-home  ban- 
quet held  on  the  square  between  the  Community  House  and  the  Sis- 
ters' House.  Instrumental  music  was  rendered  from  the  balcony  in 
front  of  the  turreted  building  in  which  the  boarding-school  for  girls 
was  then  domiciled,  and  the  smaller  girls  gathered  in  the  doorway 
and  passage  and  sang  hymns.  The  history  of  the  Little  Irene  is  brief. 
On  November  6,  she  started  down  the  Lehigh  on  her  first  trip  to 
Philadelphia  with  a  load  of  linseed  oil,  in  command  of  Schoute,  with 
several  assistants.  They  reached  the  city  and  delivered  their  cargo, 
but  on  November  16,  they  returned  to  Bethlehem  without  the  boat. 
It  was  too  broad  to  be  gotten  up  stream  past  the  falls,  and  was  left 
at  the  city  to  be  sold.  They  reported  officially  and  recommended 
the  purchase  of  a  Delaware  flat  that  was  for  sale  not  far  from  Beth- 
lehem. It  was  prudently  decided  first  to  hire  one  on  trial,  and  con- 
sider the  question  of  purchasing  later. 

Another  enterprise  that  engaged  the  thought  and  skill  of  Bethle- 
hem mechanics  in  1754,  more  distinctly  marked  an  epoch  in  the  pro- 
gress of  the  town.  This  was  the  successful  experiment  that  gives 
the  credit  to  Bethlehem  of  constructing  the  first  water-works  in 
Pennsylvania.  The  problem  of  finding  an  easier  way  to  bring  the 
water  of  the  spring  up  the  hill  and  distributing  it  where  needed,  than 
by  means  of  a  cart  and  buckets,  had  been  officially  discussed  and  had 


1749 1755-  289 

engaged  the  thought  of  the  ingenious  Hans  Christiansen,  the  new 
mih-wright  of  Bethlehem.  There  was  the  water-power  that  ran  the 
oil  and  bark  mill.  That  wheel  might  be  made  to  do  more  work.  A 
water  tower  above,  and  one  or  more  tanks  were  easily  constructed. 
The  matter  of  pipes  to  convey  the  water  to  the  tanks,  especially 
the  question  of  material,  was  important.  Yet  more  serious  a 
problem  was  the  construction  of  the  necessary  pump.  John 
Boehner,  the  West  India  missionary,  one  of  the  pioneers  of 
Bethlehem,  was  on  a  visit  at  the  place.  He  was  an  ingenious  man, 
had  some  knowledge  of  such  mechanism  which  he  had  seen  success- 
fully operated  and  was  interested  in  the  subject.  He  made  a  model 
of  a  pump  and  connections.  He  and  Christiansen  discussed  it 
together  and  the  latter  set  about  the  task.  Carefully  selected  trunks 
of  hemlock  were  rafted  down  the  Lehigh  from  Gnadenhuetten  in 
March,  1754,  from  which  water-pipes  were  to  be  made.  While 
Christiansen  worked  at  his  pump,  a  building  was  erected  near  the  oil- 
mill  where  the  power  was  to  be  supplied  for  his  first  experiments,  and 
already  on  the  evening  of  June  21,  he  demonstrated  the  feasibility  of 
his  plan  by  forcing  water  as  high  as  the  houses  around  the  square  in 
the  town  above,  to  the  astonishment  and  joy  of  all.  Then  the 
machinery  was  perfected,  a  separate  water-wheel  was  built,  the  pipes 
were  laid,  the  water  tower  was  gotten  ready,  at  the  end  of  the  outer- 
most of  the  two  log  houses  west  of  the  Community  House,  a  large 
tank  was  constructed  in  the  square  in  front  of  the  girls'  school, 
between  the  Community  House  and  the  Sisters'  House.  On  May 
27?  1755)  the  water  was  successfully  forced  up  the  water  tower 
and  on  June  2.y,  the  flow  into  the  tank  in  the  square  began.  The 
regular  operation  of  the  Bethlehem  water-works  was  commenced 
and  the  occupation  of  the  water  carriers  trudging  up  the  hill  from 
"the  well  of  Bethlehem  which  is  by  the  gate"  was  at  an  end.  The 
value  of  the  spring  and  the  importance  of  properly  guarding  it  were 
appreciated  more  highly  than  ever.^* 


34  In  aboard-meeting  on  September  2,  following,  it  was  observed  that  nobody  who  did  not 
understand  it  should  attempt  to  clean  the  spring,  for  in  this  country  the  springs  had  the 
peculiarity  that  they  dried  up  if  stirred  in  at  the  wrong  time.  Did  this  refer  again  to  the  folk- 
notion  mentioned  earlier,  that  the  state  of  the  moon  must  be  heeded?  On  February  4, 175 1, 
the  singular  record  occurs  that  the  spring  which  had  ceased  to  flow  about  a  year  prior  to 
that,  was  suddenly  running  again ;  as  were  also  springs  along  the  Monocacy  on  the  way  to 
Nazareth,  that  had  been  been  dry  more  than  a  year. 


290  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Nothing  about  Bethlehem  in  those  days  excited  the  interest  of 
visitors  so  much  as  the  water-works.  Even  before  the  plan  had  been 
successfully  tested,  when  they  were  yet  in  process  of  construction, 
the  project  was  mentioned  in  descriptions  of  the  place,  as  one  of  its 
notable  features.  The  earliest  such  reference  to  it  in  print  is  probably 
that  of  the  Swedish  Lutheran  Provost,  the  Rev.  Israel  Acrelius,  in 
his  history  of  the  Swedish  Churches  of  former  New  Sweden  and 
descriptions  of  the  adjacent  regions,  written  in  1758.  He  visited 
Bethlehem  "in  company  with  the  Rev.  Pastor  Peter  Brunnholtz, 
Pastor  Eric  Unander  and  Mr.  Sleydon,"  in  June,  1754,  just  two  days 
before  the  first  successful  experiment,  when  the  water  was  forced 
"as  high  as  the  houses."  He  refers  to  this  project  at  which  "the 
Brethren  were  working  very  actively  and  industriously."  This,  he 
says,  "will  be  a  very  useful  work  for  the  cloister,^^  for  hitherto  it  has 
kept  a  man  busy  from  morning  till  night  to  carry  the  water  up  the 
hill  to  the  houses." 

Among  the  various  industries  mentioned  in  an  interesting  manner 
by  Dr.  Acrelius,  w^as  a  particular  one  that  reveals  the  disposition  of 
that  time  at  Bethlehem  to  experiment  with  every  possible  thing,  in 
extending  the  range  of  activities  and  products.  This  was  the  culture 
of  silk-worms  carried  on  in  the  Brethren's  House  since  1752.  He 
found  two  men  in  charge  of  the  brood  who  were  kept  busy  gathering 
and  spreading  mulberry  leaves.     It  was  explained  to  him  that  there 

35  The  description  given  of  Bethlehem  by  the  Rev.  Provost,  while  highly  interesting  and. 
in  the  main,  not  as  objectionable  in  tone  as  the  animadversions  of  Lutheran  divines  of  that 
time  usually  were,  nevertheless  reveals  a  preconceived  aversion  to  the  Brethren.  A 
quizzing  manner,  with  bantering  questions  and  derogatory  connnents  by  the  party,  made 
their  escorts  at  Bethlehem  reserved  and  ill  at  ease ;  for  they  were  not  sure  that  it  was  not 
all  preparatory  to  a  new  contribution  to  the  library  of  publications  against  "  The  Herrn- 
huters  "  that  had  accumulated.  Spangenberg,  to  whom  he  had  a  letter  of  introduction,  and 
who  would  have  met  him  with  ease  and  dignity,  as  his  peer  in  all  respects,  and  would, 
perhaps,  have  enlightened  him  on  some  points,  was,  unfortunately,  not  at  home.  That  his 
acquaintance  with  the  Moravian  Church  was  very  defective,  and  that  he  entirely  miscon- 
ceived the  genesis  of  things  at  Bethlehem,  as  well  as  the  nature  of  the  settlement  and  its 
establishments,  appears  in  the  opening  sentence  of  his  description :  "  Bethlehem  is  a 
Protestant  cloister  belonging  to  the  Herrnhut  Brotherhood,  established  in  the  year  1743  by 
Count  Zinzendorff,  the  founder  of  the  Brotherhood,  and  instituted  by  David  Nitschmann, 
Spangenberg,  Anna  Nitschmann  and  others,  as  the  elders  and  officers  of  the  society."  It 
sounds  like  some  articles  in  modern  newspapers,  by  persons  who,  after  reading  such  accounts, 
come  and  stroll  about  the  town  a  few  hours,  pick  up  some  stories  at  random  and  then  pro- 
ceed to  write  up  ''  Bethlehem  and  the  Moravians."  The  extracts  given  above  are  from  the 
translation  of  Acrelius  published  by  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania  in  1876. 


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BETHLEHEM 
1750 
1755 


1749 1755-  291 

were  always  persons  available  for  such  light  duty  "who  could  not  be 
employed  for  anything  else."  He  drew  the  amusing  inference  that 
these  were  the  "indispensable"  musicians  who  were  continually  in 
readiness  for  service  and  could  not  "be  put  to  any  hard  work;" 
although  the  previous  evening,  when  he  asked  his  escort  whether  he 
could  not  hear  some  music,  he  was  told  that  it  was  doubtful  because 
the  men  "were  weary  from  their  work."  Some  of  the  hardest  toilers, 
stone-masons,  carpenters  and  farmers,  were  among  the  musicians. 
He  was  informed  that  i20  might  be  expected  from  the  silk  product 
of  that  year,  and  that  there  was  a  larger  cocoonery  at  Nazareth. 
That  one  was  started  in  1753  by  the  Rev.  Philip  Christian  Bader, 
house  chaplain  at  Christiansbrunn,  who  had  come  over  with  Span- 
genberg  two  years  before  and  had  made  the  original  attempts  at 
Bethlehem.    Several  times  the  yield  of  silk  was  considerable. 

The  first  efiforts  to  foster  this  industry  were  suggested  to  the  minds 
of  these  men  by  the  large  number  of  mulberry  trees  in  the  forest 
about  Bethlehem.  Experiments  were  tried  also  with  the  cocoons  of 
wild  worms  found  on  these  trees.  Bader's  cocoonery  was  continued 
a  number  of  years  at  Christiansbrunn.^'' 

The  more  important  industries  at  Bethlehem  were  at  this  time  in 
successful  operation,  well  manned  and  well  regulated ;  and  the  variety 
of  articles  produced,  not  only  to  meet  the  practical  needs  of  the  com- 
munity but  also  for  sale  to  others,  is  surprising.  Spangenberg's 
executive  ability  which  had  again  gained  control  of  the  situation,  the 
efficiency  and  faithfulness  which,  in  the  main,  distinguished  the  men 
in  charge  of  departments,  as  well  as  the  cheerful  diligence  with  which 
most  of  the  mechanics  and  laborers  applied  themselves  to  their  tasks, 

36  There  have  been  four  silk  epochs  at  Bethlehem  and  in  the  surrounding  region.  The 
second  was  near  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  scientific  and  industrial  organiza- 
tions were  encouraging  efforts  at  silk  culture,  even  offering  premiums.  Bishop  Ettwein  at 
Bethlehem,  and  the  Rev.  David  Zeisberger — cousin  of  the  famous  missionary — at  Nazareth, 
were  giving  special  attention  to  it  and  making  it  fairly  profitable.  They  were  in  cor- 
respondence in  1793,  with  President  Stiles  of  Yale  College,  who  was  conspicuously  in- 
terested in  this,  as  in  so  many  other  efforts  in  the  line  of  scientific  progress  and  economic 
improvement.  The  third  was  the  contagion  of  the  wide-spread,  notorious  //writs  //lul- 
ticaulis  craze  of  1837-39  which  also  struck  Northampton  County,  when  so  many  farmers, 
thinking  to  get  rich  quickly  by  raising  silk  worms,  were  victimized  into  planting  their  fields 
with  real  or  alleged  mulberry  trees,  by  tricky  speculators.  With  very  few  exceptions,  the 
venture  never  advanced  beyond  excitedly  buying  the  trees,  planting  them  and  then,  when 
the  fever  passed,  digging  them  up  in  disgust  and  burning  them.  The  fourth  came  in  the  last 
two  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  the  era  of  silk-mills  suddenly  ojjened  in  the 
Lehigh  Valley  and  brought  a  new  and  important  addition  to  the  industries  of  Bethlehem. 


292  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

combined  to  keep  the  machinery  of  the  whole  running  smoothly. 
There  had  been  a  disposition  among  some,  for  a  while,  to  chafe  under 
the  rigid  restraints  and  minute  regulations  of  the  Economy.  Novelty 
had  worn  off  and  enthusiasm  subsided.  The  more  substantial 
qualities  of  sterling  loyalty  and  staunch  faithfulness  to  the  common 
purpose  were  then  tested.  Here  and  there  one  severed  his  con- 
nection and  went  his  way  or  subjected  himself  to  expulsion.  Some 
such  returned  and  sought  readmission.  Those  who  were  in  control 
knew  that  the  system,  as  then  operated,  was  necessarily  only  a 
temporary  expedient  and  it  was  never  intended  to  be  anything 
else.  The  question  was  carefully  considered  whether  the  time  had 
come  to  do  away  with  it,  but  the  dif^culty  of  dealing  with  all  the 
new  problems  that  would  be  involved  in  radical  changes,  not  yet 
prepared  for,  appeared,  at  that  time,  to  be  greater  than  the  difficulty 
of  maintaining  the  existing  methods.  Hence,  in  the  summer  of  1754, 
the  conclusion  was  reached  to  continue  the  General  Economy  a  few 
years  longer,  and  meanwhile  to  develop  the  regulations  to  which  all 
voluntarily  bound  themselves,  into  something  more  like  a  contract, 
in  which  men  would  feel  not  merely  sentiment  and  enthusiasm 
appealed  to,  but  conscience  and  honor  laid  under  obligation.  On 
August  19,  1754,  a  general  meeting  of  all  the  adult  members  at  Beth- 
lehem and  "the  upper  places"  was  held  for  the  purpose  of  considering 
the  fundamentals  of  the  situation.  Bishop  Spangenberg  communi- 
cated a  document  in  eight  elaborate  paragraphs,  setting  forth  the 
central  objects  for  which  the  co-operative  union  existed,  and  the 
cardinal  principles  upon  which  it  rested.  These,  when  fully  elucidated, 
were  to  be  submitted  for  common  agreement,  formal  adoption  and 
signature.  There  was  a  second  reading  and  discussion  on  the  21st 
and  a  third  on  September  2 ;  all  having  been  given  full  opportunity  to 
express  their  views  in  the  Church  Council,  or,  if  they  preferred,  in 
writing  to  the  executive  board.  The  paragraphs  were  all  adopted 
and  signed  as  the  first  formal  "Brotherly  Agreement"  of  the  people 
of  Bethlehem  and  the  Nazareth  stations.  After  this  had  been 
accepted  by  all,  with  a  general  toning  up  of  morale  and  strength- 
ening of  bonds  for  a  new  start  on  this  basis,  various  special 
measures  were  agreed  to,  more  strictly  of  a  business  char- 
acter. These  had  long  been  felt  to  be  desirable,  but  prior  to 
those  general  discussions  and  conclusions,  would  not  so  readily  have 
found  intelligent  acceptance.  The  most  important  of  them,  perfected 
and  communicated  in  November,  was  a  formal  agreement  in  writing 


1749 1755-  293 

drawn  up  in  final  shape,  in  English,  by  Charles  Brockden  of  Phila- 
delphia with  the  aid  of  legal  counsel.  It  bound  each  male 
adult  who  remained  a  member  of  the  Economy  or  joined  it,  in  five 
points.  These  were  a  declaration  of  his  purpose  in  belonging  to  it, 
as  set  forth  in  the  Brotherly  Agreement ;  a  disavowal  of  any  improper 
or  undue  influence  of  any  kind  from  any  quarter ;  an  agreement  to 
give  due  notice  of  intention  to  leave  and  to  peaceably  withdraw  upon 
due  notice  of  request  to  do  so ;  an  agreement  to  accept  all  conditions 
as  found  and  conform  to  all  regulations ;  a  promise  to  sign  a  quit- 
claim or  release  of  all  demands  upon  the  property  held  by  the  Pro- 
prietor for  the  Church,  or  of  wages  for  work  performed  while  living 
at  Bethlehem  as  a  member  of  the  Economy  under  the  accepted 
conditions.  Over  against  the  misunderstanding  and  misrepresentation 
to  which  the  general  terms  of  membership  have  been  subjected,  it 
is  of  importance  that  four  facts  be  borne  in  mind.  The  first  is  that 
no  individual  or  body  of  individuals  was  enriched  in  property  by  the 
labor  of  the  people  under  this  agreement.  The  second  is  that  every 
man,  woman  and  child  was  entirely  provided  for  in  all  material  and 
spiritual  things — fed,  clothed,  nursed  in  sickness,  instructed  and 
pastorally  cared  for,  while  a  member  of  the  Economy  under  this 
agreement.  Many  were  thus  much  better  provided  for  and  made 
much  more  comfortable  than  they  would  have  been  if  taking  care  of 
themselves.  The  third  fact  is  that  every  adult  was  entirely  at  liberty 
to  leave  at  any  time  if  he  wished,  and  to  enter  employment  for  wages 
elsewhere,  or  follow  his  inclinations  as  he  chose.  The  fourth  is 
that  these  agreements  did  not  in  any  way  affect  the  private  property 
of  any  one  possessed  of  an  estate.  If  any  one  had  loaned  money  to 
the  general  treasury  or  made  it  his  banker,  the  release  he  signed  had 
no  bearing  on  this,  which  was  purely  a  business  transaction,  apart 
from  the  agreement  signed,  and  settlement  was  made  the  same  as 
with  any  other  creditor. 

That  this  strengthening  of  the  institution  on  a  more  business-like 
basis  for  a  further  term  of  existence  was  thus  accomplished  without 
any  defection  or  even  serious  difficulty  in  securing  unanimous  agree- 
ment, with  an  adult  population  of  nearly  four  hundred  involved,  is 
all  the  more  notable  because  the  number  of  quite  new  recruits  who 
would  be  more  likely  to  agree,  as  novices,  to  anything  that  was  pro- 
posed, was  very  small.  The  men,  with  few  exceptions,  had  made 
trial  of  the  situation  long  enough  to  know  all  sides  and  aspects  of  it, 
both  desirable  and  undesirable.     They  had  also  learned  enough  of 


294  -^    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

surrounding  conditions  and  opportunities  to  have  felt  whatever  there 
was  of  temptation  to  break  away  from  the  compact,  and  either  with- 
draw to  begin  an  independent  Hfe  elsewhere,  or  press  for  the  abolition 
of  the  system  when  the  subject  was  opened  fo  •  general  debate. 

The  members  of  Gottlieb  Pezold's  colony,  w'lich  had  lately  arrived, 
had  been  only  in  part  incorporated  in  the  Economy.  Many  were 
distributed  at  the  new  settlements  in  Lancaster  County  and  in 
Wachovia,  North  Carolina.  After  that,  until  1761,  there  were  far 
fewer  arrivals  from  Europe  than  in  previous  years.  When  that  colony 
was  safely  landed  at  New  York,  Captain  Garrison  determined  to 
quit  the  sea.  He  passed  most  of  the  time  to  the  middle  of  July,  1755, 
at  Bethlehem.  On  January  4,  1755,  his  son  Nicholas  Garrison,  Jr., 
was  officially  appointed  captain  of  the  Irene  for  her  next  voyage.  He 
sailed  from  New  York,  February  4,  and  on  August  12,  brought  the 
vessel  back  to  her  dock  ;but  under  trying  circumstances,  for  small-pox 
had  broken  out  on  board,  carrying  off  three  children  during  the 
voyage.  The  passengers  were  placed  in  quarantine  on  Kennedy's 
(Bedloe's)  Island.  Only  four  of  these  with  four  children  are  men- 
tioned by  name  in  the  records  and  were  Moravians  who  came  to 
Bethlehem ;  one  of  the  children  being  born  while  the  mother  was  in 
quarantine,  sulTering  with  the  disease.  When  Bishop  Spangenberg 
heard  of  their  distressing  plight  he  hastened  to  New  York  and  tried 
to  secure  their  release  and  transfer  to  private  quarters,  but  could 
not  effect  anything.  These  persons,  who  reached  Bethlehem 
September  25,  were  WilHam  Thorn  with  his  wife  and  two  children 
from  England — he  left  Bethlehem  "without  saying  good-bye,"  the 
end  of  March,  1757,  to  shift  for  himself — and  the  Rev.  Lewis  William 
Weiss"  from  Germany,  with  his  wife,  the  infant  born  in  quarantine 
at   New  York,   and  another   child.     When   the  Irene  sailed   again, 


37  This  was  the  later  well-known  Lewis  Weiss,  conveyancer,  counsellor-at-law  and  Justice, 
of  Philadelphia.  He  had  studied  in  the  Moravian  Theological  Seminary  at  Lindheim  and 
been  ordained,  1746,  but  did  not  follow  the  ministry  after  he  came  to  America.  In  framing 
legal  documents  and  as  a  guide  in  all  matters  relating  to  title  and  conveyance  of  real  estate, 
he  was  an  acknowledged  expert  of  first  rank  in  Philadelphia.  He  rendered  the  Moravian 
Church  important  service  for  many  years  as  legal  agent  and  counsel,  and  at  one  period  (1788) 
the  Church  owed  more  than  has  ever  been  acknowledged  in  published  history,  to  his  ex- 
cellent judgement  and  acumen,  and  his  persistent  concern  for  the  welfare  of  its  interests, 
even  when  not  listened  to  for  a  while,  in  persuading  the  authorities  to  take  special  measures, 
which  he  saw  were  necessary  at  that  stage,  to  secure  and  establish  the  title  to  its  real  estate 
in  Pennsyvania  beyond  all  possible  question,  and  remove  all  suspicion  of  a  flaw  which  the 
unclearness  of  certain  important  documents  might  have  awakened. 


1749 1755-  295 

November  g,  1755,  she  was  in  command  of  Christian  Jacobsen  of 
Staten  Island,  the  able  and  experienced  seaman  who  had  made  a 
number  of  voyages,  as  mate,  with  Captain  Garrison,  and  now  became 
captain  of  the  vessel.^®  Captain  Garrison  and  his  wife  were  passengers 
on  this  voyage. 

One  long-familiar  figure  was  wanting  at  those  important  meetings 
in  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1754,  and  at  the  inception  of  the  newest 
enterprise  on  the  Barony  of  Nazareth,  in  the  spring  of  1755.  Henry 
Antes  was  not  there.  These  affairs  did  not  lie  in  the  sphere  of  more 
general  business  of  the  Church,  with  which  he  yet  had  to  do,  and 
the  heavy  labors  of  his  busy  life  had  broken  his  powerful  frame  so 
that  during  those  months  he  was  much  of  the  time  an  invalid,  fre- 
quently suffering  intensely.  He  visited  Bethlehem  the  last  time 
on  June  16,  1754.  After  that,  when  consultations  with  him  were 
necessary,  they  took  place  at  his  home.  On  June  13,  1755,  a  message 
came  to  Bethlehem  that  he  was  very  ill  and  his  daughter  was  taken 
to  Fredericktown  to  see  him.  There  were  repeated  pilgrimages  to 
his  bed-side  during  the  following  weeks.  On  July  3,  Bishop  Span- 
genberg  and  Captain  Garrison  went  to  visit  him  the  last  time.  The 
Bethlehem  diary  contains  this  record  on  Sunday,  July  20:  "A 
messenger  came  from  Fredericktown  this  afternoon  with  the  word 
that  our  dear  brother,  Henry  Antes,  who  has  rendered  such  good 
service  to  the  .Church  and  to  the  Economy  at  Bethlehem,  passed 
away,  happy  in  the  Lord,  this  morning."  Many  a  tear  was  shed  at 
Bethlehem  when  this  message  was  published.  "All  were  very  much 
affected,"  says  the  record.  At  five  o'clock  that  Sunday  afternoon, 
Spangenberg  and  his  wife,  Abraham  Reinke,  John  Bechtel,  Matthew 
Schropp,  and  eight  others  set  out  for  Fredericktown.  The  funeral 
which  took  place  the  next  day,  was  attended  by  a  concourse  of  six 
hundred  persons,  as  the  record  states,  of  all  creeds  and  persuasions. 
Bishop  Spangenberg  spoke  the  words  of  consolation,  the  Rev. 
Abraham  Reinke  read  the  service  at  the  grave,  and  ten  of  the  men 

38  He  got  back  to  New  York,  June  2,  1756,  having  on  board  fifteen  single  men,  viz : — 
Seidel,  John  Henry  (leader),  Mueller,  John, 

Boehninghausen,  John  Bartholomew,  Ollringshaw,  Henry, 

Busse,  Andrew,  Rippel,  John  Michael, 

Hall,  James,  Roth,  John, 

Hellerman,  Caspar  George,  Kuch,  Michael, 

Koorts,  Ellert,  Schmaling,  William  Christopher, 

Mentzinger,  George  Ernst,  Seneff,  George, 

Schmidt,  Hans  Jacob. 


296  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

from  Bethlehem  bore  his  remains  to  their  place  of  rest  on  his  farm. 
July  22,  at  ten  o'clock  at  night,  the  Bethlehem  delegation  reached 
home  again,  bringing  his  eight-year-old  daughter  Benigna  who, 
according  to  her  father's  wish  and  with  her  mother's  full  consent,  was 
to  be  brought  up  and  educated  under  the  care  of  the  Church.  Dr. 
Adolph  Meyer  and  David  Bishop  were  appointed  guardians  of  his 
minor  children,  in  accordance  with  his  last  will  and  testament. 
He  had  also  given  instructions  that  all  papers  and  letters  relat- 
ing to  afifairs  of  the  Church  that  were  found  among  his  effects, 
were  to  be  sent  at  once  to  Bethlehem  after  his  decease.  He 
had  selected  a  spot  in  the  Bethlehem  cemetery  at  which  his  remains 
were  to  rest.  This  could  not  be,  but  very  soon  a  grave  was  made  at 
that  spot  for  another.  On  the  morning  of  July  22,  Justice  Daniel 
Brodhead,  who  had  come  from  his  home  up  the  Delaware  to  be 
treated  for  cancer  of  the  throat  by  Dr.  Otto,  passed  away  at  the  home 
of  James  Burnside,  north  of  Bethlehem.  At  the  noon-day  service  his 
death  was  announced.  It  was  stated  that  he  had  been  a  friend  who 
was  always  interested  in  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  the  Church 
and  that  he  had  departed  in  the  happy  anticipation  and  ardent  longing 
to  meet  his  Saviour.  Justice  Horsfield  took  charge  of  the  funeral 
arrangements.  Two  other  Justices  of  the  County,  Craig  and  Wilson, 
were  among  the  large  number  of  people  from  the  surrounding 
country  who,  with  his  widow  and  her  two  sons,  and  the  people  of 
Bethlehem  followed  his  remains  to  the  cemetery  at  seven  o'clock  on 
the  evening  of  July  23,  and  saw  them  laid  to  rest  at  the  spot  where 
the  grave  of  Henry  Antes  was  to  have  been.  The  weeks  of  his  patient 
suffering  at  the  house  of  Burnside  were  rendered  the  more  pathetic 
by  the  fact  that  his  host  himself  was  at  the  time  an  invalid  nearing 
his  end,  and  they  occupied  a  room  together.  On  August  8,  early  in 
the  morning,  Burnside  died.  Horsfield  sent  messengers  to  all  parts 
of  the  County  to  announce  the  departure  of  the  Assemblyman.  The 
funeral  on  the  loth  was  attended  by  about  350  persons  from  the  sur- 
rounding regions,  besides  the  Bethlehem  people.  The  Rev.  Abraham 
Reinke  preached  the  funeral  sermon  in  English.  Doubtless  these  two 
men  as  they  passed  their  last  days  in  that  room,  associated  as  they 
were  with  public  affairs,  spoke  together  of  the  threatening  calamities 
that  might  follow  the  disaster  to  the  British  arms  in  the  west,  and, 
as  men  whose  hearts  were  tender  in  the  shadow  of  death,  perhaps 
they  prayed  together  for  Pennsylvania  and  for  Bethlehem. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


Bethlehem  During  the  Indian  Uprising. 
1755— 1756. 

The  autumn  of  1755  brought  dark  and  dreary  days  to  all  the  set- 
tlements on  the  frontiers  and,  therefore,  also  to  Bethlehem.  Although 
the  storm  burst  upon  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware  with  appalUng  sud- 
denness, the  clouds  had  been  slowly  gathering  for  months,  and 
already  in  mid-summer  the  first  roll  of  distant  thunder  was  heard. 
The  report  of  the  defeat  of  the  British  forces  and  the  death  of  Gen- 
eral Braddock  at  Fort  Duquesne,  was  brought  to  Bethlehem  on  Sat- 
urday morning,  July  19. 

The  people  were  assembling  to  morning  prayer  when  Nicholas 
Scull  arrived  from  Philadelphia,  as  courier  from  the  Provincial  Coun- 
cil to  Albany,  to  convey  the  report  of  this  calamity  with  all  speed 
to  General  Shirley.  By  virtue  of  a  letter  from  Secretary  Peters,^  he 
called  for  a  fresh  horse  and  a  guide  to  Dansbury  to  expedite  his  jour- 
ney.    They  were,  of  course,  furnished  without  delay. 

While  this  occurrence  produced  considerable  sensation,  compara- 
tively few  at  Bethlehem  possessed  that  knowledge  of  the  general 
situation  which  would  suggest  to  them  all  that  the  catastrophe  por- 
tended ;  and  probably  the  messenger  who  came  the  next  day,  not  in 
haste  and  excitement,  but  with  quiet  sadness,  to  announce  the  death 

»  "  On  his  Majesty's  service  : 

To  the  United  Brethren  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  : 

Gentlemen — The  Bearer  is  sent  by  the  Council,  in  the  absence  of  the  Gover- 
nor, with  Despatches  of  the  utmost  consequence  to  General  Shirley,  at  Albany.  I  earnestly 
entreat,  you  will  furnish  him  with  a  good  horse,  if  he  wants  one,  and  a  guide  to  shew  him 
the  nearest  way.  If  he  arrives,  time  enough,  it  may  be  of  infinite  service  to  his  Majesty's 
arms,  and  if  you  assist,  it  will  be  much  for  your  honour.         I  am,  gentlemen, 

Philadelphia,  iSth  July,  1755.  Your  humble  servant, 

To  the  Brethren  "  RICHARD    PETERS, 

at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth.  by  order  of  council." 

297 


298  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

of  Henry  Antes,  caused  far  more  emotion  among  the  people.  Not 
until  four  months  later  did  they  all  realize  fully  the  significance  of 
that  French  victory  for  all  the  border  regions,  for  the  country  over 
which  the  savage  allies  of  the  French  had  planned  to  wield  the 
scourge  of  vengeance  on  account  of  the  doings  of  1737,  and  even  for 
the  Moravians,  for  their  Indian  missions  and  their  Httle  town  of 
Bethlehem,  at  which  the  finger  of  suspicion  had  so  long  been  pointed 
with  slanderous  inuendoes  about  serving  French  interests.  Those 
at  Bethlehem  who  were  most  familiar  with  the  larger  connections  of 
circumstances  and  events,  understood,  of  course,  the  uneasy  and 
uncertain  disposition  of  the  powerful  Iroquois  confederacy,  the 
irreconcilable  Monseys.  the  treacherous  Shawanese  of  Wyoming,  and 
the  many  disaflfected  Delawares  who  were  not  under  the  influence 
of  the  missionaries.  They  understood  that  the  French  had  a  stronger 
hold  upon  them  than  that  which  the  English  had  been  trying  to 
maintain,  and  that  such  a  sudden  reverse  coming  to  the  British  arms 
might  precipitate  an  Indian  crisis.  It  was,  furthermore,  not  unknown 
to  better-informed  men  at  Bethlehem  that  attempts  had  been  made 
by  French  emissaries  to  tamper  even  with  non-English  elements 
among  the  white  population  of  Pennsylvania  in  some  quarters ;  that 
it  was  a  part  of  their  cunning  policy  to  pretend  that  they  had  their 
quiet  allies  among  the  German  people  of  the  Province  in  order  to 
weaken  the  confidence  of  the  government  in  its  own  citizens,  while 
they  counted  upon  the  strong  Quaker  element  in  the  Assembly  with 
its  passive  policy  of  non-resistance — in  some  cases  a  sincere  convic- 
tion and  in  others,  perhaps,  as  charged,  merely  the  cant  under  which 
was  masked  a  dogged  antagonism  to  the  Proprietaries  in  the  bicker- 
ings of  the  time — as  a  partial  handicap  to  aggressive  measures  on 
the  part  of  the  government.  The  Moravians  of  Bethlehem,  being 
classed  with  the  Germans  in  suspected  foreign  sympathies  and  with 
the  Quakers  in  alleged  obstruction  of  all  defensive  measures,  besides 
standing  in  closer  relations  to  the  Indians  than  any  other  people, 
naturally  came  under  particular  suspicion  from  these  three  points 
of  view.  Therefore,  while  there  was  not  a  grain  of  truth  in  the  accu- 
sations against  them  in  any  of  these  three  respects,  the  situation 
made  it  very  difficult  for  them,  and  afforded  abundant  opportunity 
for  those  who  mistrusted  them  to  conceive  a  strong  mass  of  cir- 
cumstantial evidence.  They  did  not  get  excited,  did  not  have  much 
to  say  to  any  one,  either  about  public  matters  or  about  their  own 
afifairs,  did  not,  like  so  many  of  their  neighbors,  let  their  tools  lie 


1755 1756.  299 

idle  in  the  shops,  the  summer  fruit  rot  in  the  orchards  and  gardens 
and  the  weeds  grow  rank  in  their  corn,  while  they  gathered  at  the 
court-house,  the  taverns  and  the  mills  to  talk  about  the  signs  of  the 
times,  but  went  quietly  on  minding  their  own  business  and  follow- 
ing their  accustomed  routine.  This  rendered  their  position  all  the 
m.ore  perplexing  and  suspicious  to  wrought-up  minds.  But  more 
than  anything  else,  the  incessant  tramp  of  squads  of  Indians  to  and 
fro  between  Bethlehem  and  the  Wyoming  Valley — often  quite  need- 
less and  both  burdensome  and  annoying  to  Bethlehem,  but  not  to 
be  prevented — kept  suspicion  and  fear  at  a  feverish  stage  among 
the  people  who  were  watching  it. 

The  great  scarcity  of  food  in  the  Indian  country  during  that  try- 
ing summer  reached  the  degree  of  positive  famine  at  one  time. 
Under  the  double  constraint  put  upon  them  by  their  lords,  the  heads 
of  the  Six  Nations,  to  the  north,  and  the  government  of  Pennsylvania 
to  the  south,  the  sullen  and  restive  bands  in  the  Wyoming  region 
were  kept  confined  within  their  boundaries.  The  utter  destitution 
of  the  season,  which  sharpened  the  other  incentives  to  desperate 
undertakings,  when  the  ambitious  and  wily  Teedyuscung  and  his 
confederates  saw  their  opportunity  to  lead  them  on  to  open  violence, 
was  frequently  the  sole  cause  of  this  restless  roving  up  and  down 
the  country.  Some  deserters  from  the  Moravian  Indian  congrega- 
tion, who  had  gone  up  and  joined  the  camps  of  the  savages,  told  of 
the  good  living  at  Gnadenhuetten  and  the  abundant  food  to  be  had 
by  all  visitors  at  Bethlehem.  Many  a  strolling  band,  suspected  by 
uneasy  people  to  be  carrying  secret  French  messages  to  and  from 
the  Moravians,  and  even  conveying  French  powder  and  lead  from 
an  imaginary  secret  magazine  at  Bethlehem,  visited  the  place  for  no 
other  purpose  than  to  enjoy  a  few  substantial  meals  furnished  by 
the  people  who,  in  pursuance  of  their  altruistic  aims  towards  the 
Indians,  incurred  all  inconvenience  and  took  all  risks  to  hold  the 
good  will  of  every  class  and  kind  of  them.  Indeed,  since  these 
excursions  from  the  Wyoming  Valley  could  not  be  prevented,  the 
Brethren  dreaded  the  presence  of  the  strollers  less  at  Bethlehem 
than  at  Gnadenhuetten ;  for  it  was  of  extreme  importance  to  keep 
that  little  congregation  of  converts,  who  were  remaining  faithful, 
from  being  entangled  by  the  subtle  arch-schemer  Teedyuscung 
and  the  renegades  whom  he  employed;  coming  to  them  as  their 
brethren  and  using  this  advantage  in  the  attempt  to  draw  them  into 
alliance.     Besides  this,  the  time  came  when  there  was  no  food  to 


300  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

spare  at  Gnadenhuetten.  A  heavy  frost  on  May  31  had  ruined  the 
wheat  crop  over  an  extensive  area  and  made  the  outlook  very 
gloomy.  On  July  i,  the  "melancholy  report"  came  from  there  that 
the  provisions,  not  only  of  the  Indian  congregation,  but  also  of  the 
missionary  household,  would  be  entirely  exhausted  in  a  fortnight, 
and  no  prospect  of  supply  from  any  source  was  in  sight ;  and  then 
the  record  states,  "behold  the  same  hour  we  received  a  letter  from 
Philadelphia  telling  us  that  a  hundred  bushels  of  corn  lay  theire 
ready  for  this  purpose,  and  only  needed  to  be  sent  for."  On  July 
4,  the  first  wagon-load  of  this  corn  arrived  for  the  relief  of  Gnaden- 
huetten, and  there  was  joy  at  the  thought  that  now  this  new  test 
that  had  come  upon  the  steadfastness  of  those  Indians  was  removed. 

One  of  the  measures  that  had  been  adopted,  the  preceding  April, 
to  prevent  dangerous  Indians  from  visiting  Gnadenhuetten,  was  to 
announce  in  the  Indian  country  that  the  blacksmith  and  gunsmith 
at  that  place  would  not  do  work  for  any  "strange  Indians,"  but 
would  only  serve  the  residents  and  such  others  who  were  well  known 
and  trustworthy.  Among  those  who  came  to  Bethlehem,  at  various 
times  during  the  first  months  of  1755,  was  the  famous  Shawanese 
chief  Paxnous  (Paxinosa),  who  so  adjusted  his  attitude  and  move- 
ments that  the  government  had  abundant  proof  of  his  value  as  an 
opponent  of  the  dark  conspiracies.  He  remained  a  consistent  friend 
of  the  Moravian  missionaries  and  faithful  to  whatever  promises  he 
made  them ;  later  interesting  himself,  even  with  hazard  to  his  own 
standing  among  his  warriors,  in  devising  means  to  rescue  certain 
of  them  from  deadly  peril  and  enable  them  to  escape. 

On  February  17  of  that  year,  when  his  wife,  with  whom  he  had 
lived  faithfully  for  thirty-eight  years — "a  surprising  thing,"  says  the 
record — was  baptized  at  Bethlehem,  and  the  Brethren  expressed  the 
hope  that  he  would  yet  follow  her  example,  "he  responded  with  a 
hearty  KcJicUc" — an  exclamation  of  concurrence.  On  several  of  his 
visits  he  was  accompanied  by  Abraham  the  Mohican,  one  of  the 
original  converts,  a  man  of  standing  and  influence  among  the 
Indians,  who,  although  he  had  not  become  alienated  from  his  Chris- 
tian teachers  and  friends,  had  withdrawn  from  the  Indian  congre- 
gation and  was  living  in  Wyoming.  He  was  one  of  those  whose 
equivocal  attitude,  while  they  were  classed  by  the  people  as  "Mora- 
vian Indians,"  but  were  outside  of  Moravian  constraint,  was  so 
mystifying  to  many,  so  troublesome  to  the  Brethren  and  awakened 
so  much  distrust  among  persons  who  did  not  discriminate  between 


1/55 1756.  30I 

the  converts  living  at  the  stations,  under  the  eye  of  the  missionaries, 
and  those  who  had  strayed  away  and  over  whose  movements  no  con- 
trol could  be  exercised.  The  Moravians  could  not  be  chargeable 
with  any  measure  of  responsibility  for  what  any  Indians  were  or  said 
or  did,  when  trouble  came,  excepting  those  living  in  the  Indian  con- 
gregations, or  being  quartered  at  Bethlehem,  to  keep  them  away 
from  dangerous  associations. 

The  case  of  Abraham,  and  several  others  like  him  in  Wyo- 
ming, who  were  yet  friendly  towards  the  Brethren  and  not 
entirel^y  renegade,  even  if  they  had  broken  away  from  the 
restraints  of  external  discipline  in  a  congregation,  made  it  seem 
advisable  at  Bethlehem  to  have  some  one  take  up  his  abode 
in  that  precarious  region  as  a  kind  of  outer  guard.  The  intention 
was  that  he  should  "go  after  the  straying  sheep,"  keep  in 
friendly  touch  with  those  who  might  yet  be  held  in  restraint,  watch 
the  trend  of  things  in  order  to  send  down  timely  information  of 
important  movements  that  should  be  known,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
maintain  a  kind  of  lodge  in  the  wilderness  to  break  the  long  course 
of  missionary  journeys  to  points  farther  up.  Several  missionaries, 
especially  Bernhard  Adam  Grube,  had  been  visiting  them.  A 
request  by  Abraham,  that  a  missionary  again  come  to  see  them  in 
Wyoming,  offered  the  opportunity.  The  most  suitable  man  for  this 
particular  undertaking  was  the  intrepid  and  venturesome  Frederick 
Post,  and,  the  middle  of  February,  he  started  off  to  assume  that 
lonely  and  hazardous  position.  There  he  remained  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  year,  until  the  time  came  when  he  had  to  flee  for  his  life. 
Even  this  well-meant  move,  which  placed  a  Christian  missionary, 
taking  his  life  into  his  hand,  as  a  sentry  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
their  settlements,  to  endeavor  to  preserve  peace,  was  construed  by 
suspicious  persons  between  Bethlehem  and  the  mountains,  as  a  new 
evidence  of  Moravian  complicity  in  dark  intrigues. 

In  the  midst  of  these  things,  the  authorities  at  Bethlehem,  knowing 
how  important  it  was  that  the  government  should  correctly  under- 
stand their  position  over-against  the  many  Indians  who  came  down 
to  the  place,  and  should  have  the  benefit  of  whatever  information 
came  to  them  in  this  way,  had  made  arrangements  to  promptly 
forward  confidential  reports  to  Philadelphia,  by  special  messenger 
from  Justice  Horsfield,  whenever  there  seemed  to  be  occasion  for 
doing  so ;  and  to  announce  any  considerable  bands  that  arrived,  their 
avowed  object  and  all  knowledge  of  affairs  in  the  Indian  country 
thus  brought  to  them  that  seemed  to  deserve  the  attention  of  the 


302  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Governor.  Therefore  while  persons,  in  their  excitement,  were  taking 
stories  to  the  authorities  at  Philadelphia  of  the  suspicious  connection 
of  the  Moravians  with  "strange  Indians,"  the  Brethren  were  at  the 
very  time  serving  the  Government,  by  mutual  understanding,  as  a 
bureau  of  information,  without  the  knowledge  of  such  persons  and 
from  sources  that  would  never  have  been  open  to  them.  This,  in 
general,  was  the  state  of  Indian  relations  at  Bethlehem  when  the 
startling  announcement  was  brought  by  Scull  on  that  Saturday  morn- 
ing in  July. 

The  men  at  the  head  of  affairs  at  Bethlehem  had  refrained  from 
informing  the  inhabitants,  to  a  needless  extent,  in  reference  to  those 
critical  factors  of  the  situation  which  would  merely  occasion  excite- 
ment and  alarm  without  serving  any  practical  purpose.  All  efforts 
were  made  to  preserve  quiet  self-restraint,  manly  composure  and 
simple  trust  in  Him  in  whose  Name  they  went  and  came  and  labored. 
When  it  was  deemed  necessary,  information  was  given  about  matters 
of  which  all  should  have  knowledge,  and  be  ready  to  speak  intelli- 
gently and  discreetly  to  people  of  the  neighborhood  or  visitors  with 
whom  they  conversed  on  the  conditions  of  the  time.  Thus,  early  in 
January,  the  dangerous  reports  circulated  and  carried  to  England 
that  the  Germans  of  Pennsylvania  were  indifferent  to  English  inter- 
ests and  quite  as  ready  to  take  the  part  of  France ;  and  the  address 
of  the  Germans  of  the  Province  to  the  Governor,  contradicting  this 
calumny,  were  discussed  at  Bethlehem.  The  question  was  considered 
whether  the  Brethren,  as  a  distinct  community,  but  also,  for  the 
most  part,  Germans,  should  make  a  like  declaration  of  loyalty  or 
quietly  rest  on  the  credit  given  them  by  the  Act  of  Parliament  in 
1749.  They  decided  upon  the  latter  course.  Then  special  attention 
was  drawn  to  this  subject,  in  a  general  meeting,  by  Bishop  Spangen- 
berg.  He  deemed  it  important  to  make  the  matter  clear.  He 
emphasized  the  favor  received  from  the  British  government  in  that 
act,  and  drew  attention  to  the  various  points  of  significance  in  the 
diiTerence  between  being  under  English  or  French  rule.  He 
instructed  the  less  enlightened  of  the  Germans  at  the  place  who 
might  perhaps  indulge  in  thoughtless  or  foolish  remarks  on  the 
subject,  not  being  Englishmen  and  not  understanding  the  vital  issues 
of  the  conflict,  as  to  what  it  all  involved  for  the  settlements  of  the 
Brethren  and  for  their  missionary  work,  and  what  the  correct  attitude 
of  all  should  be  to  the  question.  So  likewise,  on  June  19,  when  the 
day  of  fasting  and  prayer,  in  view  of  the  almost  calamitous  injury  to 


1/55 1756.  303 

the  grain  crops  of  the  Province  and  the  dubious  issues  of  the  war, 
was  observed,  in  compliance  with  the  proclamation  of  Governor 
Morris,  instruction  on  the  position  to  be  taken  as  Christians 
and  loyal  subjects  was  given  in  English  and  German  sermons;  the 
first  by  the  Rev.  Jacob  Rogers,  who  was  an  Englishman,  and  the 
second  by  Bishop  IMatthew  Hehl.  It  was  thought  that  if  those 
Brethren  who  needed  information  and  guidance  were  in  so  far 
enlightened  that  there  w'as  no  danger  of. any  utterance  on  their  part 
that  could  be  construed  to  indicate  sympathy  with  French  interests, 
disloyalty  to  the  government,  or  partisanship  in  the  issues  between 
Pennsylvania  factions,  this  would  be  sufScient.  The  further  subject 
of  the  relation  of  the  Indian  tribes  to  the  war  which  was  in  progress, 
and  the  menace  to  the  settlements  that  lay  in  the  disaffection  of  so 
many  of  them  who  were  being  worked  upon  by  the  French,  was 
treated  with  caution  and  reserve  by  the  leading  men  at  Bethlehem 
in  speaking  to  the  mass  of  the  people.  The  reason  for  this  was 
two-fold.  They  wished  to  avoid  creating  excitement  and  alarm,  and  to 
prevent  the  spread  of  that  dread  of  and  antipathy  towards  the  Indians 
which  possessed  the  people  of  the  frontier  generally ;  for  this  would 
quench  the  missionary  spirit  among  the  members  of  the  Economy, 
would  make  them  reluctant  to  labor  for  the  support  of  the  work  and 
would  render  it  more  difficult  to  maintain  the  ground  that  had  been 
gained  and  to  pursue  the  important  policy  of  friendly  treatment 
towards  those  Indians  who  came  to  Bethlehem.  Therefore,  during 
the  summer,  the  farmers  and  mechanics  of  Bethlehem  and  the 
Nazareth  places,  with  the  women  and  children,  calmly  followed  their 
daily  routine,  quietly  pursued  their  several  tasks  in  field  and  work- 
shop, in  dairy,  spinning-room  and  school,  and  showed  neither  alarm 
nor  aversion  while  band  after  band  of  Indians  of  all  dispositions  and 
descriptions  came  and  loitered  about  and  enjoyed  their  hospitality ; 
some  of  them  individuals  whom  there  was  reason  enough  to  dread. 
In  the  midst  of  all  this,  as  if  it  had  been  a  time  of  the  greatest 
peace  and  security,  many  acres  of  new  land  were  grubbed,  fenced 
and  gotten  ready  for  the  plow ;  troops  of  boys  worked  happily  in  the 
new  fields,  collecting  and  burning  the  stumps  and  brush ;  the  water 
works  were  finished  and  successfully  put  into  operation,  to  the  delight 
of  the  town;  the  harvest  was  gathered  and  the  harvest-home  feast 
celebrated  as  usual ;  the  walls  of  Nazareth  Hall  were  laid  up ;  mission- 
aries and  mechanics  traveled  the  accustomed  road  to  Gnadenhuctten 
and  back  with  that  sturdy  unconcern  which  was  so  hard  for  their 


304  A    HISTORV'    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

neighbors  to  understand,  accompanied  frequently  by  Indians ;  and 
the  grist-mills  of  Bethlehem  and  Friedensthal  "ran  day  and  night" 
in  August  and  September,  to  accommodate  the  large  number  of 
customers,  "some  from  a  distance  of  thirty  miles  beyond  the  Blue 
Mountains,"  compelled  to  come  that  long  way  by  the  drought  that 
dried  the  lesser  streams  and  left  nearer  mills  idle  and  useless. 

Dismal  was  the  fate  that  hung  over  many  of  the  rude  backwoods 
homes  to  which  those  men  from  the  mountains  returned  with  their 
bags  of  wheat  and  rye  flour  and  cornmeal  for  the  coming  winter. 
It  seemed  as  if  the  shadow  of  the  black  cloud  had  fallen  upon  many 
of  them  ahead  of  its  approach,  for  they  came  and  went  with  an  air 
of  anxious  dread.  It  seemed  as  if  the  very  autumn  winds  that  blew 
down  from  the  north  and  west,  brought  a  scent  of  the  blood-shed 
that  was  being  plotted  in  the  back  regions.  Rumors  of  terror, 
growing  as  they  traveled,  were  rife.  They  were  discussed  around 
the  mills  by  the  men  who  waited  for  their  grist,  and  were  repeated  to 
the  millers  and  the  workmen  of  Bethlehem  and  the  Vale  of  Peace 
on  the  Bushkill.  Questions  were  asked  about  Gnadenhuetten,  some  in 
anxiety,  as  if  seeking  re-assurance  in  regard  to  the  trustworthiness 
of  those  Indians  and  their  missionaries,  others  in  a  suspicious  and 
insinuating  tone,  as  if  to  ferret  dark  secrets  out  of  the  reticent  and 
cautious  Moravians.  Thus  the  feeling  of  unrest  and  dread  began  to 
communicate  itself  to  some  of  the  more  excitable  and  timorous  at 
Bethlehem. 

The  disturbing  reports  that  had  previously  been  coming  to  the 
Board  at  Bethlehem  had  not,  as  already  stated,  been  circulated  much 
outside  of  official  circles.  Even  before  the  news  of  the  British  defeat 
at  Fort  Duquesne  had  been  received,  rumors  of  such  a  disquieting 
nature  had  come  from  Wyoming  that  the  board  sent  a  message  to 
Post,  intimating  that  he  had  better  abandon  his  efforts  and  leave 
the  neighborhood.  Shebosh  had  gone  up,  the  last  week  in  May,  to 
look  after  his  welfare,  and  at  the  beginning  of  June,  Dr.  Otto  went 
to  treat  an  injury  he  had  received.  At  the  middle  of  June,  David 
Zeisberger,  who  a  few  days  before  had  returned  to  Bethlehem  with 
Carl  Friederich  from  Onondago,  where  he  had  been  sojourning 
nearly  a  year  studying  the  language  of  the  people,  with  a  view  to 
founding  the  mission  long  planned — he  was  prevented  from  returning 
by  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  and  that  mission  was  never  com- 
menced— went  to  Wyoming  with  Christian  Seidel  to  see  how  Post 
fared.     They  found  him  keeping  his  lonely  watch  in  the  midst  of 


1/55 1756.  305 

great  peril,  sharing  the  dire  need,  next  to  starvation,  that  prevailed 
there,  trying  to  maintain  sympathetic  relations  with  the  Indians  who 
had  been  enticed  away  from  Gnadenhuetten,  and  to  hold  them  from 
lapsing  to  the  hostiles  who  were  pledged  to  the  French  and  who 
fiercely  resented  his  presence  and  influence  there ;  for,  in  accordance 
with  the  scheme  of  Teedyuscung,  they  hoped,  by  capturing  this 
band,  to  make  a  further  break,  through  them,  in  the  congregation  at 
Gnadenhuetten. 

Zeisberger  and  Seidel  pushed  on,  far  up  the  Susquehanna,  to 
procure  some  food  for  this  famishing  little  flock  of  "straying  sheep" 
and  the  faithful  shepherd  who  was  watching  them  at  the  hourly  risk 
of  his  life.  The}-  made  this  effort  not  only  as  an  act  of  humanity,  but 
to  impress  the  Indians  with  the  conviction  that  their  needs  would  be 
cared  for  if  they  remained  together  with  Post  and  listened  to  his 
counsel.  In  reply  to  the  message  from  Bethlehem,  suggesting  that 
he  had  better  abandon  his  effort  on  account  of  the  great  peril.  Post 
wrote,  the  middle  of  July,  that  "he  did  not  propose  to  yield  to  the 
powers  of  darkness  and  the  evil  spirits  to  whom  he  was  a  hindrance, 
unless  they  expelled  him  by  force." 

Having  brought  their  few  bags  of  corn  safely  to  Post  and  the  little 
band  he  was  yet  holding,  Zeisberger  and  his  companion  continued 
their  tour  among  the  Indians  at  various  places,  in  spite  of  the  dis- 
turbed condition  of  things.  While  on  this  tour  they  heard  of  the 
first  savage  outbreak,  October  i6,  on  Penn's  Creek,  near  Shamokin, 
where  more  than  twenty  persons  were  killed  or  captured.  They 
turned  their  faces  homeward  the  latter  part  of  October,  warned  by 
Paxnous,  who  informed  them  of  that  first  blow  struck  by  the  sav- 
ages. From  Gnadenhuetten,  where  they  found  everything  quiet  and 
peaceful,  they  proceeded  to  the  Delaware  Gap,  having  intended  to 
traverse  the  region  beyond,  to  the  north  and  east,  more  extensively. 
There  they  encountered  a  large  company  of  militia-men  who 
were  much  agitated  by  the  reports  they  had  heard,  and  plied  the 
missionaries  with  questions.  They  and  people  in  the  vicinity  had 
also  heard  of  the  alleged  letter  from  a  French  officer — a  rascally 
forgery — published  in  the  newspapers,  setting  forth  that  the  Mora- 
vians and  their  Indians  were  allies  of  the  French,  aiding  their  move- 
ments. This  wicked  trick,  producing  impressions  that  could  not  be 
followed  up  wherever  the  report  spread  with  disproof  or  even  authori- 
tative denial,  had  borne  its  fruit  among  the  people  up  the  Delaware ; 
and  the  impression  of  these  calumnies  was  in  the  minds  of  some  men 


306  A    HISTOKV    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

who  came  to  the  Bethlehem  mill  from  that  neighborhood  in  the 
course  of  the  autumn. 

Zeisberger  and  Seidel  reached  Bethlehem  in  the  night  of  Novem- 
ber 2.  They  at  once  reported  to  Justice  Horsfield  all  that  they  had 
learned  about  the  beginning  of  hostilities  by  the  savages,  and  their 
statements  v^^ere  immediately  forwarded  by  special  messenger  to  the 
Governor  and  the  Assembly ;  also  the  statements  of  George  Bieb- 
inghausen,  who,  the  previous  day,  arrived  from  Allemaengel,  not 
very  far  from  Gnadenhuetten — a  Moravian  station  in  the  present 
Lynn  Township  of  Lehigh  County — that  the  people  there  were 
panic-stricken  by  rumors  of  an  Indian  raid,  and  that  thirty  persons 
had  fled  from  their  homes  and  taken  refuge  together  in  the  Mora- 
vian school  and  meeting-house.  On  November  4,  Henry  Frey  and 
Anton  Schmidt  set  out  from  Bethlehem  for  Shamokin  to  rescue  the 
missionary  and  master-smith,  Marcus  Kiefer,  who  had  not,  like  his 
two  companions,  the  missionary  Godfrey  Roessler  and  the  black- 
smith Peter  Wesa,  made  good  his  escape.  These  rescuers  turned 
back  at  Tulpehocken,  where  all  was  in  a  state  of  terror,  for  they 
were  assured  that  they  would  not  be  able  to  proceed.  The  panic  at 
Allemaengel  had  not  been  without  reason.  Following  upon  a  second 
raid  made  by  the  savages  at  the  beginning  of  November,  at  the  great 
cove  in  the  present  Franklin  County,  the  Tulpehocken  neighborhood 
was  visited  by  skulking  forerunners  at  this  time,  and,  on  November 
16,  the  first  outbreak  east  of  the  Susquehanna  occurred,  when  mur- 
derous gangs  swooped  down  upon  the  farmers  on  the  Swatara  and 
Tulpehocken  Creeks,  killing  thirteen  persons  and  destroying  much 
property.  Thus  the  reign  of  terror  opened  in  the  region  in  which 
the  savage  raids  were  to  be  generaled  by  Teedyuscung.  He  had 
risen  to  the  honor — suspected  by  many  to  have  been  quite  unauthor- 
ized— of  having  himself  called  "King  of  the  Delawares."  The  out- 
rages west  of  the  Susquehanna  were  imder  the  direction  of  Shingas 
"the  terrible,"  a  brother  of  Tamaqua. 

On  November  6,  Henry  Frey  started  again,  accompanied  by  the 
missionary  John  Jacob  Schmick,  for  Wyoming,  hoping  to  reach  Sha- 
mokin by  that  route  and  find  Kiefer.  They  returned  on  the  13th 
and  reported  ^im  safe.  He  had  gotten  away  from  Shamokin,  and, 
six  miles  from  there,  met  two  Indians  whom  Paxnous  had  dispatched 
to  the  place  to  rescue  him.  One  of  them  was  the  son  of  the  old  chief 
and  the  other  was  a  son  of  the  Mohican  Abraham.  He  had,  mean- 
while, been  protected  by  John   Shikellimy   or  Thachnechtoris,   son 


1755 1756.  307 

of  the  famous  chief,  old  ShikelHmy.  He  escorted  him  safely  to 
Gnadenhuetten,  from  which  place  they  arrived  at  Bethlehem, 
November  i6.  With  the  arrival  of  these  three  men  from  Shamokin 
began  the  flight  from  various  directions  and  distances  to  Bethlehem 
as  a  city  of  refuge.  At  one  of  the  evening  services  during  those 
weeks,  Spangenberg  took  occasion  to  admonish  two  different  kinds 
of  people.  On  the  one  hand,  he  urged  those  who  were  becoming 
timid  and  uneasy  to  remain  calm  and  clear-headed  .and  to  be  "strong 
in  the  Lord."  On  the  other  hand,  some  who,  with  perhaps  a  slight 
symptom  of  bravado,  were  disposed  to  over-estimate  their  security 
and,  without  realizing  the  peril  that  really  existed,  to  make  light  of 
the  trepidation  manifested  by  people  of  the  neighborhood  who  came 
to  Bethlehem,  were  admonished  that  they  should  appreciate  the 
cause  these  scattered  settlers  had  for  being  alarmed,  sympathize 
with  them  and  try  to  encourage  them. 

On  November  20,  came  the  first  company  of  frightened  people 
from  the  Saucon  Valley,  who  had  heard  reports  of  the  approach  of 
hostile  Indians.  Some  of  them  were  given  quarters  for  the  night 
at  the  Crown  Inn.  That  night  guards  were  quietly  stationed  at 
three  approaches  to  the  town,  not  in  fear  of  a  surprise  by  Indians 
at  this  time,  but  as  a  precaution  against  a  panic  that  might  be  cre- 
ated in  the  town  by  a  possible  inrush  of  terror-stricken  people, 
sounding  an  alarm.  The  next  day  a  company  of  persons  who  had 
been  at  Gnadenhuetten  returned,  bringing  a  letter  from  the  mis- 
sionary Ivlartin  Mack.  He,  with  Shebosh  and  the  missionaries  Grube 
and  Schmick,  was  stationed  with  the  Indian  congregation  at  its  new 
quarters  on  the  east  side  of  the  Lehigh,  New  Gnadenhuetten,  where 
the  more  satisfactory  tract  of  land  had  been  purchased  for  the 
Indians.  As  previously  stated,  the  other  men  and  women  connected 
with  the  industries  of  that  settlement,  and  engaged  in  the  study  of 
Indian  languages,  occupied  the  mission  houses  of  the  original  village 
on  the  west  side.  In  that  letter  Mack  wrote  that  the  entire  neigh- 
borhood was  in  a  state  of  excitement  on  account  of  the  "French 
Indians,"  that  many  of  the  settlers  had  fled  to  AUemaengel  and  that 
some  of  those  Indians  were  trying  to  create  a  panic  and  stampede 
among  the  Gnadenhuetten  Indians,  but  that  the  most  of  the  men 
were  ofif  hunting.  He  quoted  in  his  letter  the  sayings  of  several  of 
the  sturdiest  Christian  men  among  the  Indians  at  Gnadenhuetten,  in 
reference  to  the  critical  situation,  their  expressions  of  trust  in  the 
Saviour,  if  the  worst  should  come,  and  their  declaration  that  they 


308  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PExNNSYLVANIA. 

would  cling  together  and,  if  so  it  must  be,  die  together.  This  letter 
from  Mack  was  read  to  the  congregation  at  Bethlehem  by  Spangen- 
berg  on  the  evening  of  that  day,  November  21,  and  the  next  day 
was  communicated  to  Parsons  at  Easton  by  Horsfield,  as  the  first 
note  of  danger  for  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware.  While  this  little 
band  of  converts  were  thus  giving  expression  to  Christian  resigna- 
tion and  considering  the  likelihood  of  their  being  murdered  by  the 
"French  Indians"  when  all  efforts  to  draw  them  away  proved  fruit- 
less, the  latter  were  planning  to  not  only  do  this,  but  also  to 
wreak  vengeance  upon  their  missionaries,  to  whose  influence  they 
ascribed  the  steadfastness  of  the  Gnadenhuetten  Indians  in  with- 
standing every  attempt  to  cajole,  bribe  or  bully  them  into  joining 
the  conspiracy.  At  the  same  time,  men  from  the  Irish  Settlement 
were  coming  into  Bethlehem  with  reports  of  how  the  people  feared 
being  suddenly  fallen  upon  by  those  same  inoffensive  Indians  at 
the  mission ;  how  some  were  planning  to  destroy  the  mission  as  a 
measure  of  self-defense,  and  how  there  was  talk  among  some  Jer- 
seymen  of  even  taking  revenge  by  raising  troops  of  rangers  to  move 
upon  Bethlehem,  the  supposed  harbor  of  French  allies,  white  and 
Indian,  and  storage-place  of  arms  and  ammunition  for  the  savages. 
What  human  power  of  word  or  deed  could  rectif}^  such  an  awful 
complication  as  this  with  hundreds  of  lives  jeopardized  in  its  mazes? 
How  was  it  possible  to  convince  such  men  in  the  panic  of  the  time, 
with  this  belief  about  the  Moravians  firmly  fixed  in  their  minds  for 
years,  that  they  w'ere  completely  and  terribly  mistaken?  What  was 
to  save  Bethlehem  when  the  storm  should  break?  Earnest,  well- 
disposed  men  came  and  asked,  why  is  it  that  your  people  rest  quietly 
and  do  not  seem  afraid?  Tell  us,  and  explain  this  mystery,  if  you 
have  not  an  understanding  with  the  French  and  with  the  blood- 
thirsty hordes  in  their  service.  Spangenberg  simply  answered : 
"The  people  are  quiet  because  they  set  their  hope  in  their  God, 
knowing  no  refuge  under  such  circumstances  but  in  Him ;  and  as 
He  has  counted  all  the  hairs  on  our  heads,  not  one  of  them  shall 
be  permitted  to  fall  without  His  will."  He  felt  that  a  time  had  come 
for  the  Moravians  to  supremely  demonstrate  that  they  believed  what 
they  professed  and  taught  and  to  let  God  take  care  of  the  result.  It 
is  recorded  how  one  went  away  convinced  of  the  truth  and  begged 
permission  to  bring  his  family  to  Bethlehem  if  the  time  came  when 
thev  must  flee. 


■/:>:>' 


1/56.  309 


Even  some  who  had  been  sure  that  the  Moravians  were  on  terms 
of  understanding  with  the  French  and  the  murderous  savages,  were 
open  to  conviction  to  the  contrary,  right  in  the  panic  of  those  days, 
when  it  was  not  easy  to  reason  with  excited  men.  The  next  day, 
Sunday,  November  23,  when  in  storm  and  rain,  scores  of  families 
were  fleeing  from  their  homes  between  Bethlehem  and  Gnaden- 
huetten,  and  not  only  expressions  of  fear  and  distrust,  but  even 
maledictions  were  heard  among  persons  gathered  at  Easton, 
who  spoke  of  the  Indians  harbored  by  the  Moravians,  David  Zeis- 
berger,  who  was  at  the  county-seat  in  the  interest  of  certain  peace- 
able Indians  of  Wyoming  who  desired  some  kind  of  a  safe  conduct 
to  Philadelphia  to  deliver  a  message  to  the  Governor,  rendered  an 
opportune  service.  He  had  an  interview  there  with  a  number  of 
men  from  New  Jersey,  who  were  among  those  who  had  been  firmly 
persuaded  of  the  treachery  of  the  ^Moravians  and  their  Indians,  and 
had  been  drawn  to  Easton  by  the  publication  of  Horsfield's  mes- 
sage to  Parsons.  Their  comment  upon  his  statements  and  explana- 
tions was :  "This  is  the  first  sensible  account  of  the  case  we  have 
heard,  and  even  if  the  Brethren  will  not  take  up  arms  they  can  secure 
their  own  lives  (against  mobs  of  avenging  white  men)  by  giving  out 
reliable  information."  The  policy  of  silence  usually  pursued  by  the 
Brethren  mystified  many.  While,  in  the  main,  it  was  undoubtedly 
the  best,  it  had  its  limits,  and  possibly  they  carried  it  too  far.  Plain, 
blunt  men,  such  as  those  Jerseymen  probably  were,  do  not  take 
kindly  to  an  imperturbable  silence  when  they  are  wanting  to  know 
the  truth  of  a  matter  about  which  their  minds  are  exercised.  And 
yet,  the  sublime  conviction  that  the  case  could  best  be  left  in  the 
hands  of  God,  for  the  results  to  work  out  and  the  truth  to  appear 
in  His  way,  was  vindicated  in  the  end. 

There  was  much  anxiety  at  this  time  about  that  stout-hearted 
ranger  of  the  missionary  force,  Frederick  Post,  who  had  been  defy- 
ing "the  powers  of  darkness"  in  his  lonely  hut  in  the  Wyoming  wil- 
derness ;  for  now  it  was  known  that  in  that  region  those  powers 
were  holding  grim  carnival,  and  no  white  man  could  live  there.  He 
knew,  however,  when  the  moment  had  come  beyond  which  it  would 
be  sheer  folly  for  him  to  remain.  He  had  acquired  much  of  the 
Indian  instinct  and  method  in  his  movements.  Suddenly,  when  two 
strange  Indians  with  questionable  motives  were  endeavoring  to  find 
him,  he  had  disappeared  without  a  word  to  any  one  as  to  where  he 
was  going.     This  was  all  that  was  known  about  him  at  Bethlehem — 


310  A    llIbTORY    Op-    BETHLEHEM,    PENXSVLVAMA. 

reported  from  trustworthy  sources — until  November  22,  when  it  was 
learned  that  he  had  safely  reached  Dansbury,  the  Brodhead  settle- 
ment, where  at  this  time  Jasper  Payne  was  stationed.  Payne  was 
the  last  who  ministered  in  the  little  church  built  there  under  the 
special  patronage  of  Justice  Daniel  Brodhead,  who  had  died  at  Beth- 
lehem in  July.  It  was  dedicated  May  19,  1753.  Payne  and  Post, 
like  so  many  people  of  the  neighborhood,  had  to  flee  from  the  place 
in  December  and  the  little  church  was  burned  to  the  ground  by  the 
savages.     Post  reached  Bethlehem  on  November  25. 

In  the  afternoon  of  that  dismal,  rainy  Sunday,  November  23, 
upwards  of  seventy  armed  and  mounted  men  from  New  Jersey  sud- 
denly arrived  at  the  Crown  Inn,  not  for  the  purpose  of  destroying 
Bethlehem,  as  the  talk  of  some  had  been  shortly  before,  but  to  ofTer 
their  services  in  defense  of  the  place  and  of  the  Irish  Settlement, 
as  there  might  be  need ;  very  positive  expectation  of  an  intended 
attack  by  the  savages  having  been  awakened  through  the  spread 
of  Mack's  letter  beyond  the  Delaware.  Justice  Horsfield  informed 
them  that  there  was  not  thought  to  be  any  immediate  peril  at  Beth- 
lehem, and  officially  arranged  for  them  to  remain  at  the  Crown  over 
night,  in  order  to  prevent  the  consternation  that  would  be  caused  by 
their  sudden  appearance  in  the  streets  of  Bethlehem.  The  nerves 
of  invalids  and  of  timid  women  were  considered,  and  the  greatest 
care  was  being  taken  to  prevent  all  knowledge  of  the  terrors  of  the 
time  from  reaching  the  children,  both  at  Bethlehem  and  at  Naza- 
reth. 

November  24  was  a  day  of  noise  and  confusion  such  as  had 
never  been  experienced  at  Bethlehem,  with  sights  that  seemed  very 
strange  in  its  quiet  streets.  All  day  armed  men  marched  through 
from  different  parts  of  New  Jersey  and  some  of  the  lower  neighbor- 
hoods of  Pennsylvania,  on  horseback  and  afoot,  with  drums  and 
flags,  intending  to  scour  the  woods  in  the  direction  of  Gnadenhuet- 
ten  in  search  of  hostile  Indians.  It  was  hoped  that  some  detach- 
ments of  the  murderous  hordes  might  be  encountered  and  repulsed, 
and  their  further  advance  thus  be  checked.  David  Zeisberger,  with 
the  knowledge  of  the  militia  captains,  mounted  a  horse  and  started 
for  Gnadenhuetten  ahead  of  the  rangers,  to  deliver  Horsfield's  mes- 
sage to  Mack  in  reference  to  the  desired  convoy  to  Bethlehem,  to 
inform  the  Indian  congregation  of  this  expedition  and  instruct  them 
to  remain  quietly  in  their  houses,  so  that  they  would  not  be  found 
outside  in  the  woods  and  mistaken  for  savages.  He  was  stopped 
on    the    way    by    a    company  of  excited  Irishmen,  who  took  H  for 


1755 1756.  311 

granted  that  he  was  bound  for  the  hostile  camps  to  give  the  alarm 
to  the  "French  Indians"  and  frustrate  the  purpose  of  the  militia- 
men, and  thought  that  they  had  at  last  caught  one  of  the  Moravian 
traitors  in  the  very  act.  Zeisberger's  coolness  and  tact,  which 
seemed  never  to  forsake  him  in  any  emergency,  together  with  that 
impressive  power  of  conscious  innocence  w'hich  often  turns  the  sen- 
timents, even  of  the  most  bitter  and  excited  men,  served  him  well, 
as  it  had  before  and  later  did  in  far  more  critical  straits.  He  was 
finally  permitted  to  ride  on,  bvit  the  detention  involved  great  peril 
for  the  Indian  congregation. 

Evening  Vk'as  coming  on  when  he  reached  the  mission.  Having 
delivered  his  letters  to  Mack,  he  immediately  turned  his  course  to 
the  river,  to  cross  before  it  became  quite  dark,  intending  to  rest  over 
night  at  the  establishment  on  the  Mahoning,  on  the  other  side,  after 
delivering  his  messages  there.  He  had  heard  gun-shots  west  of  the 
river  as  he  approached  the  mission,  but  did  not  suspect  anything 
amiss,  for,  with  squads  of  militia  now  traversing  the  woods  and 
occasionally  firing  signals  to  other  bands,  this  was  not  a  particu- 
larly startling  sound  that  day.  Suddenly  a  piteous  cry  from  the 
other  shore  came  to  the  missionaries  on  the  east  side  who  had  just 
taken  leave  of  Zeisberger.  Shebosh  instantly  pushed  a  canoe  into 
the  water  and  directly  returned,  bringing  Joachim  Sensemann  and 
George  Partsch,  with  the  horrible  tidings  that  the  savages  had  fallen 
upon  the  settlement  and,  as  they  supposed,  murdered  the  rest  of 
the  household.  Then  the  rising  flames  began  to  light  up  the  gloam- 
ing with  a  sickening  evidence  of  the  fiendish  work  that  was  being 
done.  Zeisberger  had  meanwhile  slowly  made  his  way  to  the  ford, 
and  was  crossing  the  stream.  The  nearer  noise  of  the  splashing 
water  and  the  crack  of  the  stones  under  his  horse's  hoofs  prevented 
him  from  hearing  the  shooting  and  yelling  of  the  savages,  broken 
by  the  thick  underbrush  of  the  river-bank  and  the  blufT  beyond, 
which  also  concealed  from  him  the  light  of  the  starting  flames. 
Alack  called  to  him  several  times  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  but  did  not 
succeed  in  attracting  his 'attention  until  he  had  reached  the  other 
side.  A  moment  he  paused  and  with  dismay  took  in  the  awful  situ- 
ation, just  as  young  Joseph  Sturgis,  who  had  escaped  with  a  slight 
wound  on  his  face,  rushed  gasping  down  to  the  river.  Turning 
about,  he  forded  back  to  the  east  side.  There  a  consultation  was 
held  in  the  anxious  suspense  of  the  hour.  The  Indians,  who  gath- 
ered about  Martin  Mack  in  terror  asking  what  they  should  do — 


312  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNhVLVAMA. 

many  of  the  younger  men  were  yet  off  on  their  fall  hunt — were 
advised  by  him  to  quietly  disperse  and  conceal  themselves  in  the 
thick  woods ;  for  it  was  taken  for  granted  that  an  attack  upon  the 
buildings  on  that  side  would  soon  follow.  Sturgis  had  slipped  away 
into  the  forest. 

Zeisberger  gathered  what  particulars  could  be  given  him  by  Sen- 
semann  and  Partsch,  and,  with  these  and  Mack's  official  message, 
set  out  in  the  darkness  to  make  his  way  with  all  the  speed 
his  tired  horse  could  command,  back  to  Bethlehem.  His  dreary 
midnight  ride  was  broken  by  a  brief  interview  with  some  of  the 
militia  rangers  of  the  previous  day  whom  he  met  on  the  road.  He 
told  them  what  had  taken  place,  'and  their  first  impression  was 
expressed  in  the  declaration  that  this  appalling  fate  of  the 
Moravians  at  Gnadenhuetten  proved  their  innocence  of  com- 
plicity with  the  savages  in  the  interest  of  the  French.  Thus 
he  could  carry  back,  with  his  tale  of  woe,  also  the  first 
evidence  of  good  to  come  out  of  this  great  evil.  He  had  not 
many  details  to  report.  The  household  of  sixteen  persons,  fifteen 
adults  and  one  infant,  excepting  two  who  were  not  well — Sense- 
mann's  wife,  who  had  remained  in  the  room  set  apart  for  the  women, 
and  Peter  Worbas,  single,  who  was  in  another  building  in  which 
the  unmarried  men  had  their  quarters — were  gathered  at  the  table 
in  the  general  dwelling  and  guest-house,  partaking  of  their  evening 
meal.  The  barking  of  the  dogs  and  a  sound  as  of  persons  approach- 
ing the  premises,  led  Sensemann,  who  was  steward,  to  go  out  for 
the  purpose  of  locking  the  doors  of  the  main  building  in  which  the 
chapel  was,  and  making  things  secure  for  the  night.  He  saw  no 
one,  and  entered  the  building.  Hardly  had  he  struck  a  light,  when 
he  heard  a  loud  report  of  firearms.  He,  like  Zeisberger,  thought 
the  shooting  was  done  by  a  company  of  militia  who  had  passed  sev- 
eral hours  before,  and  were  expected  back  to  spend  the  night  there, 
and  paid  no  attention  to  it.  Having  locked  the  door,  he  started  to 
return  to  where  the  others  were,  when  he  was  met  by  Partsch,  who 
announced  that  Indians  had  rushed  upon  the  house  and  were  shoot- 
ing at  the  inmates,  and  that  he  had  escaped  through  a  window. 
Sensemann  proposed  that  they  make  an  effort  to  rescue  the  women, 
and  they  turned  towards  the  house,  but  it  was  entirely  surrounded 
by  the  savage  troop  and  they,  being  unarmed,  could  do  nothing 
more  than  make  their  escape  and  sound  an  alarm  at  the  mission, 
east  of  the  Lehigh.  The  setting  fire  to  the  house  followed  after  they 
fled  and  the  presumption  with  which  Zeisberger  started  for  Bethle- 


1755 1756. 


0' j 


hem  was  that  all,  excepting  these  two  men  and  young  Joseph  Stur- 
gis,  whom  he  had  seen,  had  perished  by  the  bullets  or  tomahawks 
of  the  murderers  or  in  the  flames.  At  three  o'clock  on  the  morning 
of  the  25th  he  reached  Bethlehem,  aroused  Bishop  Spangenberg  and 
told  him  the  horrible  story.  Whether  any  others  were  immediately 
informed  of  it  does  not  appear  in  the  narratives.  A  messenger  was 
sent  to  Parsons  at  Easton  about  two  hours  later. 

In  the  early  dawn  of  that  sad  November  morning  the  people  of 
Bethlehem  were  summoned,  by  the  ringing  of  the  bell,  to  morning 
prayer  as  usual,  this  being  the  first  thing  each  day.  Spangenberg 
had,  according  to  custom,  opened  the  book  of  daily  texts  to  see  what 
the  watchword  of  the  day  was,  and  he  found  a  peculiar  significance 
in  it  that  gave  him  a  starting-point  from  which  to  begin  the  service 
and  the  morning  words  to  the  people  in  the  usual  manner,  prepara- 
tory to  breaking  the  mournful  news.     "Joseph made  himself 

strange  unto  them  and  spake  roughly  unto  them."'  And  his  breth- 
ren, not  recognizing  him  under  the  temporary  disguise  of  this  harsh 
exterior,  said  to  Jacob  their  father,  "the  man  spake  roughly  unto 
us."  Thus,  said  Spangenberg,  our  Lord  sometimes  deals  roughly 
with  us  and  makes  Himself  strange,  but  we  know  His  heart. ^  A  pecu- 
liar impression  was  felt — an  apprehension  of  something  momentous — 
as  he  looked  about  the  congregation,  and  his  voice  quivered  with 
pent-up  emotion.  Then  the  announcement  of  the  tragedy  was  made 
and  tearful  supplications  went  up  to  the  darkly  veiled  throne  of  grace. 
Many  a  one's  early  meal  was  left  untouched  in  Bethlehem  that  morn- 
ing, and  the  day  was  one  of  mourning.  Another  thing  Spangenberg 
said  at  that  morning  service :  "Our  neighborhood  can  now  see  that 
the  Brethren  are  not  allied  with  the  French,  for  we  have  been  in  such 
danger  for  several  days  of  being  fallen  upon  by  a  mob  that  they 
have  quite  openly  said,  'before  we  move  upon  the  enemy,  we  must 
not  leave  one  stone  upon  another  in  Bethlehem.'  The  Justice,  our 
Brother  Horsfield,  has  been  a  real  martyr,  for  he  could  not  convince 
all  of  the  people  that  our  remaining  so  quiet  in  the  midst  of  the 
tumult  that  fills  the  whole  land  did  not  signify  that  we  had  an  under- 
standing with  the  French." 

Those  slain  on  the  Mahoning  were  verily  martyrs,  destined, 
in  the  mysterious  ways  of  God,  who  made  Himself  strange 
unto    them    and    spake    roughly    unto    them,"  to    bear    the    con- 

2  Genesis  42  :  7  and  30. 

3  ''Der  Mann  stelll  sick  hart,  abcr  loir  kennen  sein  Ilcrzr  This  last  clause  was  the  line 
of  a  hymn-verse  accompanying  the  text  in  the  book. 


314  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLKIIEM      PENNSYLVANIA. 

victing  testimony  to  men  who  refused  to  be  convinced  by  lesser 
proof.  In  some  sense  and  degree,  their  blood  was  vicarious 
blood.  It  had  to  wash  out  the  cruel  calumny  which  excited  preju- 
dice, incapable  of  understanding  the  Moravians,  persisted  in  writing 
on  the  bulletin  board  of  public  sensation,  and  it  became  the  sprinkled 
blood  on  the  lintels  and  door-posts  of  Bethlehem  to  stay  the  destroy- 
ing hand  of  men,  maddened  by  the  fiendish  atrocities  perpetrated 
upon  their  homes,  who  might  otherwise  have  taken  vengeance  upon 
the  Moravians,  as  friends  of  the  Indians.  When  the  murderous  hand 
of  the  savages  was  to  be  lifted  against  Bethlehem,  God  stayed  that 
hand,  for  He  had  chosen  the  place  as  a  city  of  refuge  to  which  many 
who  escaped  might  flee  from  the  fields,  where  one  was  taken  and 
another  left.  The  most  obtuse  mind  could  be  expected  to  compre- 
hend, when  the  massacre  on  the  Mahoning  became  known,  that  the 
savages  would  not  fall  upon  those  who  were  secretly  working  with 
them,  and  murder  them.  They  thus  took  revenge  upon  the  Mora- 
vians for  standing  in  their  way  with  that  settlement  at  the  mountain 
gate-way,  and  foiling  their  attempts  tp  secure  the  co-operation  of 
those  converts.  After  this,  the  repetition  of  the  old  slander — and, 
although  common  opinion  among  suspecting  masses  was  suddenly 
and  powerfully  changed,  it  was  repeated  by  some,  even  after  this — 
could  no  longer  be  charitably  ascribed  to  mere  ignorance  about  the 
Moravians.     It  now  became  criminal  malice. 

In  the  course  of  the  day,  on  that  25th  of  November,  one  after 
another  arrived  from  the  scene  of  carnage,  like  the  messengers  of 
Job  coming  in  to  tell  of  the  ruin  wrought  where  Satan's  hand  was 
permitted  to  fall.  From  one  after  the  other,  further  particulars  were 
learned.  About  seven  o'clock  the  first  fugitive  arrived ;  Peter  Wor- 
bas,  who  at  first  had  watched  the  horrible  scenes  from  the  room 
of  the  single  men  in  another  building.  Although  ill,  he  had  trudged 
the  long  distance  to  Bethlehem  afoot.  He  could  not  tell  much  more 
than  was  known.  He  saw  one  of  the  women  flee  to  the  cellar,  out- 
side the  house,  and  back  into  the  "sisters'  room,"  pursued  by  a 
savage  with  uplifted  tomahawk.  He  heard  the  heart-rending 
screams  of  an  infant  amid  the  crackling  of  the  flames.  For  some 
time  he  was  a  prisoner,  a  guard  being  posted  at  the  door.  A  shout 
from  the  other  savages  diverting  the  attention  of  his  guard,  he 
leaped  from  the  window  towards  the  Mahoning  and  fled.  On  the 
way  to  Bethlehem  he  heard  of  the  escape  of  Sturgis.  Anton  Schmidt 
and  Marcus  Kiefer.  who.  at  Shamokin,  had  become  veterans  in  fac- 
ing the  dangers  of  savage  surroundings,  were  soon  dispatched  to- 


'/.^D- 


1756.  315 


Gnadenhuetten  to  ascertain  how  matters  stood  there,  and  to  take 
a  message  from  Justice  Horsfield  to  the  militia  gathered  at  that 
point,  stating  that  provisions  would  be  sent  them  if  needed.  Span- 
genberg,  meanwhile,  went  to  Nazareth  to  make  the  sorrowful 
announcement  there,  and  institute  the  first  steps  towards  guarding 
against  a  surprise  by  the  savages.  There,  when  he  undertook  to 
speak  again  of  what  had  taken  place,  his  composure  forsook  him. 
He  broke  down  under  the  strain  and  for  a  while  could  only  weep. 

In  the  afternoon  Sensemann  came,  bringing  about  thirty  of  the 
Gnadenhuetten  Indians,  all  completely  exhausted  by  their  hard 
experiences.  While  making  his  way  through  the  woods  towards 
Bethlehem,  he  came  upon  this  little  band  cowering  in  their  place 
of  concealment,  and  brought  them  along.  All  that  Sensemann  could 
relate  was  already  known  through  Zeisberger. 

Later  in  the  day  Martin  Mack  arrived  with  his  wife,  Grube  and 
his  wife,  Schmick  and  Joseph  Powell  and  his  wife,  who  had  been 
temporarily  at  the  station  on  the  east  side,  and  more  of  the  fugitive 
Indians.  Mack  was  almost  broken-hearted.  Gnadenhuetten  had 
been  very  dear  to  him.  He  had  devoted  himself  to  that  mission  from 
the  beginning  with  all  his  heart,  and  he  felt  as  a  father  towards  the 
converts  who  were  singularly  attached  to  him.  The  colony  of  men 
and  women  who  occupied  the  original  buildings  on  the  west  side  of 
the  river  had  trusted  his  counsel  and  leadership  when  the  time  of 
peril  came.  He  had  encouraged  them  to  stand  quietly  and  manfully 
at  their  post.  They  had  done  so,  and  now  they  had  fallen  at  that 
post,  and  he  was  spared.  He  was  overwhelmed  with  sorrow.  The 
entire  Indian  congregation  of  seventy  persons  gradually  found  their 
way  to  Bethlehem.  Here  they  were  sheltered  in  the  'Tndian  house" 
and  were  cared  for,  regardless  of  the  risk  their  presence  might 
entail  upon  Bethlehem  when  the  unreasoning  excitement  of  some  in 
whose  eyes  all  Indians  were  alike,  was  stirred  anew  by  the  discovery 
that  they  were  housed  there.  It  put  a  strain  even  upon  the  confidence 
and  good  will  of  some  of  the  Bethlehem  people,  under  the  poignant 
grief  they  felt  for  the  awful  fate  that  had  befallen  their  brethren  and 
sisters  on  the  Mahoning;  all  on  account  of  Indians  and  at  the  hands 
of  Indians ;  and  under  the  growing  dread  of  an  attack  upon  Beth- 
lehem, which  might  the  more  quickly  be  provoked  by  the  presence 
of  these  people  whom  the  savages  were  now  bent  upon  killing,  since 
they  could  not  entice  them.  It  even  became  necessary  for  Span- 
genberg,  a  few  weeks  later,  to  plead  with  such  openly,  to  not  permit 


3l6  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA, 

aversion  and  bitterness  to  possess  their  hearts  towards  these  poor 
creatures  snatched  as  a  brand  from  the  burning ;  the  remaining  fruit 
of  many  labors,  prayers  and  tears. 

In  the  afternoon  of  November  26,  Partsch  and  his  wife  Susanna 
reached  Bethlehem.  It  was  not  known  whether  he  had  escaped  or 
not,  after  he  and  Sensemann  parted,  and  his  wife  was  supposed  to  be, 
of  course,  among  the  victims.  Young  Sturgis  came  with  them.  They 
brought  the  fullest  details  of  the  horrible  massacre.  After  Sense- 
mann had  gone  out  to  lock  the  door,  as  related  by  him,  the  barking 
of  the  dogs  increased  and  footsteps  were  heard  about  the  house. 
Sturgis,  followed  by  several  of  the  other  men,  arose  from  the  table 
and  opened  the  door,  supposing  that  the  expected  militia  men  were 
coming.  There,  before  the  door,  stood  some  of  the  murderous 
savages,  ready  for  the  attack.  Instantly  they  fired,  and  Martin 
Nitschmann  fell  dead,  while  a  bullet  grazed  the  face  of  Joseph  Sturgis 
who  was  nearest  to  the  door.  Another  volley  quickly  followed,  and 
John  Lesley,  John  Gattermeyer  and  Martin  Presser  fell.  Presser, 
as  was  discovered  some  months  later,  was  not  instantly  killed,  but 
was  able  to  creep  from  the  house  and  find  his  way  to  the  woods 
nearby,  where  he  succumbed  to  his  wound.* 

Martin  Nitschmann's  wife,  Susanna,  was  next  wounded  by  a  ball. 
She  was  seen  to  fall  and  her  cry,  "O  brethren !  brethren !  help  me !" 
was  heard.  That  was  the  last  then  known  of  her,  and  it  was  supposed 
that  she  had  perished  by  a  tomahawk  or  in  the  flames.  She  was 
evidently  dragged  out  of  the  house  when  the  remaining  inmates  fled 
to  the  garret,  and,  as  w^as  afterwards  learned,  she  was  taken  captive 
by  the  murderers." 

4  April  29,  1756,  Stephen  Blum,  who  had  carried  an  order  from  the  Governor  to  Captain 
Carl  Volck,  Commandant  of  Fort  Allen,  built  where  the  New  Gnadenhuetten  of  the  Indians 
had  been,  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  the  site  of  Weissport  —  Volck  was  a  member  of  the 
Moravian  congregation  at  Allemaengel — returned  to  Bethlehem  and  reported  that  the  pre- 
vious week  the  soldiers  had  found  a  corpse  in  a  dense  thicket  at  the  "  sand  spring,"  not 
scalped  but  shot  in  the  right  side,  and  that  the  man  had  died  lying  upon  his  back  with  his 
hands  folded.  The  Captain  had  the  body  buried  by  the  militia,  and  sang  as  a  committal 
service  the  verse  .-  Sciit'  Angen.  Scinen  A/uiui,  Den  Leib  fur  nn^  verwund''t,  etc.,  (from  the 
Easter  Morning  Litany).     The  body  was  identified  by  the  clothing  as  that  of  Presser. 

5  July  19,  1756,  her  fate  was  publicly  announced  at  Bethlehem,  when  reliable  information 
brought  by  Joachim,  a  baptized  Indian,  who  had  been  up  on  the  Susquehanna,  confirmed 
previous  reports.  She  was  taken  tirst  to  Wyoming  by  the  savages,  and  almost  perished  from 
cold  on  the  way.  There  several  of  the  colony  of  baptized  Indians,  who  had  withdrawn  the 
previous  year  from  Gnadenhuetten,  and  were  living  there  yet  in  the  turmoil,  recognized  her 


^/oy 


•1756.  317 


Those  who  succeeded  in  reaching  the  dormitory  in  the  garret  closed 
and  secured  the  trap-door,  so  that  their  pursuers  could  not  force 
it  open.  This  remnant  of  the  household  were  Gottlieb  Anders,  his 
wife  Johanna  Christina  and  their  infant  daughter  Johanna ;  Susanna 
Louisa,  wife  of  George  Partsch ;  Anna  Catherine,  wife  of  Joachim 
Sensemann;  George  Christian  Fabricius,  George  Schweigert  and 
Joseph  Sturgis.  Sensemann's  wife  sank  down  upon  the  edge  of  a 
bed  and  simply  exclaimed,  "Dear  Saviour,  this  is  what  I  expected !" 
The  wife  of  Anders,  with  her  wailing  infant  wrapped  in  her  apron 
and  clasped  to  her  heart,  expressed  only  a  mother's  anguish  for 
her  child.  There  they  passed  an  awful  quarter  of  an  hour,  listening 
to  the  yells  of  the  savage  troop  and  the  shots  fired  at  random  through 
the  window,  the  roof  and  the  floor.  One  and  another  of  the  prisoners 
screamed  for  help  at  intervals,  in  the  faint  hope  that  rescuers  might 
approach  and  hear  that  they  were  yet  alive.  Then  there  was  a  lull  in 
the  shooting;  the  yells  ceased  for  a  brief  space,  and  no  one  was  seen 
by  those  who  peered  out  of  the  garret  window.  For  the  moment  the 
attention  of  the  demons  was  absorbed  in  their  final  most  fiendish  plan. 
Soon  the  crackling  of  the  flames  told  the  victims  what  they  might  now 
expect.  Sturgis  seized  this  opportunity  to  leap  from  the  window, 
landed  safely  and  got  away.  Susanna  Partsch  immediately  followed 
him  and  also  escaped.  The  third  and  last  to  make  the  attempt  was 
Fabricius,  as  appeared  from  the  discoveries  made  the  next  day.  The 
window  was  now  again  watched,  and  he  did  not  escape.  The 
remaining  four  with  the  little  child  evidently  perished  in  the  flames. 

Susanna  Partsch  was  unfamiliar  with  the  surroundings,  having  been 
at  the  place  a  week  only  and  did  not  know  which  way  to  take  in  the 
darkness.  She  secreted  herself  for  some  time  behind  a  tree,  at  an 
elevated  spot  near  the  main  building,  where  she  could  watch  the 
movements  of  the  murderers.  She  saw  them  set  fire  to  one  building 
after  another ;  first  the  barn,  then  the  kitchen  and  bakery,  then  the 
single  men's  dwelling,  after  that  the  store  and  last  of  all,  with  some 
difiicultv,  the  main  building  containing  the  chapel — the  Gcincinhans. 

as  a  Moravian  sister.  The  first  was  Sarah,  the  wife  of  Abraham  the  Mohican,  who  threw 
up  her  hands  in  consternation  when  she  saw  her.  Another  woman,  Abigail,  wife  of  Benja- 
min, was  permitted  to  care  for  her  wants  in  her  own  hut,  until  her  brutal  captor  dragged  her 
off  to  Tioga.  There  she  passed  her  days  in  constant  weeping  and  sank  into  a  dazed  con- 
dition of  deep  melancholy;  Joachim  saw  her  and  spoke  with  her,  and  Irad  definite  infor- 
mation of  her  death  at  Tioga.  The  Indian  who  led  the  attack  on  the  Mahoning  and  took 
possession  of  her  as  his  prize,  was  killed  in  August,  1757,  by  another  Indian  under  the 
accusation  of  having  acted  as  a  French  spy  at  the  treaty  in  Easton. 


3l8  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

The  Store  was  first  looted,  then  all  eatables  found  in  kitchen,  bakery 
and  spring-house  were  collected  and  the  savages  had  a  feast  by  the 
light  of  the  conflagration.  There  were  estimated  to  be  about  twelve 
of  them.  About  midnight,  as  nearly  as  the  trembUng  watcher  could 
judge,  they  gathered  up  the  plunder  secured  in  the  store  and  set  out 
towards  Wyoming.  Then  this  almost  distracted  woman,  left  alone 
at  the  desolate  place,  made  her  way  down  to  the  river  where  she  came 
to  a  large  hollow  tree  within  which  she  took  refuge  until  daylight, 
when  rescuers  arrived. 

Partsch  had  found  his  way  during  the  night  to  a  house  in  the 
Blue  Mountains,  where  he  fell  in  with  Sturgis.  Early  in  the  morning 
they  returned  to  the  Mahoning  with  some  rangers.  He  was  nerved 
by  a  presentiment  that  his  wife  had  escaped.  When  they  got  across 
the  Lehigh,  they  suddenly  came  upon  her,  crouched  in  her  place  of 
concealment,  almost  benumbed  with  cold  and  fright.  They  went  on 
to  explore  the  scene  of  desolation.  All  the  buildings  were  burned 
down,  and  the  charred  remains  of  some  who  had  there  perished 
could  be  seen  but  not  distinguished.  Outside,  in  the  square,  they 
came  upon  the  body  of  Fabricius,  pierced  with  bullets,  scalped  and 
mutilated,  and  watched  over  by  the  only  living  friend  that  remained 
at  the  spot,  his  dog.  The  savages,  after  finishing  their  atrocious 
work,  left  a  blanket  with  a  hat  and  a  knife  stuck  through  them  on 
a  stump,  as  a  defiant  warning  of  more  of  the  like  to  follow. 
Exhausted  and  sickened,  Partsch  and  his  wife  and  Sturgis  set  out 
on  their  sorrowful  journey  to  Bethlehem. 

Amid  the  deserted  cabins  on  the  east  side,  only  Shebosh  remained 
a  while  to  watch  for  any  members  of  the  Indian  congregation  who 
might  yet  be  hiding  near-by  and,  seeing  him  there,  might  venture 
to  approach.  On  November  27,  Anton  Schmidt  returned  from  the 
Mahoning  where,  with  the  assistance  of  some  neighbors,  he  had 
hastilv  made  a  coffin  in  which  he  placed  the  body  of  Fabricius,  with 
such  charred  remains  of  the  others  as  he  could  collect,  and  buried 
it  in  a  corner  of  the  garden,  where  the  little  cemetery  of  the  place 
had  been  opened.® 


^  The  foregoing  narrative  is  compiled  from  a  careful  collation  of  all  extant  original 
accounts,  correcting  inaccuracies  of  some  of  the  many  printed  accounts,  supplying  some 
points  lacking  in  others,  and  giving  all  the  authentic  particulars  that  would  l)e  found  by  exam- 
ining all  of  them.  This  massacre  ended  Indian  mission  work  there.  The  place  lay  neglected 
until  1 77 1,  when  it  became  the  center  of  a  white  congregation,  composed  of  n. embers  of 
the  two  dtfunct  congregations,   Allemaengel  (note  4)   and  Sichem,   Duchess  County,   N.  Y., 


1/55 1756.  319 

The  remaining  weeks  of  that  year  were  a  period  of  much  anxiety 
at  Bethlehem  and  those  who  were  at  the  head  of  afifairs  and  respon- 
sible for  the  policy  and  measures  adopted  were  under  a  severe 
strain.  Each  succeeding  day  revealed  more  clearly  the  great  peril 
in  which  the  settlement,  with  the  stations  on  the  Nazareth  land, 
stood,  especially  the  most  exposed  outposts,  Friedensthal  and  the 
Rose  Inn.  At  these  ]\Ioravian  places  the  dam  would  have  to  be  built 
to  hold  back  the  devastating  flood,  if  it  was  not  to  rush  down  unhin- 
dered over  the  entire  lower  country.  Between  this  point  and  Phila- 
delphia there  was  not  another  place  at  which  a  sufficient  population 
could  be  concentrated,  with  the  same  degree  of  order  and  self-pos- 
session, of  unity  and  discipline,  to  make  a  stand  and  present  a  front 
against  the  savage  on-rush.  Above  these  places  no  power  or  even 
show  of  resistance  remained.  There  was  no  rallying-ground  for  the 
people,  no  spot  at  which  there  was  even  enough  of  a  compact  mass 
of  buildings  to  suggest  the  centering  of  any  strength.  When  the 
reign  of  terror  opened  along  the  Blue  Mountains,  the  people  who 
escaped  rushed,  utterly  demoraHzed  and  panic-stricken,  down  the 
country,  and  the  Moravian  places  were  the  first  at  which  there 
seemed  enough  prospect  of  being  able  to  stand,  to  make  it  worth 
while  to  stop.     Therefore,  the  extreme  importance  of  baffling  the 

the  region  of  the  original  Indian  mission  which  furnished  the  nucleus  of  Gnadenhuetten  in 
1746.  In  1783  the  first  recorded  formal  attention  was  paid  to  the  grave  of  these  martyrs, 
when  that  white  congregation  gathered  around  it  to  observe  the  Easter  matins.  In  1786, 
the  Rev.  John  Frederick  Moehring,  minister  there,  addressed  the  executive  authorites  at 
Bethlehem  in  reference  to  placing  a  memorial  stone  on  the  spot — a  thing  spoken  of  before. 
Finally,  on  December  10,  1788,  the  slab  that  yet  lies  there,  with  its  simple  but  impressive 
inscription  was  placed  on  the  grave.  The  monument  at  the  head  of  it  was  provided  through 
the  exertions  of  descendants  of  Martin  and  Susanna  Nitschmann,  and  set  in  place,  August 
7,  1848,  the  centennial  anniversary  of  the  first  Indian  interment  at  Gnadenhuetten.  The 
credit  for  again  rescuing  the  sacred  spot  from  oblivion,  more  than  thirty  years  after  the 
dissolution  of  the  white  congregation  of  Gnadenhuetten,  belongs  mainly  to  the  late  Joseph 
Leibert,  of  Bethlehem,  whose  wife  was  a  grand-daughter  of  the  Nitschmanns. 

With  brief  biographical  sketches  of  those  martyrs  appended  to  the  Bethlehem  diary  for 
November,  1755,  is  a  parentation  or  elegy  in  Latin,  by  Christian  Wedsted,  the  companion 
of  the  gifted  Fabricius,  who  went  with  him  to  Gnadenhuetten,  June  28,  1754,  to  study 
Indian  languages.     The  composition  is  entitled : 

In  Frattes  Sororesque 

beatae  memoriae 

quos  ut  sacrificium  pro  nobis 

Salvator  noster  Deusque,  T.  O.  M. 

.Sibi  Mahoniae  offerri  passus  est, 

Die  xxiv,  Nov.  cbbcclv. 


320  A    HISTIJKV    OF    BE  Til  Lfc:HEM,    PENXSVLVAM A. 

savages  at  these  points,  which  had  now  become  the  frontier  posts, 
was  reaHzed.  At  Easton  there  was  less  at  that  time  to  inspire  con- 
fidence among  the  panic-stricken  refugees  from  the  upper  country, 
or  to  ofifer  resistance.  If  the  savages  broke  through  the  Moravian 
lines,  there  seemed  to  be  nothing  left,  as  some  expressed  it,  but  to 
"rush  on  before  them  into  the  sea,  for  the  water  was  preferable  to 
the  tomahawk,  the  scalping-knife  and  the  torch."  And  yet  there 
were,  at  the  time  of  the  outbreak,  probably  not  fifty  guns  among  all 
the  Moravians  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  combined.  Some  of  the 
Moravian  wood-men  and  farmers  went  hunting  occasionally,  not  for 
sport — they  had  no  time  for  that — but  to  supplement  their  provision- 
store  in  seasons  of  scarcity;  and  guns  were  sometimes  taken  along 
on  journeys  through  the  forest  to  secure  needed  food.  Beyond  this 
they  had  no  use  for  fire-arms. 

The  people  from  the  mountains  who  fled  to  the  Moravians  for  refuge 
did  not  come  supplied  with  arms  and  ammunition.  They  came  empty- 
handed,  hungry,  many  of  them  half  naked — men  without  coats  or 
hats,  women  and  children  who  had  rushed  from  their  beds  at  dead  of 
night,  many  with  only  the  clothing  they  slept  in  and  blankets  or  quilts 
hastily  thrown  around  them,  some  bare-footed.  These  people  knew, 
furthermore,  that  the  Moravians  were  "not  fighting  people,"  that 
they  deprecated  warfare  and  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  military 
drill.  It  was  the  talk  of  the  country,  and  many  a  jest  on  the  subject, 
at  their  expense,  had  excited  merriment  around  the  fires  of  back- 
woods cabins,  even  while  the  wicked  stories  about  their  secreting 
arms  and  ammunition  for  the  use  of  the  "French  Indians''  were 
discussed,  without  appreciating  the  inconsistency  of  laying  these 
incongruous  things  to  their  charge  at  the  same  time. 

What  course  should  now  be  pursued  by  the  Moravian  leaders  in 
this  dire  exigency  ?  Here  was  a  body  of  men  trained  only  to  peaceful 
thoughts  and  employments ;  a  large  number  of  defenceless  women 
quartered  in  several  buildings ;  a  host  of  helpless,  innocent  children 
to  be  protected ;  troops  of  terror-stricken  people  from  the  back 
country  rushing  in  to  seek  refuge  with  them ;  the  fate  of  extensive 
regions  in  the  lower  country  turning  upon  the  question  whether  the 
fiendish  hordes  on  the  war-path  could  be  kept  behind  Bethlehem  and 
Nazareth  or  not.  Either  of  two  extremes  could  be  taken.  One  was 
to  abandon  the  principles  they  had  been  cultivating,  cast  their 
profession  of  trust  in  God  to  the  winds  under  a  severe  test,  as  mere 
"fair-weather    ta4k,"    and    let    the    demoralized '  people    about    them 


1755 1756.  321 

conclude  that  there  was  nothing  back  of  it  at  last,  by  turning  Bethle- 
hem into  a  fort  and  centering  the  militia  here  as  headquarters,  and 
then  perhaps  go  back  to  their  principles  when  danger  was  past. 
The  other  extreme  was  to  pursue  the  course  of  fatuous  fanaticism ; 
load  no  guns,  adopt  no  measures  of  defence,  post  no  guards,  and 
simply  say  we  are  the  Lord's  people  and  He  will  protect  us.  Some 
expected  and  urged  them  to  do  the  first.  Others  supposed  they  would 
do  the  second,  because  they  regarded  them  as  religious  fanatics  and 
could  not  understand  their  principles  to  mean  anything  else  than 
this.  The  Moravians  were  too  sincere  and  consistent  to  pursue  the 
first  course,  and  had  better  mettle  than  to  be  stampeded  into  suddenly 
turning  the  town  into  a  garrison  in  the  panic.  On  the  other  hand, 
they  had  too  much  sense  to  pursue  the  other  course.  They  were  not 
fanatics,  but  intelligent  men  who  could  combine  religion  and  com- 
mon-sense. 

We  are  not  "Kriegerisch"  (disposed  to  fight).  We  are  not  "Qudker- 
isch"  (of  Quaker  mind).  This  in  homely,  laconic  style,  expressed 
their  position  at  that  juncture.  They  would  not  organize  for  aggres- 
sive activity  against  the  savages,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  they  would 
not  fail  to  adopt  every  measure  required  to  defend  the  town,  and,  if 
it  came  to  the  most  desperate  pass,  would,  of  course,  resort  to  arms 
to  protect  those  who  were  dependent  upon  them.  They  thought,  too, 
that,  as  things  were,  they  would  do  all  that  could  be  expected  in 
merely  maintaining  a  defence.  They  were  sufficiently  clear  and  well- 
balanced  in  their  conception  of  the  relative  importance  of  the  several 
classes  of  religious  scruples,  principles  and  duties,  to  realize  that 
singling  out  not  taking  up  arms,  as  the  one  supreme  standard,  to  be 
stubbornly  held  under  all  circumstances,  could  in  some  emergencies 
be  regarded  as  not  only  fanaticism  but  criminal  folly,  as  much  as 
if  a  man  refused  to  take  active  measures  against  a  conflagration,  out 
of  religious  scruples.  They  were,  moreover,  not  housed  in  com- 
fortable homes,  at  a  safe  distance  from  the  imperiled  frontiers,  as 
were  most  of  those  who  in  the  Assembly  were  delaying  the  legislation 
needed  to  provide  for  adequate  defences  and,  with  exasperating 
calmness,  saying,  'T  told  you  so,"  when  the  tales  of  horror  began  to 
come  in ;  or,  what  was  yet  more  trying  to  the  harassed  people  on  the 
frontiers,  as  well  as  to  those  in  Philadelphia  who  clamored  for  harbor 
defences,  were, under  the  lead  of  astute  politicians,  employing  dilatory 
tactics  and  quibbling  about  the  formalities  and  technicalities  of  pro- 
cedure, in  order  to  press  concessions  from  the  Proprietary  govern- 


322  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

ment  under  the  strain  of  this  extremity,  on  quite  other  and  more 
remote  questions,  while  they  and  the  Governor  went  on  wrangUng, 
each  trying  to  make  the  situation  of  advantage  against  the  other. 
The  Moravians  were  facing  the  storm  on  the  frontier  with  the  men 
who  were  besieging  the  Assembly  with  demands  for  defence.  They 
did  not  share  the  feeling,  but  had  as  much  reason  to  as  many  who 
expressed  it,  that  they  would  like  to  force  the  parties  in  the  Assembly 
who  were  pursuing  this  course  to  move  up  on  the  frontier  between 
their  homes  and  the  savages. 

Even  in  this  matter,  the  Moravian  blood  that  was  shed  on  the 
Mahoning  was  a  sacrifice  for  the  public  good,  for  it  expedited  the 
official  action  that  was  so  urgently  needed.  On  that  very  day, 
November  24,  on  which  the  massacre  occurred.  Governor  Morris 
sent  a  message  to  the  Assembly  announcing  a  donation  of  £5000 
from  the  Proprietaries  in  England  for  the  benefit  of  Pennsylvania, 
sent  upon  the  receipt  of  his  communication  to  them  in  reference  to 
the  probable  effects  of  the  disaster  to  the  British  forces  in  July.  With 
this  announcement  he  said  to  the  Assembly :  "Upon  this  occasion, 
gentlemen,  I  must  again  recommend  to  you  to  lay  aside  all  disputes 
and  to  grant  such  supplies  in  addition  to  what  the  Proprietaries  have 
given,  as  his  Majesty's  service  and  the  present  exigencies  of  the 
Province  require."  The  same  day  a  remonstrance  was  addressed  by 
the  Mayor,  Aldermen  and  Common  Council  of  Philadelphia  to  the 
Assembly,  urging  them  in  the  strongest  terms  to  "postpone  all 
disputes  to  a  more  seasonable  time,"  and  to  grant  the  necessary 
supplies  and  "pass  a  reasonable  law  in  order  to  collect  and  regulate 
the  force  of  the  Province  for  repelling  the  present  cruel  invasion." 
This  donation  from  the  Proprietaries  did  much  to  further  action,  for 
an  equivalent  in  lieu  of  taxes  on  the  Proprietary  estates — the  chronic 
subject  of  controversy — was  now  made  available  in  a  manner  which 
enabled  the  Proprietaries  to  maintain,  for  the  time  being,  their 
contention  and  constrained  the  Assembly  to  waive  theirs.  Yet  the 
latter  pursued  a  method  humiliating  to  the  Governor.  They  made 
the  disbursement  of  funds  voted  by  them  so  specific  that  the  Gover- 
nor could  not,  as  some  professed  to  think  he  would,  under  the  general 
head  of  the  public  service,  divert  any  of  the  sum  to  salary  and  other 
expenses,  which  the  Assembly  was  withholding  in  the  quarrel.  They 
also  put  the  administration  of  such  funds  into  the  hands  of  Commis- 
sioners nominated  by  them  and  not  into  the  hands  of  the  Governor. 
The  sensitive  pride  of  the  Governor  might  again  have  proved  an 


1755 1756.  323 

obstruction,  for  he  was  disposed  to  withhold  his  signature  from  the 
Assembly's  bill,  appropriating  i6o,OQQ  for  defences,  on  account  of 
this  affront  to  him  as  Proprietary  representative.  Just  at  this  point, 
the  blood  of  the  martyrs  on  the  Mahoning  cried  to  him  to  let  this 
pass  and  to  occasion  no  further  delay.  Justice  Horsfield's  letter  to 
Justice  Parsons  of  Easton,  Proprietary  agent,  announcing  the 
massacre,  forwarded  by  Parsons,  with  a  pathetic  appeal  for  help  in 
the  great  distress,  to  Secretary  Peters,  came  before  the  Governor 
and  Council  on  November  26,  at  the  very  session  in  which  they  had 
the  Assembly's  bill  under  consideration.  The  offence  taken  at  the 
mode  of  procedure  and  the  form  of  the  bill  was  noted,  but,  in 
consideration  of  the  "distressed  state  of  the  Province"  and  "the 
imminent  danger"  it  was  concluded  to  suggest  to  the  Governor  to 
sign  it  without  further  ado,  and  through  Peters,  he  signified  to  the 
Assembly  his  readiness  to  do  so.  He  signed  it  the  next  day,  and  thus 
the  important  action,  upon  which  the  possibility  to  do  anything  for 
the  defence  of  the  frontier  depended,  was  consummated  three  days 
after  the  "French  Indians,"  by  murdering  those  Moravians  on  the 
Mahoning,  convinced  the  public  that  Bethlehem  was  not  a  "nest  of 
conspirators"  in  league  with  them. 

The  day  on  which  the  bill  was  signed,  November  27,  Bishop 
Spangenberg  wrote  to  William  Edmonds,  the  Moravian  Assembly- 
man who  had  been  elected  in  the  place  of  James  Burnside,  deceased, 
presenting  those  features  of  the  situation  which  called  for  the  attention 
of  the  Assembly,  as  they  appeared  to  him.  He  set  forth  the  futility 
of  the  demonstrations  being  made  by  the  undisciplined  and  excited 
rangers  who  "meant  it  well,"  but  were  accomplishing  nothing.  He 
said :  "They  don't  understand  Indian  war,  which  is  hunting  of  devils. 
They  come  in  companies,  beating  of  their  drums  and  making  a 
noise,  that  the  Indians  may  hear  it  and  so  run  away.  They  are, 
besides,  ignorant  of  the  woods,  and  the  Indians,  by  their  subtile  arts, 
can  draw  them  into  dangerous  places  where  they  will  surround  them, 
and  standing  behind  trees,  will  kill  them,  every  one  on  the  spot." 
Spangenberg  further  says  in  this  letter,  "We  will  stay  where  we  are, 
for  if  we  should  give  way,  the  whole  county  lies  open  before  them, 
and  there  is  not  one  place  between  here  and  Germantown  where  they 
will  be  stopped.  The  whole  country  knows  this  very  well,  and  there- 
fore they  think  it  needful  by  all  means  to  stand  in  defence  of  Beth- 
lehem. The  Indians,  if  they  pass  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth,  can  be 
followed  and  overtaken  bv  the  Brethren,  but  if  thev  once  have  done 


324  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

with  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth,  they  will  fall  down  upon  the  scattered 
plantations  like  a  rapid  stream.  =!=  *  *  I  think  the  best  way  is  to  keep 
guard  and  proper  watches  day  and  night ;  and  besides  that  to  search 
the  woods  and  take  up  every  fellow  that  under  pretense  of  hunting, 
lies  skulking  and  watching  the  best  opportunity  of  cutting  people's 
throats,  or  of  killing  them  with  flames,  guns,  knives,  hatchets,  most 
barbarously,  just  as  he  can."  He  suggests  three  general  ideas, 
as  a  plan  of  precaution,  instead  of  the  desultory  roaming  of  the 
militia  through  the  woods.  One  was  the  erection  of  a  series  of 
small  stone  forts,  bullet-proof,  with  a  garrison  of  about  fifty  men  to 
range  about  each.  Another  was  the  concentration  of  people  in  the 
towns  and  villages,  where,  with  a  larger  number  together,  a  better 
system  of  watch,  day  and  night,  could  be  maintained  by  having 
enough  men  to  alternate  without  exhaustion.  The  third  was  to  build 
stockades  at  such  places,  within  which  to  gather  the  women  and 
children.  Edmonds  was  asked  to  consult  with  Charles  Brockden  and 
others  in  an  eflfort  to  get  an  act  through  the  Assembly  "to  erect 
Gnadenhuetten  as  well  as  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  into  corpor- 
ations," in  order  to  make  all  official  regulations  about  an  authorized 
guard,  as  recognized  by  the  civil  authorities,  applicable  to  the  three 
places. 

At  the  time  of  writing,  he  yet  hoped  to  preserve  the  Indian  mission 
houses  of  new  Gnadenhuetten  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  from 
destruction,  and,  if  a  proper  garrison,  for  which  he  had  asked,  were 
at  once  sent  there,  to  be  able  to  transfer  the  Indian  congregation, 
now  at  Bethlehem,  back  to  their  village. 

In  a  letter  written  the  next  day  to  Charles  Brockden  of  Phila- 
delphia, to  the  same  general  purport  he  says,  'T  can't  but  expect  that 
you  will  do  your  utmost  and  use  all  your  influence  which  you  have 
in  the  world  to  assist  us  in  a  time  so  very  critical.  There  is  not  one 
day  nor  night  without  most  imminent  danger,  and  the  only  thing  we 
can  do  is  to  keep  close  to  our  Saviour."  Of  Timothy  Horsfield  he 
gives  this  testimony:  "Br.  Horsfield,  who  from  morning  till  night 
is  crowded  with  people — for  all  come  to  him,  and  I  dare  say  that 
more  than  a  thousand  men  have  passed  and  repassed  Bethlehem 
this  week — acts  like  a  man  full  of  prudence  and  heartiness.  I  don't 
know  what  would  become  of  the  people  (i.  e.,  from  the  country) 
if  they  had  not  somebody  to  speak  manlike  to  them.  For  they  are  not 
only  almost  frightened  out  of  their  wits,  but  are  also  without  such 
commanders  as  the  present  circumstances  seem  to  require." 


1/55 1756.  325 

The  following  day,  November  30,  an  address  to  Governor  Morris, 
drawn  up  for  the  Gnadenhuetten  Indians  who  had  fled  to  Bethlehem, 
rendered  to  them  in  their  own  several  dialects — there  were  Dela- 
wares,  Mohicans,  Monseys  and  Wampanoags  among  them — adopted 
by  them  and  attested  with  the  tribal  marks  of  thirteen  of  their 
principal  men  affixed  to  their  respective  written  names,  was  sent  by 
express  to  the  Justices  of  Northampton  County  for  approval,  to  be 
then  forwarded  to  Philadelphia.  In  concluding  the  address,  they 
declare :  "None  of  us  have  any  hand  in  the  abominable  murders 
lately  committed  by  the  Indians,  but  we  abhor  and  detest  them.  It 
is  our  desire,  seeing  that  we  are  persuaded  that  our  lives  will  be 
principally  sought  after,  to  put  ourselves  as  children  under  the  pro- 
tection of  this  Government.  We  cannot  say  otherwise  but  that  we 
are  entirely  devoted  to  the  English  Government  and  wish  success 
and  prosperity  to  their  arms  against  their  and  our  enemies.  We 
hope  that  our  Honorable  Governor  will  give  us  a  gracious  answer 
to  this  our  humble  petition,  and  provide  for  our  future  welfare 
and  security." 

In  his  reply  of  December  4,  the  Governor  promised  them  protection 
and  a  fort  at  Gnadenhuetten — according  to  Spangenberg's  sug- 
gestion— assured  them  that  he  did  not  suspect  them  of  any  part  "in 
the  late  mischief,"  commiserated  their  losses  and  intimated  that  they 
were  entitled  to  relief,  stated  his  intention  to  have  a  conference  with 
the  friendly  Indians,  and  desired  them  to  remain  where  they  were — to 
all  of  which  he  stood  pledged  under  "the  Lesser  Seal  of  the  Province." 
With  this  address  of  the  Indians,  Spangenberg  had  written  a  letter 
to  the  Justices,  drawing  their  attention  to  the  importance  of  holding 
these  Indians  together  and  protecting  them,  as  men  who  at  that  time 
"could  do  the  government  the  greatest  service."  He  adds  the 
following:  "I  cannot  help  letting  you  know  that  Gnadenhuetten  is 
of  as  great  importance  to  our  government  as  Shamokin ;  for  if  that 
place  be  not  secured,  not  only  all  the  settlers  who  live  beyond  the 
Blue  Mountains  must  be  going  from  their  houses  and  farms,  but  the 
Indians  can  run  down  with  freshes  in  a  few  hours  into  any  part  of 
the  Forks ;  yea,  quite  down  to  Philadelphia.  If  the  Government 
should  think  well  to  build  a  fort  there,  we  will  give  of  the  land  we 
have  there,  ten  acres,  for  that  purpose,  in  a  place  which  can  command 
the  Lehigh  and  a  great  way  on  all  sides.  If  they  choose  our  offer, 
thev  must  needs  keep  a  guard  there,  before  the  houses  (on  the  east 
side)  and  mill  are  burned  down;  which  can  be  of  great  service  to 


326  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

them  at  first  while  they  are  building  a  fort."  He  then  refers  to  the 
corn  of  the  Gnadenhuetten  Indians  yet  stored  there,  the  undesir- 
ability  of  leaving  it  to  the  enemy  and  states  that  "twelve  wagons, 
may  be,  would  fetch  it."  This  letter  was  forwarded  to  Philadelphia 
with  an  endorsement,  urging  the  importance  of  the  matters  set  forth, 
dated  November  30,  and  signed  by  the  Justices  Parsons,  Horsfield, 
Craig  and  Wilson. 

At  the  same  time  Spangenberg  wrote  to  Secretary  Peters,  setting 
forth  more  at  length  the  great  importance  of  fortifying  Gnaden- 
huetten, as  follows:  "I  have  considered  that  if  Gnadenhuetten  is 
emptied  and  left  to  the  enemy,  it  may  prove  the  ruin  not  only  of  all 
the  settlements  lying  along  the  Lecha  and  Delaware,  but  also  of 
Philadelphia.  For  troops  may  be  marched  from  Wyomik  to  Gnaden- 
huetten in  one  day,  and  if  they  take  possession  thereof,  they  can  run 
down  with  freshes  in  six  hours  to  Bethlehem,  and  from  thence  to 
Philadelphia  in  one  night.  I  have  therefore  mentioned  this  matter 
to  the  Magistrates  of  this  County,  and  have  represented  unto  them 
the  great  calamity  which  could  be  brought  upon  the  whole  country 
by  the  loss  of  that  part  of  the  Province.  The  situation  of  the  hill 
which  joins  Gnadenhuetten  is  so  extraordinary  for  a  fort,  that 
gentlemen  of  judgment  who  have  seen  it  are  of  the  opinion  there 
could  be  no  better.  It  lies  on  the  road  which  comes  from  Wyomik, 
and  commands  not  only  the  Lecha  a  great  way,  but  all  sides,  up  and 
down,  before  and  behind.  If  the  French  once  come  and  build  there 
a  fort,  it  will  cost  as  much,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  as  the  taking  of 
Crown  Point,  to  get  it  out  of  their  hands.  For  if  they  put  a  garrison 
in  the  Gaps  of  the  mountain,  and  make  there  also  a  fortification  you 
cannot  come  at  them  at  all  with  any  great  guns.  But  they  can  at 
pleasure  come  down,  both  by  land  and  water,  and  over-run  all  plan- 
tations, not  only  on  the  other  side  of  the  Blue  Mountain,  but  on  this 
side  also."  Then  he  repeats  the  offer  of  land  for  such  a  fort  and  adds 
that  there  were  "at  least  fifteen  little  habitable  block  houses,"  and 
that  it  would  "be  good  to  send  up  men  before  the  enemy  either 
burned  or  took  them." 

When  that  letter  reached  Philadelphia,  the  first  steps  towards  the 
defence  of  the  frontiers  had  at  last  been  taken,  and  the  Commissioners 
were  preparing  to  begin  operations.  Benjamin  Franklin,  the  prin- 
cipal man  among  them,  was  satisfied,  for  the  time-being,  with  the 
results  of  the  diplomatic  sparring  with  the  Governor  which  he — then 
already,  with  far-sightedness  planning  to  anticipate  the  decadence  of 


1755 1756.  327 

the  Proprietary  Government  as  an  obsolete  relic  of  feudalism — had 
mainly  steered,  using  the  anti-war  and  anti-Proprietor  Quaker  con- 
tingent of  the  Assembly  as  a  constituency.  Now  he  hastened  to 
make  good  the  dissatisfaction  and  even  resentment  occasioned  by 
the  delay,  among  the  citizens  of  the  frontier  neighborhoods,  by 
vigorously  pushing  the  plan  of  defences.  Bishop  Spangenberg's 
strong  presentation  of  the  Gnadenhuetten  plan  bore  fruit,  for,  as  the 
Governor  intimated  in  his  reply  to  the  Indians,  that  point  was  at  once 
recognized  as  one  of  great  strategic  value,  and  selected  as  the  site 
of  one  of  the  chain  of  forts  to  be  constructed  "along  the  Kittatiny 
Mountains,  from  the  Delaware  to  the  Maryland  border." 

On  December  19,  Franklin,  commissioned  as  Lieutenant  General, 
with  James  Hamilton  and  Joseph  Fox,  two  other  of  the  Commis- 
sioners, arrived  at  Bethlehem,  to  proceed  with  this  enterprise.  They 
took  quarters  at  the  Crown  Inn.  They  were  followed  by  others,  in 
the  evening,  with  a  large  guard,  in  addition  to  that  of  fifty  which 
earlier  in  the  day  had  escorted  the  Bethlehem  wagon  from  Phila- 
delphia, so  that  "about  a  hundred  and  fifty  men  were  gathered  at 
the  tavern."  It  was  high  time  for  action.  The  savages  had  been 
growing  bolder  in  their  forays.  The  awful  massacres  at  Hoeth's 
and  the  Brodhead  settlements,  December  10,  had  left  that  whole 
region  desolate  and  almost  depopulated.  On  December  12,  Hors- 
field  had  sent  to  the  Governor  the  accounts  brought  to  Nazareth  of 
these  new  horrors  and  forwarded  from  there  by  Nathanael  Seidel 
and  John  Michael  Grafif.  Depicting  the  situation  at  Bethlehem, 
Horsfield  said :  "Although  our  gracious  King  and  Parliament  have 
been  pleased  to  exempt  those  amongst  us  of  tender  conscience  from 
bearing  arms,  yet  there  are  many  among  us  who  make  no  scruple  of 
defending  themselves  against  such  cruel  savages.  *  *  *  =!<  =i=  But  alas ! 
what  can  we  do,  having  very  few  arms  and  little  or  no  ammunition, 
and  we  are  now,  as  it  were,  the  frontier,  and  as  we  are  circum- 
stanced, our  family  (Economy),  being  so  large,  it  is. impossible  for 
us  to  retire  to  any  other  place  of  security." 

The  condition  of  the  refugees  pouring  into  Nazareth  and  Beth- 
lehem was  most  pitiable.  At  the  time  when  the  massacre  at  Hoeth's 
and  Dansbury  took  place,  three  wagons  were  on  the  way  to  the 
latter  place  to  procure  grain  for  Bethlehem.  Three  miles  from  their 
destination  they  were  met  by  Ephraim  Colver  and  others  with  a 
company  of  half  naked  women  and  children.  The  men  driving  these 
wagons   immediately   took   up   the   poor   fugitives   and    returned   to 


328  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,   PENNSYLVANIA. 

Nazareth.  The  record  observes  that  this  was  a  special  Providence, 
for  many  of  the  children  who  were  almost  naked  would  have  perished 
on  the  road.  Even  before  that,  evidences  of  the  presence  of  savages 
had  appeared  at  dififerent  places  south  of  the  mountain.  Before  the 
close  of  November,  some  of  them  had  been  seen  spying  about  the 
outskirts  of  Bethlehem. 

The  first  such  discovery  was  made  in  the  evening  of  November 
29,  when,  in  the  course  of  the  evening  service,  notice  was  brought  to 
Spangenberg  that  the  Gnadenhuetten  refugees  quartered  in  the 
Indian  House  across  the  Monocacy,  at  the  mill,  had  seen  strange 
Indians  prowling  about  back  of  their  house.  Threats  had  been  made 
by  the  savages  and  renegades  that  they  would  begin  their  work  at 
Bethlehem  by  butchering  this  company  of  loyal  and  faithful  Indians. 
The  service  was  immediately  brought  to  a  close  and  a  consultation 
was  held  as  to  the  course  it  would  be  best  to  pursue  towards  such 
strange  Indians,  if  any  made  their  appearance  openly  and  with  peace- 
able pretensions.  The  night-watch,  as  then  organized,  was  doubled 
and  posted  at  five  corners.  It  was  agreed  that  if  any  one  detected 
the  approach  of  Indians,  he  should  give  a  signal  by  discharging  his 
gun.  The  next  guard  would  do  the  same  and  so  on,  around  the 
circuit,  in  the  order  arranged.  The  intention  was  to  merely  hold 
the  savages  at  a  distance  by  this  evidence  that  a  number  of  men  were 
on  the  watch,  thus  frustrating  their  attempt  for  the  night  and  avoiding 
actual  collision  and  bloodshed.  It  was  confidently  beUeved  that,  at 
that  time,  the  savages  had  not  collected  in  the  vicinity  in  sufficient 
numbers  that  they  would  venture  to  storm  the  place,  and  by  such 
vigilance  and  demonstrations,  prowling  bands  of  three  or  four  could 
be  bafi^ed.  Soon  after  the  guard  was  mounted,  the  awkwardness  or 
nervousness  of  one  of  the  sentries  occasioned  the  accidental  discharge 
of  his  gun.  It  was  taken  for  granted  that  it  was  a  signal  as  agreed 
upon,  and  directly  the  successive  shots  were  fired  according  to 
arrangement.  A  general  alarm  was  given  and  all  of  the  men  who 
were  appointed  to  remain  up  for  an  emergency  ran  in  the  direction 
of  the  first  shot,  with  clubs,  flails  and  such  other  rude  weapons  as 
were  at  hand.  Although  it  was  soon  found  to  have  been  a  false  alarm, 
this  episode,  which  caused  nearly  all  of  the  men  in  Bethlehem  to 
remain  up  the  entire  night,  was  afterwards  regarded  as  Providential, 
for  the  next  day  Augustus  the  Indian  reported  having,  at  that  time, 
seen  several  strange  Indians  again  coming  down  the  hill  west  of  the 
Monocacy  towards  the  mill-dam,  who  were  evidently  frightened  away 


1755 1756.  329 

by  the  noise.  This  may  serve  as  an  instance  of  many  an  uneasy  night 
experienced  during  the  subsequent  several  months. 

While  the  presence  of  the  Gnadenhuetten  refugees  added  to  the 
peril,  on  account  of  the  vindicative  determination  of  the  blood-thirsty 
prowlers  to  make  an  end  of  them,  they  were,  on  the  other  hand,  of 
value  as  watchers,  for  they  were  always  on  the  look-out  and,  with 
the  instinct  and  training  of  Indians,  were  able  to  discover  evidences 
of  strange  Indians  lurking  about  and  give  timely  warning,  when 
white  men  at  the  place  did  not  suspect  that  any  were  near.  This 
the  Bethlehem  people  quickly  understood,  while  the  civil  authorities 
likewise  learned  to  appreciate  their  value  as  scouts,  guides  and 
messengers ;  they  being  the  most  faithful  and  trustworthy  residue  of 
the  Indians  who  had  professed  Christianity.  The  responsibihty  of 
those  in  control  at  Bethlehem  and  of  those  who  kept  guard  increased 
continually  during  the  last  month  of  1755,  as  the  population  gathered 
there  grew  almost  daily  until  at  the  close  of  the  year  it  comprised 
400  souls,  including  the  Indians  of  whom  there  were  70. 

One  large  influx,  on  December  i,  both  stirred  the  hearts  and 
braced  the  nerves  of  the  men,  and  added  intensity  to  the  prayers 
of  the  women  of  Bethlehem  during  those  anxious  days  and  nights. 
After  that  first  unmistakable  evidence  that  savages  were  skulking 
about,  it  was  determined  to  concentrate  all  the  children  at  Bethlehem 
for  greater  security.  On  the  above  date,  five  wagons  from  Nazareth, 
conveying  a  most  precious  charge,  drew  up  at  the  water-tower 
building  in  front  of  the  Brethren's  House.  There  were  sixty-one 
quite  young  children,  many  of  them  barely  beginning  to  speak  and 
walk,  and  seventeen  little  girls  a  few  years  older — the  nursery  from 
the  Whitefield  House  and  the  girls'  school  from  the  original  log 
house  next  to  it,  with  fifteen  tutoresses,  nurses  and  attendants,  and 
the  curator  John  Levering  and  his  wife,  all  under  the  charge  of  the 
Rev.  John  Michael  Grafif  and  his  wife  who  were  the  general  superin- 
tendents of  the  establishment.  "Bag  and  baggage  they  came,"  says 
one  record.  "Like  a  tiight  of  pigeons,"  says  another.  "The  bees 
were  swarming,"  says  Graflf  in  his  autobiography ;  for  he  had  a 
strange  dream  in  the  night  of  November  30.  He  saw,  in  his  dream, 
his  hives  of  bees  swarming,  although  it  was  winter.  The  next 
morning  when  the  sudden  order  came  for  this  exodus  to  Bethlehem, 
he  found  in  it  the  interpretation  of  his  dream. 

While  women  looked  on  with  tearful  eyes  and  throbbing  hearts 
and  thought  of  the  awful  possibiUties  of  the  coming  days,  as 
these     little     ones     were     taken     into     their     temporary     home, 


33©  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

vacated  for  them  by  the  men  who  had  been  occupying  it, 
the  children  who  were  old  enough  to  observe  what  had 
been  done  with  them,  were  manifesting  innocent  delight  at  this 
sudden  visit  to  Bethlehem,  and  eagerly  enjoying  the  meal  ready  for 
them  upon  their  arrival.  Every  effort  had  been  made  and  was  further 
made  to  keep  all  knowledge  of  the  danger  that  threatened  Bethlehem 
from  the  children.  Not  until  the  middle  of  January  was  any  infor- 
mation given  them.  It  was  made  necessary  then  by  the  remarks  of 
refugees  in  the  hearing  of  some  children.  Before  that  they  had  no 
thought  about  the  militia  who  rode  through  Bethlehem  but  that  they 
were  "going  hunting."  Among  them  were  several  children  of  men 
and  women  who  had  perished  at  Gnadenhuetten.  Of  that  mournful 
occurrence  Spangenberg  informed  the  children,  with  as  much  tact 
and  caution  as  possible,  on  Sunday,  the  7th  of  December,  when  they 
were  all  gathered  at  a  children's  service.  The  next  day  after  the 
arrival  of  the  children  from  Nazareth,  two  of  the  wagons  were  sent 
over  to  Salisbury  with  an  escort  to  convey  the  boys  of  that  school, 
with  John  Schmidt  and  his  wife,  who  had  charge  of  them,  to  Beth- 
lehem. These  boys  were  quartered  in  a  room  in  the  Brethren's 
House.  "Thus  the  population  of  Bethlehem  was  increased  by  208 
souls  in  eight  days." 

The  anxiety  was  intense  until  Christmas  was  passed,  for  definite 
information  had  been  received  that  the  savages  proposed  to  make 
an  end  of  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  and  clear  the  region  of  white 
people  by  the  time  of  "their  great  day" — Christmas.  Therefore  much 
attention  was  turned  to  preparation  for  such  an  attack,  while,  at  the 
same  time,  the  greatest  care  was  taken  to  prevent  a  panic.  Work 
was  pushed  on  the  stockade  run  along  the  more  exposed  sides  of 
the  central  buildings — west  and  north — and  on  the  construction  of 
watch  towers  and  bastions  at  the  corners,  on  which  later  two  swivel 
guns  were  mounted  for  a  while.  Many  of  the  windows  of  the  houses 
were  temporarily  walled  up ;  those  in  the  upper  stories  to  the  middle 
of  the  sash,  so  that  light  could  enter  and  persons  could  look  out, 
while  the  range  of  bullets  fired  up  into  the  windows  would  thus  be 
above  the  heads  of  all  who  were  in  the  rooms.  A  regular  system  of 
armed  guards  and  watchmen  was  gradually  perfected.  In  the 
following  months  these  guards,  together  with  those  appointed  at  the 
stations  on  the  Nazareth  land,  were  placed  under  the  supervision  of 
one  general  corporal ;  the  whole  system  and  the  single  appointments 
being  made  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Provincial  authorities,  and 
recognized  as  pertaining  to  their  general  plan  of  defence. 


1755- 


•1756. 


331 


That  dreaded  Christmas  was  passed  without  disaster.  The  murder- 
ous plotters  found  themselves  baffled  in  their  intended  attack.  Their 
methods  were  adapted  only  to  sudden  surprises  upon  unprotected 
points,  to  guerilla  raids  where  they  were  not  expected,  and  to 
skulking  assassination  in  the  woods ;  and  their  numbers  were  not 
sufficient  at  any  one  point  to  besiege  a  town  with  adequate  watch 
and  guard.  Such  was  the  excellent  morale  maintained,  that  on  Christ- 
mas Eve,  after  an  early  evening  service,  the  people,  with  the  exception 
of  the  guards  and  the  numerous  reserve  of  watchmen,  retired  quietly, 
trusting  in  the  strong  arm  and  the  never-sleeping  eye  of  Him  without 
whose  keeping  "the  watchman  waketh  but  in  vain."  At  four  o'clock 
on  Christmas  morning  the  music  of  trombones  from  the  roof-terrace 
of  the  Brethren's  House  ushered  in  the  "great  day"  so  dreaded,  the 
people  arose  and  the  night-watch  went  ofif  duty.  There  is  a  tradition 
that  the  notes  of  that  Christmas  morning  chorale,  breaking  the 
dead  silence,  was  wafted  into  the  startled  ears  of  some  lurking- 
savages  on  the  hill-side,  back  of  the  Indian  House,  who  were 
lingering  near  in  the  hope  of  yet  applying  a  fire  brand  to  some 
unguarded  corner  of  the  outer  buildings  before  day  broke ;  and  that 
the  strange,  sweet  sound  struck  fear  into  their  hearts,  so  that  they 
slipped  away  into  the  woods  in  dread  of  some  unearthly  power 
guarding  Bethlehem.  Other  Indians  to  whom  the  prowlers  had  spoken 
about  this,  afterwards  told  of  it.  Later  in  the  day  when  the  large 
company  of  children  who  slept  in  Bethlehem  the  previous  night 
without  thought  of  fear,  assembled  in  the  church — the  present  "Old 
Chapel" — to  enjoy  a  Christmas  service  and  admire  a  Christmas 
picture  painted  for  the  occasion  by  Valentine  Haidt,  just  as  if  no 
unusual  conditions  existed,  some  said  the  guardian  angels  of  these 
children  were  our  best  Christmas  watchers. 


TROMBONES   WERE   BROUGHT   TO    BETHLEHEM   IN    1754. 


332  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

New  excitement  and  alarm  marked  the  opening  of  the  year  1756. 
A  company  of  militia  had  shortly  before  been  posted  at  Gnaden- 
huetten  to  guard  the  place.  The  houses  on  the  east  side  and  the  mill 
on  the  Mahoning  were  yet  standing.  Several  trips  with  wagons  had 
been  successfully  made,  bringing  away  grain  and  other  things.  On 
New  Year's  Day,  twelve  men  with  three  wagons,  each  drawn  by 
four  horses,  started  from  Bethlehem  on  the  last  such  trip.  When 
within  two  miles  of  their  destination  they  were  compelled  to  turn 
back,  and  the  next  day  they  reached  Bethlehem  again,  bringing,  not 
the  remaining  grain,  but  a  number  of  wounded  militia  men.  The 
savages  had  attacked  the  place,  burned  all  that  remained  of  it  and 
overcome  the  guard  there  stationed,  killing  a  number  and  wounding 
more. 

This  completed  the  ruin  of  everything  on  both  sides  of  the  river 
that  belonged  to  the  Moravians.  The  property  at  Gnadenhuetten, 
East,  now  destroyed,  consisted  of  the  central  mission-house  con- 
taining the  chapel,  eighteen  good  log  houses  and  twelve  smaller 
Indian  cabins.  West  of  the  river,  the  saw  and  grist-mill  was  now 
also  burned.'^    The  same  day  a  foray  was  made,  a  little  way  to  the  west 

7  The  appraisement  affirmed  to  before  Justice  Horsfield,  February  4,  1756,  by  George 
Klein,  Joseph  Powell  and  Henry  Frey,  figured  the  total  loss  at  ^1914.  19.  3.  Pa.  Of  this 
sum,  the  valuation  of  the  houses  on  the  east  side  was  £216,  that  of  grain  and  other  farm 
products  on  the  Mahoning,  ^{^129.  4.  3,  and  that  of  the  cattle,  ^141-  I5- 

What  would  now  be  by  far  the  most  valuable  single  item  of  property  undoubtedly  de- 
stroyed there,  November  24,  but  not  listed  in  the  appraisement,  was  a  book,  now  so  rare 
that,  a  few  years  ago,  a  copy  sold  for  $1250.  September  13,  1754,  Jacob  Vetter  brought  to 
Bethlehem,  to  be  deposited  in  the  library,  a  book,  purchased  by  John  Hopson  and  Marcus 
Jung  for  15  shillings  at  a  "vendue"  at  Lancaster,  a  few  weeks  before.  It  was  the  complete 
Eliot  Indian  Bible,  Old  and  New  Testaments  with  Psalter  in  metre,  printed  in  small  quarto  at 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  1663,  '*  at  the  charge,  and  with  the  consent  of  the  Corporation  in  England 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  amongst  the  Indians  in  New  England."  That  it  was  the 
very  scarce  complete  edition  is  clear  from  the  full  reproduction  of  the  title  page  given  by 
the  Bethlehem  diarist.  It  was  the  property,  formerly,  of  Christian  Ludwig  Sprogel,  uncle  of 
the  wife  of  Wm.  Parsons,  presented  to  him  by  a  friend  in  Holland.  On  the  fly-leaf  was  the 
following  entry,  also  reproduced  in  the  Bethlehem  diary  :  "  Tot  een  Vriendllyk  Andencken  en 
tot  een  niitlig  Gebruyk  onder  de  Jndianisse  Volkereti  vereert  dit  Boek  aen  synen  Vriend 
Heer  Lodwick  Christian  Sprogel  von  Pensilvania, 

Amsterdam,  den  9  April,  1717, 

Jan  Hendrick  de  Hoest." 

It  was  taken  to  the  Mahoning,  October  7,  1754,  for  examination  by  the  missionary  stu- 
dents Fabricius,  Roessler  and  Wedsted  in  connection  with  their  linguistic  work.  The  record 
states  that  Roessler  was  greatly  pleased  with  it  and  found  the  language  akin  to  the  Mohican. 
There  is  no  mention  of  its  return  to  Bethlehem  and  it  is  not  listed  in  the  earliest  extant  cat- 


1755 1756.  333 

of  Christiansbrunn,  where  seven  farm  houses  were  burned  and 
some  of  the  people  were  killed.  The  Commissioners  had  left  Beth- 
lehem, the  last  day  of  the  year,  and  gone  to  Reading.  A  messenger 
followed  them  to  that  place  with  a  report  of  this  new  disaster.  It 
occasioned  another  panic  among  the  people  and  a  new  inrush  of 
refugees  at  Bethlehem.  There  were  over  a  hundred  in  the  town  and 
at  the  Crown  Inn  on  January  2.  It  also  caused  more  speed  in  the 
erection  of  the  rude  fort  at  Gnadenhuetten.  It  was  completed, 
January  25,  when,  with  the  first  discharge  from  the  muskets  of  the 
garrison  and  the  two  swivel  guns  mounted  on  the  bastions  of  the 
stockade,  the  Governor's  flag  was  hoisted  and  the  structure  named 
Fort  Allen  in  honor  of  Justice  William  Allen.  Thus  the  first  thing 
tangible  towards  the  protection  of  the  Lehigh  Valley  from  incursions 
of  savages  through  the  Gap  was  achieved.  The  entire  series  of 
frontier  forts  along  the  Kittatinny  Hills  was  completed  and  equipped 
by  the  middle  of  February.  It  would  have  been  well  for  the  neigh- 
borhood that  was  now  pouring  its  half  frantic  population  into  Beth- 
lehem, Nazareth,  Friedensthal,  and  the  other  Moravian  stations,  if 
more  haste  had  been  made  in  taking  possession  of  that  first  point  in 
accordance  with  Spangenberg's  urgent  request,  before  the  savages 
had  that  opportunity  on  New  Year's  Day. 

It  was  fortunate  for  the  sufferers  that  the  sorely-taxed  Moravians 
had  more  sympathy  and  patience  with  the  panic-stricken  people, 
crowding  in  upon  them,  than  the  honorable  Commissioners  and  his 
Excellency  the  Governor  had.  While  the  latter  were  in  consultation  at 
Reading,  the  first  week  in  January,  when  the  report  of  the  disaster 
at  Gnadenhuetten  reached  them,  the  Governor  wrote  to  the  Council 
at  Philadelphia :  "The  Commissioners  have  done  everything  that 
was  proper  in  the  County  of  Northampton,  but  the  people  are  not 
satisfied,  nor,  by  what  I  can  learn  from  the  Commissioners,  would 
they  be  unless  every  man's  house  was  protected  by  a  fort  and  a 
company  of  soldiers,  and  themselves  paid  for  staying  at  home  and 
doing  nothing."  FrankHn  wrote  to  Governor  Morris  on  January 
14,  from  Bethlehem :  ''As  we  drew  near  this  place  we  met  a  number 
of   wagons,   and   many  people   moving   ofif  with   their   effects,   and 


alogue  of  the  Bethlehem  library,  made  within  15  years  after  that,  nor  in  any  subsequent 
catalogue.  It  is  therefore  highly  probable  that  it  was  destroyed  November  24,  1755,  and 
that  the  long-current  supposition  that  it  was  stolen  from  the  archives  during  the  decades 
prior  to  1861,  when  they  were  carelessly  left  at  the  mercy  of  unscrupulous  relic  hunters,  is 
erroneous. 


334  ^    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

families  from  the  Irish  Settlement  and  Lehi  Township,  being  terrified 
by  the  defeat  of  Hays's  company  (at  Gnadenhuetten)  and  the  burning 
and  murders  committed  in  the  Township  on  New  Year's  Day.  We 
found  this  place  filled  with  refugees,  the  workmen's  shops  and  even 
cellars  being  crowded  with  women  and  children,  and  we  learnt  that 
Lehi  Township  is  almost  abandoned  by  the  inhabitants."^  Franklin 
himself  shared  the  unsympathetic  sentiments  expressed  by  the  Gov- 
ernor about  the  demoralized  people  of  the  neighborhood  a  little  while 
later,  when  the  measures  of  defence  had  been  gotten  better  in  hand 
and  the  operations  of  the  savages  south  of  the  Blue  Mountains  were 
thought  to  have  been  checked. 

During  the  first  panic,  the  authorities  at  Bethlehem  were 
requested  to  care,  the  best  they  could,  not  only  for  the  Christian 
Indians,  whom  the  Government,  as  a  matter  of  policy,  sought  to  hold 
together  under  safe  influence,  but  also  for  the  white  people  who  fled 
to  them  from  stricken  neighborhoods ;  and  they  were  given  to  under- 
stand that  the  accounts,  properly  presented,  for  the  expense  incurred, 
would  be  paid.  When  the  condition  of  things  seemed  to  the  Com- 
missioners to  have  become  more  settled,  and  the  funds  at  their  com- 
mand began  to  run  low,  they  manifested  some  reluctance  to  be  at 
further  charges  on  account  of  the  refugee  settlers.  Ultimately  they 
demurred  even  against  paying  further  bills  on  account  of  the  Indians, 
and  this,  in  violation  of  their  own  expHcit  instructions  and  promises 
to  the  Brethren  who  had  all  the  burden  and  inconvenience  even  of 
sheltering  and  feeding  "friendly"  Indians,  at  the  request  of  the 
Government,  who  were  not  members  of  their  Christian  flock,  but 
whom  the  Government  wished  to  favor  from  motives  of  policy. 

As  regards  the  white  refugees,  Spangenberg  wrote  to  Franklin,  Feb- 
ruary 25,  1756,  wishing  to  know  what  the  further  desire  and  intention 
of  the  Commissioners  was.  A  new  panic  had  been  occasioned  by  fresh 
outrages  in  the  greatly  harassed  neighborhood  of  Allemaengel.  Span- 
genberg writes  in  reference  to  the  refugees  yet  on  the  hands  of  the 

8  The  records  give  the  whole  number  of  refugees  received  as  639  and  the  maximum  num- 
ber at  one  time,  in  January,  1756,  as  556,  distributed  as  follows  :  Bethlehem,  205  ;  Naza- 
reth, 134;  PViedensthal,  104;  Christiansbrunn,  49;  Gnadenthal,  44;  the  Rose,  20.  An- 
other statement  is  that  at  the  end  of  the  month,  there  were  449  at  the  Nazareth  places,  226 
of  them  children,  distributed  as  follows  :  Nazareth,  253  ;  Friedensthal,  75  ;  Gnadenthal, 
52;  Christiansbrunn,  48 ;  the  Rose,  21.  The  Whitefield  House  at  Nazareth  and  the  two 
log  houses  near  by  were  entirely  occupied  by  the  refugees.  The  widows  who  were  living 
in  one  of  the  latter  when  the  nursery  and  girls'  school  were  moved  down  to  Bethlehem, 
were  transferred  temjiorarily  to  Gnadenthal. 


1755 1756.  335 

Brethren:  "Some  of  them  were  removed  again  to  their  plantations, 
and  others  were  upon  going  thither,  but  when  the  account  came  of 
the  new  mischief  done  lately  by  the  enemy  at  Allemaengel,  the  latter 
did  not  care  to  stir,  and  the  others  came  back  again,  some  few 
excepted.  Many  of  them  are  afraid  of  going  to  their  plantations, 
not  knowing  what  to  do,  if  they  find  their  houses  either  burned  or 
robbed  of  all  they  left  therein.  We  have  supplied  them  who  were 
in  real  necessity,  hitherto,  with  meal  and  meat ;  and  the  Brethren 
keep  an  account  thereof,  as  you  was  pleased  to  direct  them  in  a 
letter  to  me,  a  copy  whereof  I  here  enclose,  because  Mr.  Edmonds 
tells  me  that  you  had  mislaid  yours.  But  as  the  many  labours  which 
took  away  your  time  when  lately  at  Bethlehem,  have  no  doubt  pre- 
vented your  giving  further  orders  about  this  matter,  this  is  humbly 
to  desire  you  in  behalf  of  my  Brethren,  who  present  their  humble 
respect  and  duty  to  you,  to  let  us  know  in  a  line  or  two,  if  you  please, 
your  mind."  In  a  post-script  he  adds :  "As  I  hear  Mr.  Horsfield  had 
orders  to  pay  the  Brethren  iioo  currency,  which  also  he  hath  done, 
and  taken  receipt  for  it,  they  will  be  glad  to  know  whether  this  sum 
of  money  is  intended  to  pay  their  new  accounts  since  the  last  balance, 
or  whether  it  is  to  be  laid  out  for  to  buy  meat  and  meal  for  the 
above-mentioned  poor  refugees."  Franklin's  reply,  dated  Phila- 
delphia, March  i,  1756,  is  a  follows:  "As  the  Forts  are  built  and 
the  Ranging  Companies  in  Motion  beyond  the  Mountains  to  cover 
the  Inner  Parts  of  the  County,  I  think  the  People  may  now  very 
safely  stay  at  their  Places.  The  Government  is  at  a  great  Expense 
to  afiford  them  this  Defence ;  If  they  have  no  regard  to  it,  but  run 
away  in  so  shameful  and  cowardly  a  Manner,  every  time  an  Indian 
or  two  appears  in  any  Part  of  the  Province,  and  abandon  their  Plan- 
tations, I  believe  the  Government  will  not  think  it  worth  while  to 
keep  up  these  Guards  merely  to  secure  empty  Houses  and  unculti- 
vated Fields,  but  will  demolish  the  Forts,  withdraw  the  Companies 
from  your  Frontier,  and  send  them  to  other  Parts  to  defend  a  better 
and  more  manly  People.  Of  this  be  pleased  to  acquaint  them ;  and 
farther  that  the  Commissioners  desire  no  Allowance  may  be  made 
of  Provisions  on  Acc't  of  the  Government  to  any  Refugees  at  your 
Place  after  this  time;  for  some  of  them,  as  long  as  they  can  live  in 
Indolence  with  you,  and  be  fed,  will  think  little  of  returning  to  their 
places,  or  of  the  duty  of  caring  and  laboring  for  their  own  Livelihood. 
The  £100  advanced  your  Brethren  was  only  to  prevent  your  being  in 
Advance  for  us :    It  is  to  be  accounted  for  when  we  settle,  and  what 


336  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Provisions  you  have  furnish'd  to  the  Poor,  according  to  my  Letter 
will  be  allowed.     I  am  with  the  greatest  respect,"  &c. 

Undoubtedly  these  animadversions,  like  those  of  the  Governor, 
were  merited  in  the  case  of  many  who,  as  Spangenberg  himself  had 
remarked,  had  become  "frightened  out  of  their  wits,"  and  of  certain 
others  who  were  disposed  to  accept  charity  as  long  as  it  was 
dispensed.  At  the  same  time,  as  many  shocking  instances  until  well 
on  into  the  spring  proved,  some  neighborhoods  were  far  from  being 
rendered  as  safe  by  those  forts  and  rangers  as  the  authorities,  with 
their  own  persons  and  property  at  a  secure  distance,  would  have 
these  afflicted  people  think.  The  jeopardy  in  which  the  execution  of 
this  threat  on  the  part  of  the  Lieutenant  General  would  place  Beth- 
lehem and  everything  that  was  recognized  as  dependent  upon  its 
security,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  in  his  mind  when  he  penned 
the  letter.  Perhaps  he  had  been  too  greatly  impressed  by  the  abihty 
of  the  Bethlehem  people  to  take  care  of  themselves  and  of  others.  In 
a  well-known  and  oft-quoted  passage  about  Bethlehem,  in  his  famous 
autobiography,  Franklin  says :  'T  was  surprised  to  find  it  in  so  good 
a  posture  of  defence.  The  principal  buildings  were  defended  by  a 
stockade ;  they  had  purchased  a  quantity  of  arms  and  ammunition 
from  New  York,  and  had  even  placed  large  quantities  of  small  paving 
stones  between  the  windows  of  their  high  stone  houses,  for  their 
women  to  throw  upon  the  heads  of  any  Indians  that  should  attempt 
to  force  into  them.  The  armed  Brethren,  too,  kept  watch  and  reUeved 
as  methodically  as  in  any  garrison  town."  Referring  to  his  surprise 
at  their  making  use  of  arms,  in  view  of  their  exemption  from  military 
duty  by  act  of  Parliament,  and  Spangenberg's  explanation,  which  he 
undoubtedly  failed  to  understand  accurately,  he  makes  this  obser- 
vation: "It  seems  they  were  either  deceived  in  themselves  or  deceived 
the  Parliament;  but  common  sense,  aided  by  present  danger,  will 
sometimes  be  too  strong  for  whimsical  opinions."^ 


9  Sufficient  has  been  said  in  Chapter  VII  and  in  this  Chapter  on  the  position  of  the  Mora- 
vians in  this  matter,  to  enable  the  reader  to  understand  it  and  to  discover,  in  referring  to  the 
passage  from  which  the  above  quotations  are  made,  wherein  Dr.  Franklin  misapprehended 
it.  They  were  neither  deceived  nor  deceiving,  but  were  acting  in  perfect  consistency ;  for 
they  were  sane  men  and  not  the  whimsical  enthusiasts  he  at  that  time  yet  supposed  them  to 
be.  Later,  when  he  gave  more  attention  to  their  principles,  he  learned  to  know  them  better. 
The  alleged  purchase  of  arms  and  ammunition  from  New  York  referred  to  was  a  misunder- 
standing. On  December  20,  some  Brethren  arrived  from  New  York  with  these  stores  sent 
by  friends  there  for  the  use  of  Bethlehem  in  the  extremity  that  had  come.  It  caused  Span- 
genberg much  perplexity,  for  he   was  doing  his  utmost  to  hold  the  more  excited  ones  at 


1755 1756.  337 

The  general  confidence  inspired  by  the  "posture  of  defence"  in 
which  Bethlehem  was  found  was  not  caused  by  the  sight  of  many 
guns,  nor  of  military  parade ;  for  of  the  first  the  people  saw  very 
few — they  were  not  displayed — and  of  the  second  they  saw  none 
whatever  on  the  part  of  the  residents.  The  kind  of  measures  adopted 
were  not  only  those  of  men  who  were  determined  to  exhaust  every 
other  means  before  armed  collision  became  the  last  resort,  but 
also  of  men  who  understood  the  Indians  and  knew  their 
thoughts,  habits  and  methods  much  better  than  did  the  honorable 
Commissioners  or  the  majority  of  the  men  from  the  lower  country 
and  from  New  Jersey,  who  marched  to  and  fro,  and  made  random 
sallies  through  the  woods.  Nothing  perplexed  and  baffled  skulking 
Indians  so  much  as  the  constant  vigilance  maintained  and  the  plans 
adopted  to  let  them  know  that  there  was  no  unguarded  spot  which 
they  could  approach,  and  no  moment  at  which  they  could  slip  upon 
the  people  unawares  and  catch  them  napping.  This  simple  principle 
of  meeting  their  approach  defeated  every  attempt  to  carry  out  the 
only  kind  of  plans  they  had.  Bishop  Spangenberg,  in  his  auto- 
biography, thus  briefly  and  graphically  presents  the  general  method 
and  principle  of  these  systematic  precautions :  "At  night  the  watch- 
men shouted  one  to  another  at  intervals  of  an  hour,  so  that  the  sound 
rang  out  loudly  into  the  forest.  We  also  built  block  houses  and 
mounted  them  with  guns,  and  when  a  gun  was  discharged  it  was  a 
signal  to  the  vicinity  that  hostile  Indians  were  near.  Thus  when 
the  savages  came  spying  at  night,  they  always  found  us  in  readiness. 
Then  I  called  all  the  Brethren  together  and  begged  them  for  Jesus' 
sake  by  all  means  to  spare  the  life  of  every  hostile  Indian  (shooting 
low  if  they  were  forced  to  shoot),  and  if  one  was,  perchance,  shot  in 
the  legs,  we  proposed  to  take  him  in  for  treatment  and  care  for  him 
with  all  faithfulness  until  he  recovered.     I  fell  upon  my  face  and 

Bethlehem  to  the  principles  of  the  Church,  persuading  them  to  show  the  calmness  and  forti- 
tude of  implicit  trust  in  the  Lord  under  this  severe  strain ;  influence  the  panic-stricken 
neighborhood  by  this  kind  of  moral  strength ;  use  constant  vigilance  to  thwart  approaches 
by  the  enemy  and  prevent  the  necessity  of  violent  collision  as  long  as  possible  ;  and  to  think 
of  actually  using  fire-arms  only  as  the  last  desperate  defence.  The  sending  of  those  arms 
from  New  York  came  nearer  than  any  other  incident,  to  breaking  the  internal,  moral  disci- 
pline at  Bethlehem,  and  in  a  letter  to  the  friends  in  New  York  in  reference  to  their  well- 
meant  act,  .Spangenberg  took  pains  to  strongly  present  his  position.  That  the  cobble-stones 
in  the  windows  were  to  be  thrown  down  on  the  heads  of  Indians  by  the  women  was  erron- 
eous information  or  supposition.  This  was  merely  the  walling-up  to  protect  from  bullets 
mentioned  in  the  text. 
23 


23^  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

besought  the   Saviour  to   graciously  prevent   all   bloodshed   at   our 
place,  and,  to  Him  be  thanks,  He  heard  our  prayer." 

The  disbursements  by  the  Commissioners  for  the  relief  of  white 
refugees  had  not  amounted  to  much,  and  the  burden  their  presence 
laid  upon  the  Brethren  was  very  hard  to  bear,  along  with  caring  for 
their  own  large  number  of  dependent  women  and  children,  while 
feeling  the  efifect  of  very  short  crops  and  the  almost  complete 
stoppage  of  industries  at  Bethlehem  during  those  hard  winter  months. 
Five  thousand  extra  bushels  of  grain  had  to  be  bought  between  New 
Year  and  the  next  harvest  to  cover  their  own  needs,  apart  from  what 
was  furnished  the  refugees  and  only  in  part  paid  for  by  the  gov- 
ernment. During  January  and  February,  1756,  it  furthermore 
became  necessary  to  borrow  over  £700.  They  were  assisted  in 
bearing  the  burden  by  some  benevolent  people  of  Philadelphia  who, 
at  the  instance  of  Anthony  Benezet,  to  whom  Bishop  Spangenberg 
had  appealed  in  behalf  of  the  refugees,  sent  considerable  quan- 
tities of  clothing  and  provisions  for  distribution  to  the  needy.  The 
donors  gave  instructions  that  the  Gnadenhuetten  Indians  should  also 
be  helped  out  of  the  stores  sent.  Several  wagon-loads  of  such  supplies 
were  likewise  sent  by  friends  in  the  lower  part  of  Bucks  County. 
Referring  to  this  in  his  autobiography,  Bishop  Spangenberg  says : 
'T  appointed  two  Brethren  and  instructed  them  to  make  a  list  of  all 
the  things  that  came  into  our  hands,  and,  not  only  to  distribute  the 
articles  carefully,  but  to  record  each  day  to  whom  this  and  that  thing 
was  given.  This  was  done,  and  we  afterwards  put  the  account  of 
receipts  and  disbursements  into  the  hands  of  our  worthy  Magistrate 
(Horsfield),  so  that  all  should  be  done  honestly  and  orderly,  not  only 
before  God  but  also  before  men.  When  afterwards  a  worthless 
individual  came  and  accused  the  Brethren  of  appropriating  these 
donations  to  their  own  use,  the  Magistrate  defended  us  and  at  once 
stopped  the  mouth  of  the  slanderer."  Writing  to  Franklin  again, 
March  8,  1756,  after  the  receipt  of  the  latter's  letter  which  reflected 
somewhat  harshly  upon  the  refugees ;  Spangenberg  said :  "It  might 
be  good  to  buy  for  them  now,  what  they  will  want  till  the  harvest 
time ;  for  many  of  them  having  lost  houses,  barns,  grain,  cattle, 
horses  and  all,  if  even  they  should  be  willing  to  return  to  their 
respective  places,  they  cannot  live  without  being  helped.  What  the 
Brethren  have  received  for  them  by  charitable  hands,  is,  most  part, 
given  unto  them,  and  what  is  left  yet,  will  cheerfully  be  bestowed 
upon  them  and  accounts  kept,  which  either  our  Magistrates  or  any 


1755 1756.  339 

of  the  benefactors  may  examine  at  pleasure."  In  June,  1757, 
Spangenberg,  writing  to  Anthony  Benezet  about  the  calumny,  which 
seems  to  have  grieved  him  deeply,  says:  "I  have  thought  sometimes 
whether  the  said  accounts  should  not  be  published.  But  considering 
that  the  Names  of  poor  honest  People  must  be  exposed  to  the  Public 
(and  many  poor  honest  People  would  rather  suffer  the  greatest 
Hardship  than  see  themselves  in  their  Poverty  exposed)  in  so  doing, 
have  thought  it  best  to  leave  it  in  Mr.  Horsfield's  Hands  for  the  use 
of  all  who  want  to  see  it."^° 

After  the  month  of  January,  1756,  had  been  safely  passed,  people 
began  to  breathe  easier  again  at  Bethlehem.  The  second  week  in 
February,  it  was  thought  safe  to  reduce  the  guard.  By  the  middle 
of  the  month  all  but  sixty  of  the  refugees  had  ventured  to  return 
home  or  go  elsewhere,  even  though  reports  of  raids  bv  the  savages 

10  Some  writers  have  erroneously  confused  this  matter  with  the  objections  raised  in  the 
Assembly  against  the  accounts  presented  by  the  Brethren  to  the  Commissioners  for  expenses 
incurred  in  behalf  of  the  Indians.  See  Matthew  Henry — Histoy  of  the  Lehigh  Valley,  p. 
207-208.  The  accounts  kept  of  these  donations  to  refugees  were  not  required  by  any  one, 
but  were  kept  voluntarily,  just  in  order  to  guard  against  such  gossip.  The  Commissioners 
had  nothing  to  do  with  these  accounts,  and  they  never  went  before  the  Assembly.  Mr. 
Henry  takes  singular  pains  to  minimize  the  good  offices  of  Spangenberg  and  the  Moravians 
in  this  matter,  and  even  speaks  disrespectfully  of  Spangenberg,  saying,  e.g.,  that  "  he  occa- 
sionally used  flattery  to  the  Governor  in  order  to  attain  his  ends."  The  "■ObrigkeW''  referred 
to  by  Spangenberg  in  his  autobiography  quoted  by  Mr.  Henry  from  Risler,  did  not  mean  the 
Governor,  but  the  local  magistrate,  Timothy  Horsfield.  He,  and  not  the  Governor,  "  spoke 
a  good  word  for  the  Brethren." 

The  accounts  which  some  in  the  Assembly  wanted  to  repudiate  were  those  "  for  supplies 
and  entertainment  furnished  to  the  Christian  Indians  who  had  fled  thither  after  the  massacre 
on  the  Mahoning ;  and  to  Indians  who  sojourned  there  with  the  knowledge  of  Government, 
pending  negotiations  for  Peace  between  it  and  Teedyuscung,  King  of  the  Delawares,  1756- 
1757  " — published  in  Memorials  of  the  Moravian  Church,  by  Wm.  C.  Reichel,  Philadelphia, 
1870.  The  heaviest  of  those  accounts  were  for  supplies  furnished  to  Indians  who  were  not 
among  the  Moravian  converts,  were  a  burden  and  nuisance,  and  at  times  even  a  peril 
to  Bethlehem,  tolerated  there  at  the  instance  of  the  Government  and  supplied  by  Govern- 
ment orders,  April,  1756,  to  April,  1758.  No  objection  was  made  to  the  first  several  accounts 
rendered  by  agreement  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Assembly.  The  heaviest  bills  went  in 
after  large  troops  of  Indians  flocked  to  the  neighborhood  for  the  Council,  on  invitation  of 
the  Governor ;  and  he,  on  June  23,  1756,  in  a  letter  to  Timothy  Horsfield,  specially  author- 
ized the  Brethren  "to  support  and  maintain  them  till  they  have  my  further  orders,"  and 
promising  that  "  any  expenses  attending  this  service  will  be  paid  by  the  Government."  This 
being  an  order  by  the  Governor  and  not  by  the  Assembly  or  its  Commissioners,  the  Assem- 
bly objected  in  consistency  with  the  relations  between  them  and  the  Governor,  each  oppos- 
ing on  general  principles  whatever  the  other  said  or  did.  The  last  of  these  accounts  were 
finally  paid  in  June,  1758. 


340  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

in  more  distant  regions  continued  to  come  in.  New  excitement  was 
occasioned  by  the  Governor's  "declaration  of  war  against  the  Dela- 
wares,"  April  14,  1756,  and  the  proclamation  of  bomity  for  Indians 
killed  or  captured — the  "scalp  money"  he  was  constrained  to  offer 
at  the  instance  of  the  Commissioners,  under  strong  pressure  from 
certain  frontier  settlers  who  proposed  to  have,  at  least,  the  grim 
satisfaction  of  turning  the  hazardous  employment  of  hunting  Indians, 
like  that  of  hunting  beasts  of  prey,  to  pecuniary  account.  Here  was 
a  new  temptation  to  men  in  whose  eyes  one  Indian  was  the  same 
as  another,  to  again  turn  sinister  attention  to  the  inoffensive  Indians 
at  Bethlehem. 

Spangenberg  went  to  Philadelphia  in  April  to  have  an  interview 
with  the  Governor  about  attempting  an  embassy  to  the  Indians  up 
on  the  Susquehanna,  with  a  view  to  negotiations  for  peace.  He  had 
consulted  with  Mr.  Parsons  about  this  project  already  in  January, 
then  with  certain  Assemblymen,  and  had  also  written  to  the  Gover- 
nor. The  result  was  that,  at  the  end  of  April,  three  Indian  deputies 
sent  by  the  Governor  arrived  at  Bethlehem  to  undertake  this  mis- 
sion, accompanied  by  Augustus,  the  most  intelligent  and  reliable 
Bethlehem  Indian  for  such  an  enterprise.  They  returned  to  Bethle- 
hem, May  19,  coming  down  the  Lehigh  by  canoe  under  convoy  of 
a  detail  from  the  Fort  Allen  garrison,  flying  the  English  flag.  From 
Augustus  it  was  learned  that  three  times  the  hostiles  had  planned  a 
decisive  blow  against  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth ;  that  Paxnous  and 
Abraham  had  sturdily  opposed  all  hostilities,  and  that  the  enemy 
were  now  willing  to  parley  and  to  consider  terms  of  peace.  Two 
days  later,  when  they  were  in  Philadelphia  reporting  to  the  Gover- 
nor, a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  was  observed  in  the  Province,  in 
view  of  the  formal  declaration  of  war  against  France  by  the  King 
of  England,  and,  as  a  result  of  their  report,  the  Governor,  on  June 
3,  declared  an  armistice,  with  the  intention  of  trying  such  a  council; 
the  proclamation  of  scalp-money  and  aggressive  plans  against  the 
Delawares,  as  well  as  the  general  declaration  of  war  against  France 
and  her  allies,  being  thought  of  combined  service,  in  disposing  the 
Indians  to  come  to  terms  more  readily. 

Upon  this,  the  gathering  of  troops  of  Indians  from  a  distance  at 
Bethlehem,  which  caused  so  much  discomfort,  annoyance,  and,  at 
times,  danger,  for  more  than  a  year,  began ;  and  there  was  much 
correspondence  with  the  government  on  this  subject  prior  to  the 
Council,  which  finally  took  place  at  Easton,  the  last  week  in  July. 


1755 1756.  341 

An  insight  into  this  troublesome  situation  will  be  gotten  from  several 
instances.  Two  Indians,  Nicodemus  and  Jo  Pepy,  who  had  been 
among  the  converts  of  Brainerd  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter, 
and  had  then  first  affiliated  with  the  Moravian  Indians  and  finally 
joined  the  enemies  of  the  Government,  but  now  professed  penitence, 
came,  among  others,  on  June  21,  hearing  of  the  amnesty  proclaimed. 
Their  presence  excited  particular  resentment  among  some  people 
in  the  neighborhood.  Spangenberg  was  constrained  to  write  to  the 
Governor  on  June  26,  and  represent  the  particular  embarrassment 
they  occasioned.  He  says :  "To  tell  your  Honour  the  truth,  I  don't 
believe  that  either  Jo  Pepy  or  Nicodemus  and  their  families  can 
stay  at  Bethlehem.  We  have  been  obliged  to  put  people  out  of 
the  (Indian)  house  to  make  room  for  them.  But  this  is  not  all.  There 
is  such  a  rage  in  the  neighborhood  against  the  said  poor  creatures, 
that  I  fear  they  will  mob  us  and  them  together.  For  Jo  Pepy  having 
lived  among  the  Presbyterians,  and  treacherously  being  gone  from 
them,  hath  exasperated  them  in  the  highest  degree.  We  have  put 
two  men  with  them  to  be  their  safeguard,  but  your  Honour  knows 
very  well  that  this  won't  hinder  the  stream  when  it  is  coming  upon 
us  and  them  at  the  same  time.  They  have  told  me  the  families 
which  are  inclined  to  come,  and  will  come  if  they  can,  with  New 
Castle"  (the  famous  Indian  messenger  of  the  Government).  "The 
most  of  them  are  well-known  here  to  be  good-for-nothing,  and  quite 
faithless  creatures.  I  therefore  humbly  beg  of  your  Honour  to 
remove  the  said  Jo  Pepy  and  Nicodemus  and  their  families,  the  sooner 
the  better,  to  Philadelphia;  for  they  are  in  the  heart  of  the  country, 
and  mischief  may  be  prevented  which  could  breed  evil  consequences." 
The  next  perplexity  was  presented  in  a  letter  by  Justice  Horsfield 
to  the  Governor,  July  6.  He  writes :  "We  labour  under  much  diffi- 
culty on  account  of  these  Indians — a  son  of  Paxnous  and  three  others 
from  Tioga — wanting  their  guns  repaired,  and  to  have  some  powder 
and  lead,  which  we  cannot  by  any  measure  do  unless  we  have  your 
Honour's  express  commands  for  it ;  if  it  be  your  Honour's  pleasure 
it  shall  be  done,  or  not,  please  to  signify  it.  Your  Honour  shall  be 
strictly  obeyed."  Governor  Morris  replied,  July  9,  with  the  approval 
of  the  Council  as  follows :  "Tell  him  (the  son  of  Paxnous)  I  wish 
it  could  have  consisted  with  the  circumstances  of  their  families  for 
them  to  have  given  me  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  them  here ;  but  as 
this  does  not  suit  them  now,  and  they  are  in  want  of  provisions,  I 
have  ordered  vou  to  supply  them  with  as  much  as  they  can  carry, 


342  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

and  a  small  quantity  of  powder  and  lead,  as  much  as  may  be  wanted, 
for  the  present,  to  serve  their  necessities ;  more  I  would  give  them, 
but  it  would  be  dangerous  to  themselves,  if  met  by  our  enemy  Indians, 
to  have  more."  With  this  message  the  Governor  adds  privately  to 
Horsfield:  "I  think  three  or  four  pounds  of  powder  will  be  enough, 
and  as  much  provisions  as  they  can  carry ;  how  much  that  will  be, 
must  be  left  to  your  judgment,  but  they  should  by  all  means  be  sent 
very  well  satisfied. "^^ 

Again,  on  July  7,  Horsfield  addressed  the  Governor  on  the  great 
peril  involved  in  the  tarrying  of  Indians  in  the  vicinity,  pending  the 
delayed  Council  at  Easton,  under  an  amnesty  which  expired  on  July  3, 
In  many  cases  it  could  not  be  known  whether  they  were  friends  or 
foes.  Embittered  white  people  could  take  advantage  of  the  expiration 
of  the  proclamation,  to  form  a  "scalping  party"  under  the  bounty- 
act  and  attack  them,  occasioning  riot  and  bloodshed.  Indians  armed, 
and  now  not  feeling  bound  to  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  might  perfid- 
iously attack  Bethlehem  and  commit  outrages  in  the  neighborhood. 
It  was  announced  that  a  deputation  would  visit  the  Governor  to 
personally  lay  the  situation  before  him. 

The  crowded  condition  of  Bethlehem  was  referred  to — twenty 
and  more  persons  compelled  to  occupy  one  room,  in  many  cases, 
and  seventy  occupants  in  the  Indian  House  of  two  rooms.  The 
Provincial  Council,  on  July  10,  advised  the  Governor  to  extend  the 
amnesty,  and  in  view  of  the  crowded  state  of  things  at  Bethlehem, 
with  no  troops  there  for  a  defence,  to  order  these  Indians,  waiting 
for  the  conference  at  Easton,  to  be  transferred  to  that  place  where 
there  was  a  guard.  There  at  the  county  seat,  they,  as  guests  of  the 
Government,  belonged.  Instructions  were  sent,  the  next  day,  to 
Mr.  Parsons  to  make  such  provision,  and  so  Bethlehem  was  relieved 
the  following  week  for  a  season,  of  this  large  number  of  "strange 
Indians."  At  the  same  time  Teedyuscung,  the  "Delaware  King," 
whose  name  was  now  on  all  lips  and  whose  presence  was  dreaded 
by  many,  while  many  were  inquisitive  to  see  him,  made  his  appear- 
ance with  Captain  New  Castle  and  a  large  retinue.  Then,  to  the 
dismay  of  the  people  at  Bethlehem,  the  word  came  that  the  treaty 


II  This  matter  of  furnishing  powder  and  lead  from  the  Bethlehem  store  continued  to  be  a 
very  troublesome  and  risky  one,  for  obvious  reasons,  and  was  continually  made  the  subject 
of  suspicious  comment  and  groundless  stories  by  ill-disposed  persons ;  just  as  it  later  was, 
under  quite  other  circumstances,  during  the  Revolutionary  War.  Hence  the  care  taken  to 
have  government  instructions. 


1755 1756.  343 

would  be  held  here — a  thing  spoken  of  before,  but  thought  to  have 
been  averted.  Just  as  they  had  concluded  to  accept  the  inevitable 
and  had  begun,  with  heavy  hearts,  to  prepare  for  it,  instructions 
again  came  from  the  Governor,  countermanding  this.  So,  on  July 
24,  the  Council  finally  opened  at  Easton.  It  was  the  proper  place, 
being  the  official  center  of  the  neighborhood.  The  long  and  prolix 
parley  which  there  took  place  may  be  passed  over.  It  was  a  disap- 
pointment to  many  who  hoped  for  definite  results.  Horsfield, 
Nathanael  Seidel,  Shebosh  and  David  Zeisberger  went  from  Beth- 
lehem, by  request,  to  join  a  large  number  of  Friends  from  Phila- 
delphia, in  trying  to  influence  the  issue  in  the  interests  of  peace. 
The  only  definite  result  was  the  appointment  of  another  council  to 
be  held  in  the  autumn. 

The  dreaded  Teedyuscung  lingered  about  Bethlehem  several  days 
after  that,  and  there  are  references  to  "disagreeable  visits"  to  the 
officials  at  Bethlehem  by  him.  Sometimes  he  was  sober,  but  more 
frequently  not.  But  worse  than  this,  very  disturbing  rumors  of 
dangerous  talk  indulged  in  by  him  were  soon  rife.  The  latter  part 
of  August,  several  letters  from  Parsons,  Horsfield  and  Edmonds,  and 
one  from  Sir  Charles  Hardy,  in  reference  to  his  suspicious  conduct 
and  treacherous  tUterances  after  the  treaty,  were  considered  by  the 
new  Governor,  William  Denny,  and  the  Council,  with  former 
Governor  Morris  present  for  consultation.  This,  and  the  dangerous 
outlook  for  the  frontier  from  French  movements  at  the  time,  with 
the  weakness  of  the  Pennsylvania  Government,  through  the  lack  of 
good  understanding  between  Governor  and  Assembly,  were 
impressed  upon  the  Bethlehem  people  by  Spangenberg,  on  September 
9,  and  the  need  of  faith  and  prayer,  loyalty  and  unity  was  impressed. 


CHAPTER     X. 


To  THE  End  of  the  General  Economy, 
1756— 1762. 

During  the  first  part  of  the  year  1756,  the  condition  of  Bethlehem 
was  one  of  much  turmoil,  when  compared  with  its  normal  state ;  but, 
when  compared  with  that  of  the  surrounding  neighborhoods,  the 
situation  would  have  seemed  to  an  onlooker  from  the  outside,  one  of 
undisturbed  order  and  unruffled  serenity.  The  ordeal  produced  no 
demoralization.  The  principles,  discipline,  general  tone  and  even,  to 
a  surprising  extent,  the  common  daily  routine  of  the  place  were 
maintained  through  it  all.  It  was  fortunate  that  the  deliberations 
of  1754'  on  the  question  of  continuing  or  abolishing  the  existing 
system,  resulted  in  the  conclusion  to  make  no  changes  at  that  time. 
A  general  toning  up  and  strengthening  of  the  Economy  resulted, 
instead  of  steps  towards  a  radical  alteration  of  the  establishment. 
If  the  latter  course  had  then  been  taken,  things  would  have  been 
in  transition,  disorganized  and  not  yet  properly  reconstructed  in 
other  shape,  when  this  strain  came,  and  therefore  not,  by  far,  so 
well  prepared  to  withstand  it.  Many  features  of  the  Economy  organ- 
ization served,  in  this  emergency,  for  the  special  measures  that 
would  under  other  circumstances  have  been  instituted  at  such  a 
time,  with  the  additional  advantage  of  long  training  in  such  ways  and 
methods.  Therefore  it  was  Providential  that  the  General  Economy 
yet  existed  intact.  Amidst  the  troublous  conditions  which  continued, 
there  was  no  thought  of  tampering  with  it.  Hence  it  came  that 
the  arrangement  ran  on  for  six  years  longer. 

Not  only  the  necessities  of  the  situation,  but  also  the  wise  purpose 
to  keep  men,  as  far  as  possible,  occupied  in  natural  and  ordinary 
ways  and  to  maintain  all  that  could  be  of  normal  spirit  and  habit, 
prompted  Spangenberg  and  those  who  were  in  counsel  with  him,  to 
proceed  with  plans  to  start  the  wheels  of  industry  moving  regularly 
again  in  all  departments,  even  when  the  town  was  overrun  with 
refugees  and  the  watch  against  surprises  by  the  savages  had  to  be 

344 


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1756 1762.  345 

preserved  every  hour  of  the  day  and  night.  Thus,  already  the 
middle  of  January,  steps  were  taken  to  start  up  a  saw-mill  again  at 
Bethlehem ;  that  at  Gnadenhuetten,  now  burned  down,  having,  along 
with  that  at  Christiansbrunn,  taken  the  place,  for  some  years,  of 
the  first  one  built  at  Bethlehem.  Material  was  gotten  together, 
but  it  was  not  until  the  9th  of  June  that  the  masons  went  to  work. 
It  was  completed  in  September  and  on  the  21st  of  that  month,  the 
sawing  of  lumber  at  Bethlehem  was  recommenced. 

At  a  general  meeting,  the  end  of  March,  the  subject  of  building 
a  new  and  larger  pottery  was  discussed.  The  products  of  this  estab- 
lishment were  much  in  demand,  so  that  it  was  one  of  the  most 
profitable  industries.  At  the  same  time  the  suspended  tavern- 
building  project  was  anew  considered,  but  it  was  not  deemed 
expedient  to  proceed  at  once  with  this  undertaking.  The  grist-mill 
was  kept  running,  and  those  industries  which  furnished  material  for 
clothing  were  not  permitted  to  remain  idle,  when  enough  order  was 
restored  to  start  them  up  again.  All  that  could  be  done  in  the 
winter  and  early  spring,  to  enlarge  the  cultivated  area  at  Bethlehem, 
as  well  as  on  the  Nazareth  domain,  was  persevered  in,  even  when 
men  had  to  work  vmder  guard  at  clearing,  grubbing  and  fencing. 
The  Indians  living  under  protection  at  Bethlehem  were  employed, 
to  a  considerable  extent,  at  this  kind  of  work  for  stipulated  wages. 
Receipts  for  wages  paid  them,  signed  with  the  marks  of  the  tribes 
and  clans  to  which  they  belonged,  are  interesting  mementos  of 
those  times  still  preserved  at  Bethlehem.  On  through  the  spring 
and  summer  they  rendered  valuable  service  in  times  of  danger,  as 
guards  and  rangers  in  the  surrounding  woods,  when  men  were  plow- 
ing and  sowing,  and  companies  of  women  were  helping  in  harvest 
time,  to  get  in  the  hay  and  the  precious  grain.  More  than  one  com- 
pany of  women  went  out  to  distant  parts  of  the  fields  and  back,  or 
to  and  fro  between  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  under  the  protection 
of  such  an  Indian  escort.  The  Indian  women  were,  much  of  the  time, 
busilv  engaged  in  making  baskets,  brooms,  mats  and  other  such 
articles,  for  which  they  received  compensation.  Thus  they  helped 
to  supply  things  that  were  continually  needed  and  that  could  be  put 
on  the  market,  and  habits  of  industry,  self-dependence  and  thrift 
were  cultivated  among  them ;  while  the  men,  who  had  learned  that 
it  was  no  more  of  a  disgrace  for  an  Indian  than  for  a  white  man  to 
labor  with  his  hands,  were,  by  object-lessons,  teaching  this  to  other 
Indians  who  came  to  Bethlehem.     To  the  skill  of  these  Indians  at 


34^  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 


its  IfLa^rfC, 

a/rctuf.    A 


SIGNATURES   OF   INDIANS. 


1756 1762.  347 

bush-net  fishing  frequent  important  additions  to  the  food  supply 
were  also  due.  Thousands  of  shad  and  rockfish  were  thus  caught 
by  them  in  the  Lehigh. 

When  the  refugees,  for  the  most  part,  returned  to  their  homes, 
leaving  the  quarters  they  had  occupied  vacant,  and  the  number 
of  men  continually  needed  as  guards  was  gradually  reduced,  the 
workshops  all  resumed  their  customary  appearance.  On  June 
3,  the  nursery  and  girls'  school  of  Nazareth  were  moved  back 
to  their  quarters  in  the  Whitefield  House  and  the  adjacent  log  cabin, 
while  the  company  of  men,  who  had  vacated  the  water-tower 
house  to  make  room  for  these  children,  returned  to  their  quar- 
ters. Apart  from  the  Indians  from  distant  places  loitering  about 
Bethlehem,  as  Government  pensioners,  little  in  the  appearance  of 
the  village  would  have  indicated  that  such  times  had  been  passed 
through  and  that  the  air  was  yet  full  of  uncertainty  and  dread. 
Special  efforts  were  made  to  keep  the  attention  of  the  children  in 
the  large  boys'  school  and  in  the  boarding-school  for  girls  engaged 
with  their  regular  routine.  On  November  i,  when  the  time  for  the 
second  large  gathering  of  Indians  at  Easton  was  near ;  when  unruly 
bands  of  them,  here  and  there,  coming  down  the  country,  were  com- 
mitting depredations,  and  even  murders ;  when  a  state  almost  of 
panic  had  again  been  aroused  in  some  neighborhoods,  and  there  was 
every  reason  for  anxiety  and  dread  at  Bethlehem,  a  school  exami- 
nation took  place,  as  if  the  times  had  been  the  most  quiet  and  peace- 
ful. A  hundred  and  ninety-nine  boys  and  girls  were  assembled  in  the 
present  "Old  Chapel."  They  were  examined  in  spelling  and  read- 
ing, both  English  and  German,  and  in  arithmetic.  Specimens  of  pen- 
manship were  on  exhibition,  as  well  as  of  spinning,  knitting  and 
sewing  by  the  girls,  while  vocal  and  instrumental  music  was  furnished 
by  the  classes  under  John  Andrew  Albrecht,  then  the  principal  teacher 
and  leader  of  music. 

At  that  very  time  the  symptoms  of  trouble  were  sufBcient  that 
measures  were  being  taken  to  put  Bethlehem  in  as  complete  a  posi- 
tion of  defence  as  the  previous  winter.  The  guard  was  restored  to 
full  strength,  watch-houses  were  again  constructed  where  several 
previous  ones  had  been  removed,  and  many  windows  and  back  doors 
of  the  large  buildings  were  again  walled  up,  the  following  week.  On 
November  8,  the  second  Council  between  the  Governor  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  the  grotesquely  haughty  Teedyuscung,  with  other  chiefs 
and  warriors  and  their  retinue,  opened  at  Easton.  It  continued  until 
the  17th.     The  very  day  on  which  these  exchanges  of  grandiloquent 


348  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

and  evasive  rhetoric,  ostensibly  in  the  interests  of  honest  peace, 
began,  the  in-rush  of  refugees  from  the  Bkie  Alountains  at  Nazareth 
and  Bethlehem  also  began  anew,  while  reports  of  outrages  by  some 
loitering  savages  in  other  directions  were  received.  Even  if  Teedy- 
uscung,  as  a  matter  of  expediency  for  the  time  being,  was  trying  to 
prevent  such  things,  it  was  clear  that  his  word  did  not  weigh  with  all 
the  savages,  and  the  fact  that  many  repudiated  his  pretended  author- 
ity and  scouted  his  assumptions,  was  also  appearing.  Resentment 
awakened  by  the  severe  blow  dealt  the  Indians,  in  the  encounter  at 
Kittanning,  by  Col.  Armstrong,  was  leading  some  of  them  in  the  east 
to  perpetrate  petty  retaliations. 

Perhaps,  as  some  suspected,  Teedyuscung  had  really  instigated 
these  simultaneous,  cowardly  assaults  upon  defenceless  settlers  at 
various  points,  in  order  to  make  the  people  he  assumed  to  represent 
seem  more  dangerous  just  at  that  time.  In  any  case,  the  reports  of 
these  outrages  made  the  presence  of  so  many  Indians  in  the  neigh- 
borhood a  menace  to  the  peace.  Large  numbers  of  men  on  both 
sides  of  the  Delaware  were  stirred  up  to  a  pitch  that  might  at  any 
moment  lead  them  to  forget  all  prudence  and  precipitate  an  encoun- 
ter with  them.  It  might  be  supposed  that  the  anxiety  at  Bethlehem 
w^ould  have  been  sufficient,  at  such  a  time,  to  divert  attention  from 
all  but  the  most  necessary  things.  Right  in  the  midst  of  the  Council, 
however,  with  that  Moravian  spirit  of  the  time  which  was  so  inscru- 
table to  many,  a  number  of  the  Bethlehem  people  went  to  Nazareth 
and  engaged  in  the  dedication  of  Nazareth  Hall,  on  November  13, 
the  day  selected  on  account  of  its  historic  significance  with  which  it 
was  desired  to  have  this  structure — originally  intended  for  a  "Jiien- 
gerhaus"^ — associated.  To  add  to  the  incongruity  of  the  situation, 
the  Rev.  Melchior  Schmidt,  minister  at  AUemaengel,  with  his  wife 
and  forty  people,  arrived  at  Bethlehem  as  refugees  from  that  afflicted 
neighborhood,  that  very  day. 

Governor  Denny  and  his  suite  came  to  Bethlehem  after  the 
Council  at  Easton  closed, on  the  evening  of  November  17, and  enjoyed 
the  hospitality  of  the  place  over  night.  They  were  entertained  with 
the  best  viands  and  the  best  music  that  could  be  produced,  and  the 
new  Governor  was  given  an  insight  into  the  principles  and  purposes, 
as  well  as  the  peculiar  arrangements  of  the  Economy.  The  next 
morning,  when  he  left  for  Philadelphia,  he  was  speeded  on  his  way 


I  On  this  term  and  its  application  to  Nazareth   Hall  see  Chapter  VIII,  and  particularly 
note  19. 


/:)' 


1762.  349 


with  benisons  sung  by  the  children,  who  had  been  summoned  to  pay 
their  respects  to  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Province.  On  Novem- 
ber 19,  various  features  of  that  Council  with  the  Indians  were  com- 
municated at  a  general  meeting  in  Bethlehem,  together  with  the 
information — and  this  was  the  gist  of  the  outcome — that  they  had 
been  invited  to  come  to  another  Council  in  the  spring,  in  the  presence 
of  Sir  William  Johnson,  the  Royal  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs, 
then  so  influential  and  popular  with  the  chiefs  of  the  Six  Nations. 
Now  and  again,  during  the  next  months,  reports  of  incendiary  and 
murderous  assaults  by  the  savages  at  different  points,  kept  people 
in  a  state  of  uneasiness.  In  December,  Bishop  Spangenberg  wrote 
that  a  careful  watch  was  kept  up,  and  remarked :  "The  savages  are 
just  like  a  nest  of  hornets :  when  it  is  torn  open,  they  swarm  and 
buzz  and  sting  every  one  who  comes  in  their  way,  regardless  of 
whether  he  has  done  them  an  injury  or  not." 

On  December  16,  a  familiar  and  welcome  face,  absent  for  more 
than  a  year,  re-appeared  in  Bethlehem.  Bishop  Peter  Boehler,  who 
had  gone  to  Europe  the  previous  autumn  on  official  business,  leav- 
ing his  wife  in  Bethlehem,  now  returned  to  assist  Bishop  Spangen- 
berg as  coadjutor.-  The  latter  Avas  beginning  to  feel  the  burden  and 
strain  of  his  manifold  duties  in  such  trying  times,  and  Bishop  Hehl 
was  to  locate  at  the  new  settlement,  Lititz,  the  site  of  which  had  been 
selected  and  plotted  the  previous  June. 

2  Spangenberg,  as  General  Superintendent,  bore  the  official  title  :  Ordinarii  Unitatis  Frnl- 
rum  Vicariiis  Generalis  in  America.  Zinzendorf,  as  General  Superintendent  of  the  whole, 
was  simply  Ordinarius.  Spangenberg.  as  General  Superintendent  in  America,  was  thus 
Vicar-General  of  the  Ordinarius.  Boehler,  as  his  coadjutor,  taking  Hehl's  place,  now  bore 
the  title.  Vice- Ordinarius  over  aga'mst  Spangenberg.  Hehl's  superintendence  was  to  lie  at 
a  separate  new  centre  and  to  extend  over  an  associated  district  of  country  charges.  A  com- 
parison of  this  to  Antioch,  the  second  separate  centre  of  the  primitive  Church  with  Ignatius 
as  its  first  distinct  Bishop,  is  commonly  taken  to  be  the  meaning  of  the  peculiar  term  Sedes 
Episcopalis  Ignatiana,  applied  by  Zinzendorf  to  Lititz  and  used  on  the  document  deposited 
in  the  corner-stone  of  the  original  official  building — Gemeinliaiis — of  that  place. 

Boehler  arrived  at  New  York  on  the  Irene,  December  12.  She  had  sailed  from  New 
York,  July  i,  for  Europe  with  no  Moravians  on  board  but  the  captain,  Jacobsen,  and  one 
of  the  sailors,  Lambert  Garrison.  With  Boehler  came  William  Boehler  who  was  connected 
some  time  with  the  Indian  mission  in  some  secular  capacity  and  became  proficient  in  the 
Delaware  language.  Christian  Bohle,  Adolph  Eckesparre,  a  collegian  in  Deacon's  orders, 
and  Christian  Gottlieb  Renter,  the  surveyor  and  architect  who  eventually  settled  at  Salem, 
N.  C.  They  had  sailed  from  London  September  23,  with  a  fleet  of  60  merchant  vessels 
under  convoy  of  several  men-of-war.  Contrary  winds  detaining  the  fleet  at  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  the  Irene  put  out  on  the  hazardous  voyage  alone. 


350  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Another  glimpse  at  the  situation  towards  the  close  of  the  year 
1756,  in  the  matter  of  annoyance  and  worry  about  the  straggling 
Indians  harbored  at  Bethlehem  at  the  desire  of  the  Government — 
the  expense  of  which,  incurred  by  Government  order,  the  honorable 
Assembly  later  objected  to  paying — is  furnished  by  a  letter  written 
to  Governor  Denny  by  Spangenberg,  November  29.  On  this  sub- 
ject he  writes :  "We  are  at  a  loss  how  to  act  with  those  Indians  that 
come  out  of  the  woods  and  want  to  stay  at  Bethlehem.  They  are 
very  troublesome  guests,  and  we  should  be  glad  to  have  your 
Honour's  orders  about  them  (i.  e.,  new  orders  since  the  treaty).  Our 
houses  are  full  already,  and  we  must  be  at  the  expense  of  building 
Vv'inter-houses  for  them,  if  more  should  come,  which  very  likely  will 
be  the  case,  according  to  the  account  we  have  from  them  who  are 
come.  And  then  another  difficulty  arises,  viz. :  We  hear  that  some 
of  our  neighbors  are  very  uneasy  at  our  receiving  such  murdering 
Indians,  for  so  they  style  them.  We,  therefore,  I  fear,  shall  be 
obliged  to  set  watches  to  keep  off  such  of  the  neighbors  who  might 
begin  quarrels  with,  or  attempt  to  hurt,  any  of  the  Indians.  Now 
we  are  willing  to  do  anything  that  lays  in  our  power  for  the  service 
of  the  Province  where  we  have  enjoyed  sweet  peace  for  several  years 
past.  But  we  want  your  Honour's  orders  for  every  step  we  take, 
and  we  must  beg  not  to  be  left  without  them ;  the  more  so  because 
we  have  reason  to  fear  that  somehow  an  Indian  may  be  hurt  or 
killed,  which  certainly  would  breed  new  trouble  of  war.  We  had, 
at  least,  a  case  last  week  that  some  one  fired  at  an  Indian  of  Bethle- 
hem, but  a  little  way  from  Bethlehem  in  the  woods.  I  hope  Mr. 
Horsfield  will  give  your  Honour  a  particular  account  thereof."  With 
that  letter  Spangenberg  sent  the  Governor,  in  accordance  with  the 
latter's  request  to  Horsfield  on  November  17,  a  complete  catalogue 
of  the  persons  who  belonged  to  the  Economy,  both  resident  and 
non-resident,  accompanied  with  sundry  memoranda  deemed  desir- 
able to  sfive  the  Governor  full  information.^ 


3  The  principal  items  of  this  paper,  presenting  the  situation  at  the  close  of  1756,  are  the 
following:  510  persons  at  Bethlehem  besides  96  children,  some  orphans  and  others  belong- 
ing to  Brethren  and  friends  not  of  the  Bethlehem  Economy.  48  men  and  women  employed 
in  missionary  work  among  the  heathen — North  American  Indians,  Berbice  and  Surinam, 
South  America,  and  the  West  Indies.  54  preaching  and  teaching  among  white  people  in 
Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  New  England  and  North  Carolina.  62  instructors 
and  attendants  of  children  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth.  45  single  men  and  8  married 
couples  in  North  Carolina,  ''and  50  more  here  for  that  purpose  to  go  there  soon."  72  of  the 
above  "in  holy  orders,"  4  Bishops,  12  Presbyters  (Ordinarii),  56  Deacons;  and  "as  many 


1756 1762.  351 

During  the  first  part  of  the  year  1757,  until  the  next  great  Council 
with  the  Indians  at  Easton,  official  attention  at  Bethlehem  was 
divided  between  Indian  affairs  and  other  important  matters  of  a  gen- 
eral character.  Before  Boehler  left  Europe,  General  Synods  of  the 
Church  had  been  held,  at  which  the  foundations  were  laid  for  a  better 
permanent  organization  of  central  direction,  and  particularly  of 
financial  administration,  which  was  developed  in  subsequent  years — 
rendered  necessary  by  the  financial  crisis  referred  to  in  a  previous 
chapter,  the  results  of  which  now  required  a  different  system  of  man- 
agement from  that  followed  before.  In  various  ways,  the  steps  taken 
by  those  Synods  had  a  very  important  bearing  on  the  situation  at 
Bethlehem  and  on  all  the  interests  here  centered.  A  Synod  was  held 
at  the  place  in  January,  at  which  fundamental  matters  were  dealt 
with,  and  on  February  27,  the  Rev.  Nathanael  Seidel  left  Bethlehem 
for  New  York,  whence,  on  March  4,  he  sailed  for  Europe*  to  trans- 
act business  of  the  utmost  consequence  in  connection  with  the  prop- 
erty and  finances  of  the  Brethren  in  Pennsylvania. 

The  external  work  at  Bethlehem  was  pressed  with  energy  in  spite 
of  many  perplexities  and  disadvantages.  With  new  building  opera- 
tions in  view,  the  re-established  saw-mill  was  kept  running  very 
regularly,  notwithstanding  the  difficulty  of  cutting  logs  and  getting 
them  to  the  place  in  such  times.  Preparations  were  being  made  to 
build  the  large  and  substantial  barn  which  was  so  constructed  that, 
in  later  years,  it  was  converted  into  dwellings  and  finally  became 
one  of  the  old  business  quarters  fronting  on  the  east  side  of  Main 
Street  and  standing  entire  until  1871.  When  the  first  foundation 
stone  was  laid  on  June  i,  1757,  it  was  described  as  being  situated 
"over  from  the  mill-dam  and  directly  down  from  the  store,  fronting 
on  the  line  which  passed  the  house  occupied  by  the  boys'  school." 
Its  length  along  the  front  was  114  feet,  and  it  was  planned  to  con- 


Acoluthi  who  are  preparing  for  the  ministry  and  now  and  then  are  made  use  of  like  Dea- 
cons." go  (about)  of  the  children  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  "  have  their  parents  abroad, 
mostly  on  the  Gospel's  account."     425  of  the  foregoing,  under  age. 

82  Indians,  besides  several  young  Indian  women  in  the  Sisters'  House  "besides  the  sava- 
ges who  are  going  and  coming  and  slaying  longer  or  shorter  with  us.  ' 

4  He  sailed  on  the  Ii-ene,  commanded  by  Captain  Jacobsen.  He  was  accompanied  by 
the  sailors  Jost  Jensen  and  Andrew  Schoute  as  passengers ;  also  George  Ernest  Menzinger 
who  had  come  over  in  1755  and  now  returned,  and  several  other  passengers  not  from  Beth- 
lehem. This  Moravian  church-ship  was  the  only  vessel  permitted  to  leave  port  after  the 
embargo  had  been  declared.  She  reached  Dover  in  safety,  April  I,  and,  September  15,  was 
back  again  at  New  York  without  passengers  for  Bethlehem. 


352  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,   PENNSYLVANIA. 

tain  dwelling-  apartments  in  the  center  for  hostlers  and  teamsters, 
with  barn  space  for  grain  and  stabling  below,  on  either  side. 

Another  enterprise  that  began  to  engage  attention  early  in  1757, 
again  concerned  the  Christian  Indians  living  at  Bethlehem.  Soon 
after  Boehler  returned  to  Pennsylvania,  bringing  suggestions  and 
plans  from  Europe  about  various  matters,  the  question  of  perma- 
nently locating  this  residue  of  the  Indian  congregation  began  to  be 
discussed,  for  their  residence  at  Bethlehem  was  regarded  as  a  mere 
temporary  arrangement.  It  had  been  proposed  to  carry  out  Zin- 
zendorf's  plan  to  establish  an  Indian  village  somewhere  in  the 
vicinity  of  Bethlehem.  There  were  misgivings  in  the  minds  of  some 
about  the  practicability  of  doing  this.  The  uncertainty  of  the  yet 
pending  terms  between  the  Government  and  the  Indian  tribes,  the 
lack  of  hunting  facilities  for  the  Indians  if  settled  down  in  the  neigh- 
borhood— this  being  unfavorable  for  their  contentment — and  par- 
ticularly the  aversion  of  the  people  in  the  near-by  settlements  to 
having  Indians  living  in  such  close  proximity,  were  all  objections  in 
the  minds  of  some,  like  Mack,  whose  opinions  were  of  value.  Nev- 
ertheless, the  disposition  to  venture  the  experiment  of  thus  coloniz- 
ing Christian  Indians  in  the  midst  of  civilization,  even  at  such  an 
unfavorable  time,  prevailed.  The  matter  was  broached  to  the  Indians 
in  a  conference  with  them  on  March  10,  and  found  favor.  There- 
upon an  address  to  the  Governor  was  framed  to  be  adopted,  signed 
and  sent  by  them,  asking  permission  to  so  locate,  and  setting  forth 
the  reasons.  It  was  forwarded,  March  14,  and  on  the  31st  the  Gov- 
ernor sent  a  favorable  reply,  after  consultation  with  the  Provincial 
Council.  Reference  was  made,  in  his  reply,  to  the  lands  in  Wyo- 
ming and  farther  up  on  the  Susquehanna,  which,  on  the  basis  of  the 
partial  agreement  at  the  last  great  Council  in  Easton,  it  was  pro- 
posed to  assign  to  the  Indians  remaining  in  the  Province ;  likewise  to 
the  ofifers  that  had  been  made  them  by  the  Six  Nations,  the  accept- 
ance of  either  of  which  on  their  part  would  have  been  "very  accept- 
able" to  him.  But  such  being  not  their  wish,  he  says :  'T  shall  with 
all  my  heart  consent  to  your  living  with  the  Brethren,  at  the  place 
proposed,  provided  that  you  do  not  thereby  disoblige  the  Six 
Nations,  nor  the  particular  tribes  you  belong  to."  After  admonish- 
ing them  to  live  peaceably  and  give  no  offence  to  the  neighborhood, 
the  property  in  which  was  owned  by  individual  people  and  not  to 
be  trespassed  upon,  he  further  says :  "I  would  advise  you  to  com- 
municate your  intention  and  desire  of  residing  at  Bethlehem  to  the 


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Six  Nations,  and  any  other  Indians  you  may  be  connected  with,  that 
all  may  know  and  agree  to  it."  He  finally  assures  them  of  Govern- 
ment protection  and  of  his  disposition  to  do  them  "any  good  offices." 
This  cautious  proviso  that  the  Six  Nations  and  "any  other  Indians" 
should  concur  was  a  safeguard  against  any  possible  new  offence  to 
the  assuming  Teedyuscung,  in  anticipation  of  the  next  Council.  As 
it  later  clearly  appeared,  this  wily  schemer,  in  whose  vindictive  heart 
the  failure  of  his  attempts  to  draw  these  Indians  away  from  the 
influence  of  the  Moravian  missionaries  rankled,  attempted  to  con- 
strain the  Government,  as  one  of  his  conditions,  to  become  his  agent 
to  force  them  away,  and  thus  enable  him  to  accomplish  his  purpose 
at  last.  He  even  represented  these  Indians  as  being  held  prisoners 
against  their  washes  by  the  Brethren,  and  intimated  that  the  Gov- 
ernment would  do  a  good  service  by  aiding  him  in  liberating  his 
people.  Thus,  in  keeping  Teedyuscung  in  mind  and  preparing  to 
meet  any  arraignment  on  his  part,  the  proverbial  "back  door"  of 
escape,  so  commonly  characteristic  of  official  communications  and 
acts  of  this  kind,  was  left  open.  If  Teedyuscung  or  the  heads  of  the 
Six  Nations  should,  in  subsequent  negotiations,  make  this  permis- 
sion given  the  Bethlehem  Indians  a  new  grievance,  to  delay  the  clos- 
ing of  terms,  the  proviso  on  which  it  rested  would  then  clearly  leave 
the  Government  at  liberty  to  recede  from  it  and  resort  to  the  next 
best  thing  that  might  present  itself  as  an  expedient.  In  this,  even 
more  than  in  the  implacable  hostiUty  of  people  to  the  location  of  the 
village,  is  to  be  sought  the  reason  why  the  experiment  of  this  Indian 
colony  near  Bethlehem  could  not  result  in  permanent  success. 

These  dubious  conditions  of  the  Governor's  answer  did  not  deter 
the  authorities  at  Bethlehem  from  proceeding  with  the  undertaking. 
To  the  west  of  Bethlehem  lay  two  tracts  of  land  yet  belonging  to  the 
Benezet  estate,  and  steps  were  taken  to  purchase  them.  One,  run- 
ning down  to  the  river  towards  Solomon  Jennings's  place,^  and 
embracing  several  hundred  acres  of  the  finest  land  in  the  region, 
was  had  in  mind  as  the  site  of  the  village  which,  in  pursuance  of  Zin- 
zendorf's  suggestion,  was  in  advance  given  the  name  Nain.  The  pur- 
chase of  the  land  was  made  in  May.  More  than  a  year  elapsed, 
however,  before  the  project  was  consummated  and  the  Indian  con- 
gregation finally  settled  there.     On  June  14,  following  the  purchase 


5  The  locality  referrel  to  is  that  known  for  many  years  as  the  George  Geissinj^er  farm 
on  the  Lehigh,  later  occupied  by  Owen  Mack. 
24 


354  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA, 

of  the  land,  a  site  for  the  village  was  selected  and  staked  off.  The 
clearing  of  the  spot  furnished  a  large  part  of  the  winter  fuel  for 
Bethlehem,  for  on  December  lo,  eighty  men  cut  fifty  cords  of  fire- 
wood there.  On  January  9,  1758,  another  site  was  selected,  because 
it  was  discovered  that  the  new  highway  from  Easton  to  Reading,  to 
the  partial  laying  out  of  which,  in  1755,  reference  has  been  made, 
would  pass  quite  near,  and  this  was  deemed  undesirable.  Operations 
at  the  new  site  were  retarded  by  further  doubts  and  fears  caused  by 
the  machinations  of  the  unspeakable  Teedyuscung,  and  by  the  strong 
dissatisfaction  of  people  in  the  upper  part  of  the  township. 

Some  of  the  Indians  of  Bethlehem  went  under  escort  to  attend  the 
treaty  at  Philadelphia  in  July,  at  the  request  of  the  Government — 
because  Teedyuscung,  whom  the  authorities  were  yet  dreading  and 
humoring,  insisted  upon  it,  to  make  it  appear  that  these  Indians  were 
with  him — and  returned  with  new  assurance  of  Government  protec- 
tion, both  against  Indians  and  white  men,  in  building  their  village.  The 
first  house  had  been  erected,  the  loth  of  the  previous  June.  Finally, 
on  October  18,  1758,  the  chapel  was  dedicated  and  the  village  cere- 
moniously taken  possession  of  by  the  Indian  congregation.  Thus 
began,  under  clouds  of  uncertainty,  the  brief  history  of  Nain,  near 
Bethlehem,  in  pursuance  of  Zinzendorf's  plan  of  1742. 

At  the  time  when  negotiations  for  the  purchase  of  this  land  were 
opened  in  1757,  a  state  of  general  alarm  existed  between  Bethlehem 
and  the  Blue  Mountains  in  consequence  of  fresh  outrages  by  prowl- 
ing savages,  just  beyond  the  mountains  "back  of  Nazareth,"  on  Sun- 
day, May  I.  Friedensthal  and  the  Rose  were  once  more  overrun  by 
refugees.  Among  the  victims  was  the  widow  of  Abraham  Mueller, 
formerly  of  Bethlehem,  and,  while  the  Friedensthal  mill  was  being 
built,  cook  for  the  workmen.  After  her  house  had  been  burned 
before  her  eyes,  she  and  her  son  were  carried  ofif  by  these  "French 
Indians,"  who  headed  for  the  far  north-west.  She  was  killed  on  the 
way.  Her  son,  after  being  taken  almost  to  Niagara,  escaped  in  the 
night  with  another  captive  lad  and  succeeded  in  getting  back  to  Tioga, 
There  he  was  helped  on  his  further  way  back  to  Bethlehem,  which 
place  he  reached  on  June  22.  This  is  an  example  of  mmierous  thrill- 
ing and  harrowing  incidents  of  those  months,  referred  to  in  the 
records  at  Bethlehem.  Right  in  the  midst  of  this  new  consternation, 
the  Brethren  held  a  Synod  in  Nazareth  Hall,  with  that  quiet  deter- 
mination, when  at  all  possible,  to  go  on  in  the  even  tenor  of  their 
way,  which  so  puzzled  and  sometimes  even  exasperated  people  in 


1756 1762.  355 

the  neighborhood,  and  served  to  keep  the  old  slanders  about  an 
understanding  with  the  French  and  savages  alive  in  some  quarters. 
May  5,  1757,  Bishops  Boehler  and  Hehl — Bishop  Spangenberg  had 
gone  to  Nazareth  the  previous  day — started  from  Bethlehem  to  the 
Synod  "with  a  caravan  of  a  hundred  and  twelve  brethren  and  sisters 
afoot,  in  wagons  and  on  horseback,  under  a  strong  guard  of  holy 
angels,"  escorted,  however,  also  by  several  of  the  appointed  senti- 
nels and  six  Indian  guards.  This  Synod  was  in  session  until  May  9. 
Spangenberg  took  up  his  official  residence  for  some  months  in  the 
Hall  and  Boehler  lived  at  Bethlehem,  giving  more  attention  to  local 
details. 

The  anxious  feeling  in  the  neighborhood  increased  during  June 
and  July,  as  the  time  for  the  third  treaty  with  the  Indians  at 
Easton  drew  near,  and  the  gravitation  of  bands  from  various  points 
towards  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware  again  set  in.  It  seemed  as  if 
the  region  were  a  great  mass  of  tinder  and  only  a  spark  was  needed 
to  set  it  all  ablaze.  Therefore,  what  threatened  to  be  the  dropping 
of  such  a  spark  caused  no  little  anxiety  among  all  who  realized  the 
danger  and  the  great  importance  of  the  issues  depending  upon  this 
new  Council,  and  greatly  disturbed  the  Governor  and  the  authorities 
generally.  On  July  8,  the  day  which  had  been  appointed  by  the  Gov- 
ernor as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer,  when  the  thoughts  of  all  were 
particularly  turned  to  the  existing  causes  of  uneasiness,  an  unoffend- 
ing baptized  Indian,  William  Tatemy,  son  of  the  old  chief,  Moses 
Tatemy,  was  deliberately  shot,  on  the  way  to  Easton,  without  cause 
or  provocation,  by  a  reckless  and  foolish  young  fellow  of  the  neigh- 
borhood, who  evidently  merely  desired  the  glory  of  kiUing  an  Indian. 
He  was  not  killed  outright,  but  was  severely  wounded  in  the  thigh. 
He  was  taken  to  the  house  of  John  Jones,  east  of  Bethlehem,  and 
Dr.  Matthew  Otto  was  quickly  summoned.  Col.  Jacob  Arndt,  under 
whose  escort  he  and  other  Indians  were  being  conducted  through  the 
Irish  Settlement  from  Fort  Allen  to  Easton,  sent  a  special  message 
on  this  deplorable  occurrence  to  the  Governor.  Dr.  Otto  was 
anxiously  urged  to  spare  no  effort  to  save  his  life.  With  the  atten- 
tion of  whites  and  Indians  alike  fastened  upon  him,  he  lay  at  the 
Jones  farm,  hovering  between  life  and  death,  when  the  great  Council 
opened  at  Easton,  on  July  21,  1757.  The  doctor  sent  several  special 
bulletins  on  the  case  to  the  Governor,  at  his  request.  On  the  26th, 
Teedyuscung,  who  did  not  fail  to  make  use  of  the  incident,  formally 
drew  the  Governor's  attention  to  it  and  demanded  that  if  Tatemy 
died,  the  perpetrator  of  the  outrage  be  tried  by  due  process  of  law. 


356  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

The  Governor,  of  course,  had  to  promise  this.  To  the  aged  father 
of  the  wounded  man  he  said  "we  have  employed  the  most  skillful 
doctor  that  is  amongst  us  to  take  care  of  him,  and  we  pray  that  the 
Almighty  would  bless  the  medicines  that  are  administered  for  his 
cure."  No  wonder  that  Dr.  Otto  asked  the  people  of  Bethlehem 
to  support  his  efforts  with  their  prayers.  The  Council  proceeded 
under  the  special  tension  which  this  caused,  while  five  hundred 
troops  were  stationed  within  easy  reach  to  quell  any  outbreak  of  vio- 
lence precipitated  by  either  Indians  or  white  men,  it  being  equally 
likely  to  proceed  from  either  side.  The  Council  and  the  last  inter- 
views came  to  a  close  on  Sunday,  August  7,  the  treaty  of  peace  bind- 
ing all  parties  had  been  sealed  and  young  Tatemy  yet  lived,  when 
all  dispersed.  Then  the  attention  and  skill  that  had  held  his  life  to 
that  point  served  no  longer  against  the  inevitable  and,  on  August 
9,  he  died.  At  the  earnest  desire  of  his  old  father,  his  remains  were 
interred,  on  the  loth,  with  the  rites  of  the  Church,  in  the  little  ceme- 
tery on  the  south  side  of  the  river  at  Bethlehem  by  the  Moravian 
clergy. 

The  results  of  that  Council  brought,  of  course,  a  feeling  of  great 
relief  to  Bethlehem,  as  well  as  to  many  another  place.  On  August 
3,  Anthony  Benezet  brought  word  from  Easton  that  the  deputies  of 
ten  Indian  nations  had  joined  in  taking  hold  of  the  peace-belt  and 
that  reservations  of  land  had  been  pledged  them  in  Wyoming,  at 
Shamokin  and  beyond  the  AUeghenies.  On  Sunday,  August  7,  the 
Governor  came  to  Bethlehem  and  put  up  at  the  Crown  for  the  night. 
Bishop  Boehler  went  over  to  pay  his  respects  and  invite  him  to 
accept  official  hospitality  in  the  town,  but  this  time  he  preferred  to 
remain  at  the  inn.  Bishop  Spangenberg  came  down  from  Nazareth 
and  early  the  next  morning  went  across  the  river,  before  the  Gover- 
nor started  for  Philadelphia,  to  request  official  directions  in  reference 
to  the  "strange  Indians"  who  persisted  in  loitering  about  Bethle- 
hem, as  well  as  to  those  who  came  at  intervals  to  purchase  eatables 
and  other  articles,  and  occasioned  much  annoyance.  He  received 
the  promise  that  the  matter  should  be  laid  before  the  Commissioners 
and  the  Assembly,  and  then  the  Governor  left.  That  very  afternoon 
more  than  a  hundred  Indians,  on  their  way  from  Easton,  halted 
about  the  tavern  on  the  south  side,  and  it  was  deemed  prudent  to 
double  the  guard  in  Bethlehem  that  night.  Two  days  later,  Teedy- 
uscung  made  his  appearance  with  Paxnous,  Abraham  and  others  of 
prominence.     Great  relief  was  felt  when  finally,  on  August  12,  all 


1756 1762.  357 

but  a  few  of  them  took  their  departure.  A  striking  instance  of  the 
disagreeable  circumstances  attending  the  travehng  through  of  such 
squads  of  savages,  apart  from  the  matter  of  danger,  occurred  the 
last  week  in  August.  A  band  of  Nanticokes  who  had  been  in  Beth- 
lehem, the  end  of  July,  1757,  appeared  again,  returning  to  their 
country  from  Lancaster.  They  were  friendly  Indians  and  had  brought 
a  message  of  condolence  on  the  Mahoning  massacre  and  assurance 
that  they  had  no  part  in  nor  sympathy  with  such  outrages.  Three 
of  them  were  chiefs.  During  the  interval  between  the  two  calls  at 
Bethlehem  these  chiefs  had  died  of  small-pox.  The  rest  of  the  band 
were  bearing  their  skeletons  with  them  for  interment  in  their  own 
country.  The  flesh  of  the  small-pox  victims  had  been  scraped  from 
the  bones  and  these  were  carried  along  wrapped  in  blankets.  This 
had  to  be  endured  by  the  people  with  whom  they  came  into  contact 
at  Bethlehem. 

The  outcome  of  the  treaty  at  Easton  by  no  means  relieved  Beth- 
lehem of  undesirable  Indian  guests.  Teedyuscung,  in  the  conviction 
that  he  would  be  more  comfortable,  could  maintain  his  apparent 
prestige  better  and  conduct  the  negotiations  between  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  Indian  embassies  from  the  near  and  remote  tribes 
more  advantageously  by  remaining  in  the  vicinity,  secured  the  con- 
currence of  the  Government  to  his  estabUshing  headquarters  in  the 
Forks  of  the  Delaware.  Then  he  sought  and  obtained  the  assent  of 
the  Bethlehem  authorities  to  his  plan  of  setthng  down  for  the  winter 
at  Bethlehem,  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  where  a  cabin  was  built 
for  him  by  the  Brethren.  Undesirable  as  this  was,  in  view  of  his 
well-known  sentiments  about  the  dwelling  of  the  "Moravian  Indians" 
at  Nain,  and  the  dangerous  influence  he  might  exercise  by  Hving 
near,  it  was  nevertheless  concluded  by  the  Moravian  officials  that, 
all  things  considered,  he  would  be  more  easily  held  to  the  promises 
he  had  made  at  the  treaty  and  be  less  Hkely  to  do  serious  harm  here 
than  in  the  Indian  country. 

Thus,  by  understanding  between  Bethlehem  and  the  Government, 
the  "Delaware  King"  planted  himself,  for  the  winter,  right  at  the 
place  where  his  presence  had  been  most  dreaded.  He  was  on  his 
good  behavior  now,  so  far  as  his  relations  and  influence  in  the  fur- 
ther complications  with  yet  dissatisfied  Indians  were  concerned,  and 
it  was  to  his  personal  interest  to  do  his  utmost  in  these  matters 
towards  the  establishment  of  peace.  His  personal  vanity  was  also 
gratified,  for  now  nearly  every  Indian  deputation  to  the  Government 


358  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

passed  Bethlehem  and  took  counsel  with  Teedyuscung.  His  lodge 
thus  became  an  objective  point  of  pilgrimages  from  various  tribes, 
even  from  those  far  off  "on  the  Ohio."  The  other  Indians  who 
remained  at  and  about  the  Crown  Inn  were,  for  the  most  part,  a 
drunken,  brawling  and  thieving  lot,  and  sorely  tried  the  good  Breth- 
ren who  were  in  charge  of  the  inn  and  the  other  property  on  the 
south  side.  The  final  deliverance  did  not  come  until  well  on  in  the 
spring  of  1758.  May  7  of  that  year,  Teedyuscung  returned  from 
one  of  his  numerous  journeys  to  Philadelphia  with  William  Edmonds 
and  brought  the  word  that  now,  by  arrangement  with  the  Govern- 
ment, all  the  Indians  yet  tarrying  at  the  place  would  remove  to 
Wyoming,  where  a  town  would  be  built  for  them.  But  he  had  to 
admit  the  failure  of  his  final  effort  to  accomplish  his  pertinacious 
scheme  to  secure  the  removal  with  them  of  the  remaining  Gnaden- 
huetten  Indians  through  Government  orders.  On  May  15,  two 
Commissioners  with  about  fifty  troops  arrived  from  Philadelphia, 
as  an  escort,  and  the  next  day  the  whole  camp,  with  Teedyuscung, 
finally  set  out  for  Wyoming.  Only  three  baptized  Indians  remained 
behind,  with  their  families.  By  special  permission  of  the  Govern- 
ment and  agreement  with  the  Brethren,  Nicodemus,  mentioned 
before  this,  was  permitted  to  settle  near  Nazareth,  and  Nathanael 
near  Gnadenthal,  while  another,  Jonathan,  was  allowed  to  build  a 
hut  near  Friedensthal. 

As  the  figure  of  Teedyuscung  recedes  from  view,  with  the 
departure  of  this  caravan,  he  may  be  dismissed  from  these  pages. 
A  strange  blending  of  qualities  is  presented  in  the  character  of  that 
extraordinary  Indian  whose  spirit  no  force  or  artifice  of  white  men 
could  subdue,  and  who,  at  last,  was  conquered  only  by  the  power 
of  the  baneful  "fire  water"  which  he  loved  too  well,  assisted,  perhaps, 
by  the  fire-brand  of  the  treacherous  assassin  applied  to  his  cabin 
when  he  was  lying  prone  under  the  clutch  of  the  alcoholic  demon.® 

None  of  the  varying  traditions  concerning  the  further  circum- 
stances of  his  end  will  ever  be  verified.  Perhaps,  as  some  hold,  the 
heads  of  the  Six  Nations  had  a  hand  in  it.  Perhaps — and  this  is 
more  likely — he  was  foully  dealt  with  by  jealous  and  revengeful 
associates  who  had  resented  his  assumptions  and  superior  influence, 

6  The  Bethlehem  diary  has  this  brief  record  on  April  25,  1763  :  ♦'  We  heard  from  Wyo- 
ming that  the  Indian  chief,  Teedyuscung,  had  come  to  a  miserable  end  through  a  fire  which 
broke  out  in  his  house,  and  that  thereupon  the  other  Indians,  who  were  all  drunken,  set  fire 
to  the  whole  town  and  laid  it  in  ashes." 


1756 1/62.  359 

or  charged  to  his  agreements  with  the  Government,  features  of  the 
settlements  of  1757  which  they  repudiated  but  had  to  submit  to. 
There  are  indications  that,  after  the  second  treaty  at  Easton,  he 
felt  the  current  of  such  sentiments  towards  him  emanating  from 
some  who  were  not  fully  in  accord  with  the  settlement  and  on  whom 
his  hold  was  not  strong,  and  that  he  did  not  feel  his  life  entirely 
secure.  Perhaps  the  fate  of  the  Shawanese  Indian  who  led  the 
attack  on  Gnadenhuetten  and  carried  ofif  Susanna  Nitschmann  as  a 
prize,  and  who  was  assassinated  by  one  of  his  own  people,  haunted 
him ;  and  that  the  dread  of  a  Hke  end  had  something  to  do  with  his 
plan  to  spend  the  winter  of  1757-58  at  Bethlehem,  until  some  tangible 
results  of  the  third  treaty  for  the  benefit  of  the  Indians  of  Wyoming 
should  appear,  to  mollify  those  who  were  dissatisfied.  There  were 
qualities  in  his  nature  that  made  him  a  heroic  figure.  There  were 
others  that  made  him  appear  more  as  a  mere  blustering  braggart. 
He  was  an  astute  diplomate,  with  whom  the  Government  officials 
found  it  difficult  to  trifle.  He  cherished  a  romantic  sentiment,  as 
the  champion  of  the  name  and  claim  of  his  ancestors.  He  was  a 
forceful  and  eloquent  orator.  At  the  same  time  he  was  weakly  vain 
in  trifling  things,  and  affected  a  mock  state  which  appeared  grotesque 
and  has  caused  some  to  think  of  him  more  as  a  buffoon  whom  the 
Government  had,  by  force  of  circumstances,  to  cajole.  He  was 
religious  at  times,  but  of  very  frail  moral  fibre.  As  men  will  always 
differ  about  the  questions  at  issue  between  him  and  the  Government, 
they  will  also  take  almost  opposite  views  of  Teedyuscung,  some 
having  him  in  mind  as  he  is  depicted  by  those  who  present  only  his 
worst  qualities  or  purvey  the  ludicrous  stories  invented  about  him, 
while  others  exalt  him  to  association  with  the  heroic  romance  of  the 
"Indian  Rock"  on  the  Wissahicon. 

At  the  Crown  Inn,  where  host  and  guests  had  so  long  to  endure 
the  disagreeable  proximity  of  these  disorderly  campers,  some 
improvements  were  made  to  render  the  house  more  pleasant  to 
genteel  guests,  although  even  before  this,  it  was  the  best  country 
tavern,  according  to  current  testimony,  in  all  the  region.  The  erection 
of  the  new  inn  on  the  north  side  was  delayed  longer  than  had  been 
expected.  Among  other  things,  a  better  stable  was  built  and  a  new 
well  was  dug,  and  at  the  end  of  November,  1757,  the  rope  rigging 
for  the  ferry  was  substituted  for  the  much  slower  process  of  poling. 

Ephraim  Culver,  who  had  been  burned  out  of  house  and  home  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Indian  outbreak,  had  charge  of  the  inn  from 


360  A    HISTORY    OF   BETHLEHEM,   PENNSYLVANIA. 

October  18,  1756,  until  June  3,  1757,  when  he  removed  to  Nazareth. 
He  was  the  third  who  had  his  troubles  with  those  Indians.  His 
predecessor,  from  April,  1756,  Nicholas  Schaefifer,  and,  before  that, 
John  Godfrey  Grabs,  who,  in  1752,  had  followed  John  Leighton,  the 
successor  of  Hartmann  Verdriess,  had  both  had  their  trying  exper- 
iences with  them,  and  likewise  their  burdens  in  quartering  panic- 
stricken  refugees.  Culver  was  succeeded  temporarily,  in  June,  1757, 
by  George  Klein,  the  former  owner  of  the  site  of  Lititz,  with  several 
assistants.  September  15,  1757,  Andrew  Horn  took  charge,  with 
two  single  men  as  assistants ;  Peter  Worbas,  who  had  escaped  from 
Gnadenhuetten,  and  who  now  gained  some  experience  preparatory 
to  his  appointment  as  the  first  keeper  of  the  new  Bethlehem  Inn, 
and  August  Hermann  Francke  ;  these  assistants  being  followed  a  year 
later  by  John  Garrison,  who  principally  served  as  ferryman,  and 
John  Lischer,  who  thus  served  an  appreticeship  at  what  became  his 
chief  business.  He,  in  1762,  became  one  of  the  succession  of  regular 
landlords  of  the  Crown,  in  1765,  succeeded  Culver  at  the  Rose  and 
remained  there  until  it  was  closed  as  a  public  house  in  March,  1772, 
when  he  became  the  first  host  of  the  Nazareth  Inn.'' 

Horn  was  the  landlord  who  had  the  gratification  of  seeing  the 
last  of  these  undesirable  frequenters  of  his  kitchen  and  tap-room 
depart,  and  of  renovating  the  Crown  for  more  welcome  guests.  The 
need  of  proper  hotel  accommodations  at  Bethlehem  was  becoming 
more  urgent  and  at  last,  on  May  25,  1758,  the  corner-stone  of  the 
"new  tavern"  on  the  north  side  was  laid.  Before  June  the  cellar 
walls  were  laid  up  and  much  material  for  the  building  was  gotten 
ready ;  but  then,  in  consequence  of  a  variety  of  interruptions,  the 
work  moved  very  slowly,  and  it  was  well  on  in  the  autumn  of  1760 
before  it  was  finished.  It  was  opened,  however,  for  public  enter- 
tainment in  the  previous  spring,  when  it  was  yet  unfinished.  Peter 
Worbas  and  his  wife  moved  down  from  Gnadenthal  and  took  charge 
on  March  24,  1760.  In  July  it  was  still  uncompleted,  when  the  local 
authorities  were  considering  the  matter  of  procuring  a  license  from 
Court.  A  mere  "permit"  was  at  first  taken  out  at  the  September 
term,   when   the   name   "The    Sun"    was    given   it,    this    name    first 

7  These  items  about  those  old  time  inn-keepers  may  be  found  of  use  by  some,  in  tracing 
connections  in  other  records,  and,  as  regards  the  Crown,  serve  to  correct  some  inaccuracies 
in  print,  in  giving  the  succession.  Sometimes  allusions  are  made  to  a  tavern,  in  journals  of 
travel,  by  the  mere  name  of  the  host,  and  it  is  often  desirable,  in  tracing  an  itinerary,  to  be 
able  to  identify  the  public  house  thus  referred  to. 


^jmmmmlSiimm 


THE     SUN     INN.     BUILT    1758 
1763      1816 
1816-1851 


1756 1762.  3^1 

appearing  in  the  records,  on  September  26,  1760,  in  connection  with 
reference  to  the  appointment  of  a  jury  to  improve  the  King's  Road, 
on  petition  from  Bethlehem,  "from  the  Monocacy,  where  the  Gnaden- 
hiietten  road  passes  it,  to  the  new  tavern  called  The  Sun,  and  to  the 
Lehigh  a  mile  below  Bethlehem."  The  inn  was  not  entirely  finished 
and  fully  equipped  until  the  following  spring.  Then,  on  June  17, 
1 76 1,  Matthew  Schropp,  Warden,  made  application  to  the  Court  for 
a  regular  license,  Peter  Worbas  being  vouched  for  as  a  suitable  and 
trustworthy  person  to  keep  a  public  house.* 

The  year  1758,  to  which  many  of  the  matters  sketched  in  the 
preceding  pages  belonged,  closed  in  Bethlehem  with  special  services 
of  praise  and  thanksgiving,  in  which  the  review  of  events  in  the 
country  at  large  was  combined  with  the  remembrance  of  signal 
mercies  and  blessings  experienced  in  the  local  situation.  The  decisive 
struggle  between  the  English  and  French  arms  in  the  West,  resulting 
in  the  abandonment  of  Fort  Duquesne  by  the  French  in  November, 
had  settled  the  question  of  English  supremacy  west  to  the  Ohio. 
Another  great  Council  between  the  chiefs  of  the  Six  Nations  and  the 
Delawares,  and  the  EngHsh  authorities  empowered  to  treat  with 
them,  had  taken  place  at  Easton  in  October.  It  had  resulted  in  a 
more  decided  prospect  of  weaning  the  tribes  that  were  at  variance 
with  the  Government  away  from  French  interests  than  had  before 
appeared.  The  Moravian  missionary,  Frederick  Post,  whose  move- 
ments, as  Government  agent  to  deal  with  the  western  Indians,  were 
followed  with  much  anxious,  prayerful  interest  at  Bethlehem,  had 
safely  and  successfully  passed  the  supreme  episode  of  his  hazardous 
and  inestimable  service,  when  the  most  vital  issues  of  the  war  seemed 
to  be  in  his  hands  and  involved  in  the  fate  of  his  person.  The  knowl- 
edge of  this  had  reached  Bethlehem  before  the  close  of  the  year." 

8  Jasper  Payne  succeeded  Worbas  as  inn-keeper,  August,  1762,  Worbas  part  of  the  time 
assisting  him.  besides  Daniel  Kunckler,  who  had  been  connected  with  the  old  store  and  the 
ferry;  John  Rubel,  Peter  Goetge  and  Jost  Jensen,  previously  a  sailor  on  the  Irene.  Payne  was 
succeeded,  at  the  close  of  1766,  by  John  Andrew  Albrecht,  the  musician  mentioned  before 
this,  who  perhaps  used  his  gifts  in  this  respect  as  a  special  attraction.  Jost  Jensen,  the  sailor, 
followed  on  June,  1771.  He  was  the  landlord  during  the  most  eventful  years  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary period,  to  April,  1781,  when  he  was  succeded  by  John  Christian  Ebert,  who  had 
the  honor  of  entertaining  General  Washington.  The  next  landlord,  from  June  i,  1790,  to 
midsummer,  1799,  was  Abraham  Levering.  The  next,  at  the  opening  of  the  new  century, 
was  John  Lennert,  June,  1799,  to  June,  1805. 

9  The  importance  of  Post's  services,  at  a  most  critical  period,  is  well-known  to  all  who  are 
familiar  with  the  history  of  those  times.  They  have  often  been  enlarged  upon  by  historians, 
and  his  journal  of  that  momentous  tour  to  the  Allegheny  River  may  be  read  in  the  Pennayl- 


362  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Right  heartily  did  the  people,  therefore,  observe  the  day  of  thanks- 
giving appointed  by  proclamation  of  the  Governor,  on  December  28- 

In  the  review  of  the  year,  on  December  31,  a  serious  loss  that  had 
befallen  the  Church  the  preceding  year,  but  had  not  become  known 
at  Bethlehem  until  May  18,  1758,  was  recalled.  This  was  the  cap- 
ture by  a  French  privateer,  off  Cape  Breton,  November  30,  1757,  and 
the  sinking,  on  January  12,  1758,  of  the  church  ship,  the  Irene,  which 

vania  Archives,  Vol  III.  In  advance  of  the  army  of  General  Forbes,  marching  to  attempt 
the  reduction  of  Fort  Duquesne,  Post  had  succeeded  in  his  mission  to  the  Indians.  This 
success  demoralizing  the  French  garrison,  they  set  fire  to  the  fort  and  retreated,  before  the 
English  army  had  the  opportunity  to  strike  the  blow.  It  was  the  pivot  on  which  the  whole 
struggle  in  America  turned.  Frank  Cowan,  in  "'Southwestern  Pennsylvania  in  Song  and 
Story"  closes  a  verse  which  treats  of  the  valiant  determination  with  which  the  words  of  the 
dying  Forbes,  the  "  Head  of  Iron,"  inspired  his  army,  moving  to  the  intended  conquest, 
with  two  lines  on  Post  which  sum  up  his  part  in  the  issue  : 

"  But  the  Man  of  Prayer,  and  not  of  boast, 
Had  spoken  first  in  Frederick  Post." 
The  inside  history  of  Post's  critical  situation  at  the  supreme  moment,  as  related  by  him 
in  a  communication  to  his  brethren,  which  reached  Bethlehem  after  the  close  of  the  year 
and  was  read  to  the  people,  January  19,  1759,  when  he  was  on  his  way  home,  vividly  pre- 
sents the  situation  at  that  juncture.  Not  being  accessible  in  print  or  familiar,  like  the  matter 
contained  in  public  documents,  it  may  be  reproduced  here,  as  given  in  the  records  in  the 
third  person  from  Post's  account,  to  show  under  what  precarious  circumstances  this  Mora, 
vian  missionary  turned  "the  fortunes  of  war."  ''In  November,  when  the  English  army 
moved  from  Loyalhanning,  he  and  his  traveling  companions  were  brought  by  a  convoy  of 
fifteen  men  to  Kaskasking,  the  Indian  headquarters,  where  the  Indians,  and  especially  the 
chiefs,  were  verj'  glad  to  see  him  again.  When  the  convoy  set  out  on  its  return,  he  sent  a  letter 
to  be  given  by  the  Lieutenant  to  the  General.  The  convoy,  while  on  the  way,  was  attacked 
by  the  French,  the  Lieutenant  was  taken  prisoner  and  Post's  letter  was  rendered,  with  its 
meaning  perverted,  into  the  Indian  language.  Post  was  represented  as  having  written  to 
the  General  that  when  he  had  beaten  the  French,  he  should  summon  the  Indians  to  a  treaty 
and  then  massacre  them.  This  alleged  translation  was  sent  by  the  French  to  Kaskasking 
and  communicated  there,  and,  while  the  chiefs  refused  to  believe  that  he  had  so  written,  the 
young  men  were  wrought  up  to  such  a  pitch,  that  from  the  i6th  to  the  20th  of  November, 
at  the  advice  of  the  chiefs,  he  did  not  venture  out  of  his  hut.  (He  was  in  the  midst  of 
Indians  with  no  other  white  man  near.)  The  chiefs  finally  insisted  upon  it  that  the  French 
Commandant  should  produce  the  original  letter,  which  he  had  to  do.  When  the  Indians 
got  possession  of  it  and — several  being  able  to  read  English— found  just  the  opposite  in  it, 
and  made  this  known,  their  rage  was  changed  to  friendliness,  and  they  accepted  the  propo- 
sals of  peace  which  he  brought  them  in  the  name  of  the  Government.  Afterwards,  when 
the  French  also  came  with  a  belt,  not  a  single  Indian  would  accept  it.  The  French  were  so 
frightened  by  this,  that  the  next  day,  they  abandoned  Fort  Duquesne.  Upon  this  he  could 
go  his  way  in  peace,  alter  he  had  recommended  to  the  Indians  that  they  should  first  establish 
the  outward  peace  and  then  he  would  bring  them  a  yet  greater  peace" — the  "Gospel  of 
Peace." 


1756 1/62. 


-^\> 


had  broogiit  so  many  o£  the  Bethlehem  people  to  America.  She  had 
sailed  from  XewYork,Xovember  30,  I757.in  charge  of  Captain  Jacob- 
sen,  on  her  fomteenth  and  last  voyage.  The  first  satisfactory  account 
of  this  misfortune  was  receiTed  on  June  8,  through  a  iener  of  April  6, 
written  from  Bristol,  England,  by  the  Rev.  L.  T.  Xyberg.  Captain 
' ;.  '  T  the  sailors  Hans  Nielsen  and  Benjamin  Garrison,  with 
I- r  :  llringshaw  and  William  SchmaUing,  who  had  come  over  in 
Azrl.  :,~56,  and  were  on  a  return  journey  to  Europe,  were  taken  to 
?r .:  "     r  Andrew  Schoute,  the  veteran  sailor,  also  a  passeng^er 

r.  T  ^  remain  in  Europe,  was  left  at  Louisburg,  sick,  by  the 
crir-;-7  V.  which  throu^^  mismanagement  ran  the  vessel  on  the 
r:      -  ^       rmber  29,  Schoute  got    back    to    Bethlehem    and 

rr.-'.r  experiences  and  remarkable  adventures,      A  letter 

was  also  recerred  from  London  with  the  information  that  Nielsen 
:.rL  ,    :aw  had  died  in  captivity,  and  that  Jacobsen.  Garrison 

^ :  :   -  JT  'ivere  yet  prisoners,  the   middle   of   June.      Captain 

"1         T  j3t  back  to  New  York.  September  15.  1759.  on  the 

5::  h  he  had  command  until  the  fourth  church  ship, 

:hr   -  -  1760. 

\\"r.  -7      ;.      :    T     no  arrivals  from  Europe  since  December. 

1756,  some  new  r  ir  in  the  records  between  that  time  and 

the  close  of  :  ~:S  r :  ho  figured  in  capacities  of  interest  and 

importance.  :hese  who  deserves  mention  was  the  old  organ- 

':  '  "  whose  early  histon.".  in  Germany,  pre- 

5  7  -.       -  vith  Zinzendorf  and  Hermhut.      He 

had  left  that  place  wi:  7  i  heart,  come  to  Pennsylvania  with 

a  company  of  S:"  ^755-   ^n*!   become    a    Separatist- 

Akhongfa  some  vr   -  r   _  r.  cordial  terms  with  the  Brethren. 

he  now  first  returned  to  regi:  ection  with  their  Church.     The 

work  upon  which  he  entered  ;  and  Nazareth,  in  conjunc- 

tion with  David  Tanneberger  :  any  years,  the  best-known 

member  of  his  craft  in  Pennsylvania,  is  among  the  most  interesting 
industries  in  this  Moravian  hive  of  varied  activities.  Tilling  the  soil 
and  some  other  employments  might  seem  more  important,  but  more 
interest  attaches  to  the  few  notices  found  of  men  who  in  those  olden 
times  built  organs  for  the  churches  in  town  and  country,  and  thus. 
by  their  skill,  helped  to  provide  the  means  of  culti\"ating  the  noblest 
of  the  fine  arts  among  the  people,  in  the  service  of  religion,  when  the 
desire  for  something  fine  asserted  itself  amid  conditions  so  largely 
rude  and  coarse,    "Father"  Klemm  had  been  occupied  at  his  handi- 


364  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

craft  in  New  York,  where  he  stood  in  cordial  relations  to  the  Mora- 
vian minister  and  members.  He  wrote  to  Bethlehem  at  the  end  of 
September,  1757,  expressing  a  desire  to  settle  down  and  spend  his 
declining  days  here.  He  was  welcomed  and,  on  November  25,  arrived 
on  the  Bethlehem  wagon  from  New  Brunswick.  He  was  soon  busy 
putting  the  Bethlehem  church-organ  into  repair,  and  directly  associ- 
ated with  himself  David  Tanneberger,  a  skillful  joiner,  who  had  come 
over  with  John  Nitschmann's  colony  in  1749.  With  him  as  an 
assistant,  he  went  to  Nazareth,  March  i,  1758,  to  build  an  organ  for 
the  chapel  of  the  settlement  in  Nazareth  Hall.  Establishing  their 
work-shop  in  the  Hall,  they  also  built  a  new  organ  for  Bethlehem, 
which  was  set  up,  January  20,  1759.  They  had  their  organ-factory  at 
Nazareth  until  the  room  was  needed  for  dwelling  accommodations. 
Then  they  transferred  it,  August  6,  1760,  to  the  Burnside  house,  up 
the  Monocacy  from  Bethlehem.  How  long  they  continued  to  work 
there  is  not  clear.  They  evidently  built  other  small  organs  during 
those  several  years,  but  for  what  places  does  not  appear.  There  are 
repeated  references  to  excursions  by  Tanneberger  to  different  places 
in  search  of  lumber  suitable  for  organ-building.  They  had  their  shop 
in  Bethlehem  at  the  close  of  1761,  and  on  May  5,  1762,  the  old  master 
of  the  craft  departed  this  life,  after  imparting  his  knowledge  to  his 
skillful  assistant.^" 


10  November  17,  1761,  the  organ  previously  used  at  Bethlehem  was  conveyed  to  Lititz, 
and  Tanneberger  went  along  to  set  it  up.  That  was  the  organ  brought  to  Bethlehem  from 
Philadelphia  by  Klemm,  set  up  by  him  in  June,  1746,  and  put  in  repair  in  1751  by  Robert 
Harttafel,  of  Lancaster  County,  as  noted  in  these  pages.  It  has  commonly  been  referred  to 
by  writers  as  built  by  Gustavus  Hesselius,  the  Swedish  organ-builder  and  painter  connected 
with  the  Moravians  in  Philadelphia  for  a  while,  and  spoken  of  as  the  "  first  organ-builder 
in  America."  Possibly  he  and  Klemm  were  associated  in  this  handicraft  at  one  time  in 
Philadelphia.  Hesselius  died  there,  May  25,  1755.  Harttafel,  the  third  of  this  group  of 
early  Moravian  organ-builders,  passed  the  later  years  of  his  life  at  Lancaster  and  died  there, 
April  29,  1 802.  Tanneberger,  the  best-known  of  them,  who  built  organs  for  many  churches 
in  Pennsylvania,  in  New  York — e.g.,  in  1767  at  Albany — in  Maryland  and  Virginia,  and,  as 
it  seems,  in  other  provinces,  removed  to  Lititz  in  August,  1765,  where  he  had  his  factory 
until  his  death.  He  was  associated  in  later  years  with  John  Philip  Bachmann  who  came 
over  from  Herrnhut  in  1793,  to  learn  the  trade  with  him,  became  his  son-in-law  and,  in 
November,  1799,  went  to  Salem,  N.C.,  to  set  up  the  organ  they  had  built  for  the  church  at 
that  place.  Bachmann's  son,  Ernst  Julius,  also  learned  the  trade  of  his  father  in  the  old 
factory  at  Lititz,  but,  the  business  declining,  he  gave  it  up  and,  in  1827,  went  to  Lebanon  to 
teach  school.  The  last  organ  built  by  Tanneberger  was  one  for  the  Lutheran  church  at 
York,  Pa.  While  setting  it  up,  he  was  stricken  with  paralysis,  fell  from  a  scaffold  and  died, 
May  19,  1804.     He  had  been  negotiated  with  to  build  the  organ  for  the  Bethlehem  church, 


1756 1762.  3^5 

In  the  spring  of  1758,  one  who  was  greatly  beloved  at  Bethlehem 
and  held  in  reverence  by  all  who  knew  him  passed  away.  This  was 
the  patriarch  of  the  place,  David  Nitschmann,  Sr.,  conspicuously 
identified  with  it  from  the  beginning,  and  at  the  time  of  his  decease, 
the  nominal  owner  in  law  of  all  its  real  estate.  For  a  few  years  he 
had  been  living  in  quiet  retirement,  incapacitated  by  the  infirmities  of 
old  age,  for  participation  in  the  activities  of  field,  workshop  and 
garden  in  which  he  continued,  however,  to  manifest  great  interest.  A 
large  part  of  his  time  had  been  given  to  prayer,  bearing  upon  his 
heart  all  the  people,  old  and  young,  all  the  concerns  of  the  Church, 
and  particularly  the  poor  Indians  rescued  from  savagery  by  the  efforts 
of  the  Brethren;  these  being  an  especial  object  of  his  solicitude.  To 
the  Indians  at  Bethlehem  and  to  the  children  Father  Nitschmann  gave 
more  of  the  kindly  sympathy  with  which  his  heart  overflowed,  than 
to  any  other  persons.  His  peaceful  end  came  on  April  14,  1758,  and 
on  the  i6th  his  remains  were  laid  to  rest  at  the  spot  in  the  Bethlehem 
cemetery  where  the  little  slab  now  bears  his  honored  name.  His 
nephew.  Bishop  David  Nitschmann,  who  at  this  time  was  sojourning 
at  Lititz,  helping  in  the  opening  of  the  settlement,  started  on  a  visit 
to  Bethlehem  to  see  the  patriarch  once  more,  having  heard  that  he 
was  very  feeble.  At  Oley  he  was  met  with  the  tidings  of  his  departure. 
Not  being  able,  therefore,  to  see  him  or  attend  the  funeral,  he  pro- 
ceeded leisurely  on  his  way,  calling  elsewhere  meanwhile,  and  reached 
Bethlehem  the  following  week. 

During  the  year  1759  various  preparatory  steps  were  taken  towards 
the  reconstruction  of  the  system  of  administration  and  the  methods 
of  associate  life  and  activity  that  would  bring  the  General  Economy 
to  an  end  with  ease  and  smoothness.  The  initiative  was  wisely  taken 
some  time  in  advance,  in  a  quiet  way,  and  the  change  was  carefully 
prepared  for  by  those  who  were  in  control  when  there  was  no  special 
discontent  nor  striking  evidence  of  decadence,  instead  of  waiting  until 
the  pressure  of  dissatisfaction  among  the  people  might  compel  hasty 
action,  or  a  state  of  internal  weakness  and  inelBciency  might  be 
produced  by  the  retention  of  methods  that  had  outlived  their  useful- 
ness and  no  longer  served  their  purpose.  Stampeded  measures,  ill- 
digested  plans  and  disintegration  through  neglect  of  vigilant  control 

then  in  course  of  erection.  The  organ  at  present  in  the  Nazareth  Moravian  church  was 
built  by  him  in  1793.  It  was  rebuih  in  1898.  That  in  the  Moravian  church  in  South  Beth- 
lehem, the  former  Lititz  church  organ  was  built  by  him  in  1787.  It  was  transferred  to 
South  liethlehem  in  iSSo. 


366  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

were  all  to  be  guarded  against  in  a  situation  which  involved  the 
welfare  of  so  many  souls,  the  interests  of  such  an  extensive  work,  and 
the  safety  of  so  much  valuable  property.  Many  of  the  preliminary 
steps  were  quietly  planned  by  Bishop  Spangenberg  during  the  months 
when  he  had  his  headquarters  in  a  partial  retreat  at  Nazareth  Hall, 
and  his  efficient  coadjutor.  Bishop  Boehler,  was  devoting  his  attention 
to  the  afTairs  of  the  hour.  Meanwhile  a  clear  understanding  was 
gradually  being  reached  in  reference  to  the  eventual  plans  to  be 
carried  out  when  the  time  came,  through  correspondence  with  Europe, 
and  such  preparations  as  called  for  the  attention  of  the  general 
authorities  there,  were  also  being  made  while  Nathanael  Seidel  was 
yet  tarrying  abroad. 

One  of  the  features  of  those  timely  preparations  was  the 
modification,  to  such  extent  as  was  feasible,  of  the  common 
housekeeping  arrangements ;  relaxing  the  almost  military  regime 
which  the  more  adequate  appointments  that  now  existed  made  less 
necessary,  and  introducing  changes,  little  by  little,  in  the  direction  of 
a  larger  prevalence  of  distinct  households  among  married  people. 
This  required  the  provision  of  increased  dwelling  accommodations 
for  families.  In  November,  1758,  the  water-tower  house  which  had 
been  serving  alternately  as  a  home  for  the  boys  and  for  a  number  of 
the  married  men  who  had  quarters  there  together,  was  turned  into  a 
tenement  for  as  many  families  as  could  be  accommodated ;  while 
the  former  pottery  building  was  converted  into  a  dwelling  for  the 
widowers  who  had  a  home  together. 

In  the  spring  of  1759,  it  was  concluded  to  use  some  of  the 
apartments  of  Nazareth  Hall  for  school  purposes  and  to  trans- 
fer the  large  boys'  school  from  Bethlehem  to  that  place. 
This  school  was  left,  at  the  last  mention  of  it  in  these  pages, 
quartered  in  the  large  stone  house  fronting  on  the  present 
Main  Street,  as  described  in  a  previous  chapter,  where  the  Moravian 
Publication  Office  now  stands.  With  this  move,  a  series  of  other 
changes  was  planned  and  carried  into  effect  in  June.  On  the  5th  of 
that  month  the  little  girls  of  the  nursery  at  Nazareth  were  brought  to 
Bethlehem  and  quartered  temporarily  in  the  Community  House.  The 
next  morning  the  boys  who  were  to  move  to  Nazareth — there  were 
a  hundred  and  eleven  of  them,  with  nineteen  tutors  and  attendants — 
took  ceremonious  leave  of  their  house  at  Bethlehem.  Drawn  up  in 
order  in  front  of  the  building,  they  started  in  procession,  headed 
by  the  orchestra  of  boys  with  their  instructor  Albrecht,  for  the  pro- 
cession out  of  Bethlehem.    After  they  had  sung  several  hymns,  they 


1756 1/62.  367 

formed  in  line  and  marched,  double  file,  towards  the  Nazareth  road, 
while  a  farewell  chorale  was  rendered  by  the  trombonists  stationed 
on  the  terrace  of  the  Brethren's  House.  They  proceeded,  with  their 
own  music,  "to  the  end  of  the  lane" — the  then  eastern  end  of  what 
is  now  Broad  Street — where  the  smallest  boys  were  taken  into  the 
wagons  waiting  to  convey  them  farther.  The  rest  of  the  company 
marched  several  miles  beyond  that  point,  and  the  oldest  boys  all  the 
way  to  Nazareth.  There  they  were  formally  received  and  distributed 
into  room-companies.  Thus  began  the  school-history  of  Nazareth 
Hall,  with  Adolph  Eckesparre,  who  had  come  to  Pennsylvania  with 
Bishop  Boehler  in  December,  1756,  as  head-master,  under  the  general 
direction  of  John  Michael  Grafif  who  was  yet  stationed  at  Nazareth. 
At  the  close  of  the  year  1759,  John  Christopher  Francke,  who  had 
formerly  been  at  the  head  of  the  school  on  the  farm  of  Henry  Antes 
and  latterly  had  been  serving  as  chaplain  at  Gnadenthal,  took  charge 
of  the  institution. 

When  the  boys  were  transferred  to  Nazareth,  the  house  they 
had  vacated  at  Bethlehem,  which  had  been  known  for  a  few- 
years  as  the  "Boys'  Institute,"  became  the  "Girls'  Institute."  On 
June  8,  the  boarding-school  for  girls — a  hundred  and  three  girls 
in  charge  of  sixteen  sisters — was  transferred  from  the  bell-turret 
house  on  Church  Street  to  this  building.  In  the  parlance  of  the  time 
it  came  to  be  spoken  of  as  the  new  Kindcrhaus,  their  former  house 
being  the  old  Kinderhaus — "Old  Seminary."  On  June  14,  the  twenty- 
three  little  nursery  girls  brought  from  Nazareth  on  the  5th  were 
domiciled  in  the  second  story  of  the  bell-turret  house,  in  which  a 
room  was  also  assigned  to  the  company  of  "older  girls"  of  Beth- 
lehem who  were  no  longer  school-girls.  Finally  on  June  18,  the 
thirteen  girls  of  the  httle  boarding-school  on  the  Whitefield  house 
premises  at  Nazareth  were  brought  to  Bethlehem  and  given  another 
room  of  the  old  Kindcrhaus.  With  this  transfer  of  two  hundred  and 
forty-five  boys  and  girls,  the  distinct  school  character  of  Bethlehem 
and  Nazareth  as  seats  of  boarding-schools  for  girls  and  for  boys 
respectively  began  to  appear  more  definitely ;  for  all  the  grades  and 
divisions  of  girls  were  now  at  Bethlehem,  while  all  the  boys  were 
at  Nazareth,  the  Httle  nursery  boys  being  retained  there  in  this  plan. 

Considerable  more  space  thus  also  became  available  for  placing 
private  families  in  parts  of  both  of  the  buildings  at  Bethlehem  as  well 
as  of  those  at  Nazareth.  One  of  the  log  houses  next  to  the  Whitefield 
house  was  now  vacant  for  other  use,  while  the  widows  continued  to 
occupy  the  other  one.    Their  cramped  quarters  and  the  distance  from 


368  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

the  place  of  worship  for  Nazareth,  at  this  time  no  longer  in  the  White- 
field  house  but  in  Nazareth  Hall,  led  to  the  removal  of  some  of  the 
aged  and  infirm  of  these  women  to  an  apartment  in  the  latter  building, 
when  the  organ-builders  removed  their  work-shop  to  the  Burnside 
house,  in  the  summer  of  1760,  as  stated.  On  June  9  of  that  year, 
the  project  of  building  a  large  house,  to  be  a  home  for  widows, 
adjoining  the  Sisters'  House  at  Bethlehem,  as  an  important  addition 
to  the  permanent  central  institutions  of  the  place,  with  the  increase 
and  contemplated  re-arrangement  of  the  population  in  view,  was 
discussed  in  a  general  Church  Council ;  but  the  way  did  not  seem 
open  to  undertake  it  at  that  time,  much  as  the  crowded  condition 
called  for  it.^^ 

Early  in  1760,  provision  for  Indian  converts  again  claimed 
attention  at  Bethlehem,  for  it  was  becoming  evident  that  another 
place  besides  Nain  would  have  to  be  selected  to  colonize,  at  least 
some  of  them.  On  February  11,  the  missionaries  Martin  Mack  and 
Joachim  Sensemann  went  up  beyond  the  Blue  Mountains  to  inspect 
the  proposed  site  of  another  Indian  village,  a  few  miles  north  of  where 
the  former  village  of  Meniolagomeka  had  been  situated,  at  a  locality 
which  had  formerly  been  given  the  name  Friedensthal — vale  of 
peace — by  some  Moravian  settlers  from  Philadelphia,  but  which  in 
rude  violation  of  this  name,  became  the  theatre  of  one  of  the  appalling 
tragedies  enacted  by  hostile  savages  in  that  awful  December  of  1755. 
In  that  devasted  neighborhood  the  Church  authorities  purchased  a 
body  of  very  nearly  1400  acres  of  land  that  had  been  owned  by  the 
leader  of  those  unfortunate  people,  Frederick  Hoeth,^^  and  by  his 
son-in-law.  Christian  Boemper,  lying  along  the  little  stream  that 
became  known  as  Hoeth's  Creek,  which  was  then  changed  into  Head's 

11  A  total  of  1013  persons  comprised  the  population  of  Bethlehem  and  the  Nazareth 
places  at  the  end  of  1759.  Bethlehem  had  618,  Nazareth  268,  Gnadenthal  34,  Christians- 
brunn  75  (single  men  and  older  boys),  Friedensthal  15,  the  Rose  3. 

12  Frederick  Hoeth,  Jacob  Weiss  —  grand-father  of  him  who  founded  Weissport,  where 
the  second  Gnadenhuetten  and  then  Fort  Allen  had  been  —  and  some  other  Philadelphia 
Moravians  and  their  friends  bought  adjacent  tracts  of  land  in  that  neighborhood  in  1750. 
Hoeth,  the  leader,  and  several  others  settled  there.  Weiss,  it  seems,  did  not.  Hoeth's  was 
the  chief  plantation.  The  massacre  that  occurred  there,  December  10,  1755,  was  spoken  of 
as  the  massacre  at  Hoeth's.  He  and  his  wife  were  killed  and  three  of  their  daughters  were 
carried  off  by  the  Indians.  Christian  Boemper  was  also  murdered  during  a  subsequent 
raid.  One  of  their  daughters,  Mariana,  was  forced  by  the  imminent  prospect  of  torture  and 
death  in  the  flames,  to  become  the  wife  of  an  Indian.  After  many  thrilling  adventures  and 
extensive  wanderings  with  the  savages,  even  as  far  as  Pittsburg,  she  finally  escaped  and 
reached  Bethlehem  with  her  child,  October  17,  1759,  at  the  very  time  when  steps  were  being 
taken  to  found  this  mission  station  at  her  desolate  home. 


_1  -_  •- ' 


-n  m 


1756 1762.  371 

drunken  revel  which  the  white  men,  who  had  sold  the  Indians  the 
drink  and  gotten  them  intoxicated,  then  exaggerated  into  riot,  arson 
and  murder;  spreading  alarming  sensations  through  the  country, 
much  after  the  same  manner  in  which,  even  yet,  occasional  stories 
of  Indian  uprisings  in  the  far  West  are  set  afloat  and  telegraphed 
over  the  country  by  the  men  who  had  themselves  been  the  aggressors 
and  ofifenders. 

In  connection  with  reference  to  the  above-named  treaty,  it  may  be 
noted  that  on  August  9,  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania — the  Hon. 
James  Hamilton,  serving  his  second  term — visited  Bethlehem  and 
passed  the  night  at  the  new  Sun  Inn.  He  was  therefore  the  first  of 
the  Chief  Magistrates  of  Pennsylvania  entertained  at  that  Moravian 
hostelry,  which  had  been  open  only  a  short  time,  and  was  destined  to 
be  rendered  particularly  historic  some  years  later.  Many  other 
visitors  were  at  the  place  and  numerous  Indians  passed  through,  but 
without  tarrying  to  be  fed  and  watched  for  days,  burdening  the 
resources  and  worrying  the  officials,  as  formerly. 

Among  the  visitors  was  one  who  has  left  a  pleasing  little  sketch  of 
Bethlehem  and  its  people,  in  the  shape  of  notes  and  observations 
of  the  kind  which  are  only  to  be  found  in  diaries  and  letters  of  visitors ; 
giving  details  that  would  be  sought  for  in  vain  in  official  records  or 
even  in  the  personal  correspondence  of  Moravians  themselves,  but 
which  touch  up  the  far  ofi  vision  with  some  warm  color  and  cause 
persons  who,  in  the  dry  records,  are  little  more  than  names  to  the 
reader,  to  suddenly  step  out  as  living  men  and  women,  imparting 
an  idea  of  themselves.  The  notes  are  not  those  of  one  come  quizzing 
to  convince  himself  of  the  "false  doctrines"  there  cherished,  as  some 
of  the  militant  religionists  of  earlier  years,  nor  of  one  who  wishes  to 
get  a  sight  of  the  "Romish  practices"  or  of  the  concealed  French 
powder  and  lead  for  the  use  of  the  savages,  which  neighbors  in  the 
Irish  Settlement  had  told  about.  Nor  are  they  the  observations  of 
the  cynic,  or  the  dyspeptic,  or  the  individual  who  is  smart.  They 
are  the  impressions  of  an  evidently  healthy,  sensible,  well-bred  young 
woman  who  could  be  interested  and  find  enjoyment,  and  who  was 
not  one  of  those  who  describe  everything  as  very  queer  that 
chances  to  be  different  from  what  they  have  always  been  accustomed 
to.  Such  a  gUmpse  of  Bethlehem  in  1761  relieves  the  sombre  impres- 
sions gotten  from  the  narratives  of  the  trials  and  hardships  of  the 
previous  several  years.  It  is  dififerent,  too,  from  the  purely  and 
intensely  religious  character  given  the  softer  and  finer  features  of  the 


3/2  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA, 

picture  by  the  Brethren  themselves,  in  the  current  records,  in  which 
they  tell  their  own  history  and  experiences.  This  visitor  to  Bethlehem 
whose  notes,  were  a  few  years  ago,  put  into  print, ^*  as  those  of  many 
other  visitors  receiving  varying  impressions  have  been,  was  accom- 
panied from  Philadelphia  by  two  other  young  women  and  two  young 
men,  one  of  them  apparently  her  future  husband. 

On  August  26,  they  "set  out  for  Bethlehem  and  the  country 
adjacent."  On  the  way  they  met  Anthony  Benezet,  who  had  been 
busying  himself  in  the  interests  of  peace  at  the  Easton  treaty  and 
was  returning  from  Bethlehem.  He  told  them  of  the  alarm  created 
by  the  reports  about  the  Indians  who  had  come  down  from  the  moun- 
tains, but  expressed  the  opinion  that  they  might  safely  proceed.  In 
the  evening,  on  the  27th,  they  reached  Bethlehem.  At  the  Crown 
Inn  they  "began  to  see  the  manners  of  the  people,  complacent,  mild 
and  affable."  Such  persons,  apparently,  therefore  were  Andrew  Horn 
and  his  good  wife  at  the  inn,  and  Daniel  Kunckler,  who  had  charge 
of  the  new  rope  ferry.  The  "pretty  illumination"  made  by  the 
imposing  Brethren's  House — "Colonial  Hall"  of  the  Young  Ladies' 
Seminary — when  viewed  from  the  river,  was  observed.  On  their 
walk  up  to  the  Sun  Inn  they  "passed  by  the  stables  which  were 
struck  by  lightning  last  year."^^  At  the  inn  kept  by  Peter  Worbas  they 
"had  an  elegant  supper  and  diligent  waiters."  They  were  awakened 
the  next  morning  "by  one  hundred  cows,  a  number  of  them  with  bells, 
a  venerable  goat  and  two  she-goats,  driven  in  town  by  two  sisters" — 
like  the  morning  experience  of  many  a  traveler  in  an  Alpine  village. 
It  is  said  to  have  looked  very  pretty.  Nazareth  was  visited  the  next 
day — "a  fine  farm  where  the  widows  and  boys  reside."  There  Valen- 
tine Haidt's  paintings  were  noticed  in  the  chapel  of  Nazareth  Hall, 
many  details  of  the  institution  are  described,  and  it  is  stated  that 
"the  great  order,  decency,  decorum  and  convenience,  is  hardly  to  be 

14  Extracts  from  the  diary  of  Hannah  Callender,  by  George  Vaux — Pennsylvania  Maga- 
zine of  History  and  Biography,  Vol.  XII,  pp.  432-456. 

15  Not  "last  year"  but  July  20,  1761,  the  fine  large  barn,  built  in  1757,  as  men- 
tioned in  the  preceding  pages,  was  struck  by  lightning  and  set  on  fire.  Very  great 
difficulty  was  experienced  in  extinguishing  the  flames.  No  horses  nor  harness  were  burned 
and  the  dwelling  apartments  remained  unimpaired,  but  men  worked  all  night  with  the  burn- 
ing hay  which  had  to  be  forked  out  and  scattered.  The  near-by  thatch  roof  of  the  cow  stable 
and  sundry  stacks  of  grain  added  to  the  peril.  This  fright  led  to  the  organiaation  of  better 
fire-fighting  arrangements  and  to  the  steps  which  brought  the  first  fire-engine  in  America  to 
Bethlehem,  several  years  after  this,  just  too  late  for  use  when  the  first  disastrous  conflagra- 
tion occurred  in  the  place. 


1/56 1762.  373 

expressed;"  although  the  wooden  trenchers  in  the  dining  room  of 
the  boys  were  found  to  be  "not  so  clean  as  all  the  rest."  At  the 
Rose,  where  dinner  was  eaten,  they  found  several  Indians,  and  "things 
carried  a  solemn  aspect."  Perhaps  Ephraim  Culver  and  his  wife  were 
less  genial  than  many  another  old-time  Moravian  host  and  hostess, 
and  if  their  terrible  experiences  of  a  few  years  before  are  remembered, 
it  is  not  surprising  that,  with  Indians  about  and  the  reports  of  new 
outbreaks  that  had  just  come  down  from,  the  region  of  their  desolate 
home  worrying  them,  things  wore  that  kind  of  an  aspect.  At  Gnaden- 
thal  again  there  were  paintings  "of  the  birth  and  death  of  our 
Saviour."  There  they  were  kindly  treated  to  peaches  by  some  women. 
At  Christiansbrunn,  "the  residence  of  the  younger  single  brethren," 
they  admired  the  water-works,  milk-house  and  fine  oxen,  walked 
down  steps  to  the  spring  which  "being  walled  in  a  sort  of  room  was 
very  nice  and  had  a  romantic  air."  There  they  "drank  of  the  Castalian 
fount."  They  also  "drank  a  dish  of  tea  in  the  Guardian's  room 
opposite  the  single  brethren's  chambers,  who  pleased  and  diverted 
themselves  by  looking  at  them."  The  next  morning,  at  Bethlehem, 
the  cows  again  and  "the  bell  calling  the  sisters  to  prayers"  attracted 
attention.  Nicholas  Garrison,  Jr.,  and  his  wife  Gracie — daughter  of 
William  Parsons — were  encountered.  She  received  them  "with  free- 
dom," and  they  met  as  former  school-mates.  Then  the  men  of  the 
company  went  their  way  while  the  writer  and  her  companion  were 
escorted  by  the  polite  Mrs.  Garrison  to  the  Sisters'  House.  There 
another  school-mate,  Polly  Penry,  whose  unfortunate  life  was  known 
to  the  writer,  was  found  and  the  meeting  was  an  affecting  one. 
Rebecca  Langly  "whose  ease,  grace  and  affability"  proved  her  genteel 
bringing  up  is  mentioned.  The  accomplished  but  somewhat  eccentric 
wife  of  the  yet  more  eccentric  Henry  Miller,  printer,  was  another  of 
the  women  met  with.  A  stroll  was  taken  "up  the  single  sisters' 
walk,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long,  adorned  with  two  rows  of  black  cherry 
trees  to  the  Monocacy  Creek."  Along  the  creek  the  wash-house,  dye- 
house,  bleaching-yard,  saw-mill,  etc.,  were  observed.  The  visitor 
says :  "Sister  Garrison  with  good  humor  gave  us  girls  leave  to  step 
across  a  field  to  a  little  island  belonging  to  the  single  brethren."  They 
were  now  within  the  precincts  of  the  present  pleasure  grounds  of  the 
Young  Ladies'  Seminary,  and  this  was  the  "Wunden  Eiland"  referred 
to  in  a  previous  chapter.  The  neat  summer-house  on  it  with  seats 
of  turf  and  button-wood  trees  around  it,  is  mentioned.  A  children's 
meeting  was  attended,  in  company  with  "Nicholas  and  Gracy  Gar- 


374  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

risen;"  also  a  lovefeast  in  the  evening  at  which  "small  loaves  of 
bread"  and  "a  small  cup  of  chocolate"  v^ere  served.  The  next  day 
at  ten  o'clock  they  "went  to  meeting"  with  "Sister  Miller,  Becky  and 
Polly."  The  minister  discoursed  in  English.  His  name,  "Heyde" 
(Haidt)  is  mentioned,  and  it  is  stated  that  he  was  "their  limner  who 
executed  all  the  paintings." 

Whatever  unfavorable  impressions  these  visitors  received  of  one 
or  another  thing,  and  any  adverse  comments  they  may  have  passed 
have  not  been  preserved  in  the  extracts  from  that  journal  that  have 
been  published.  They  at  least  did  not  trouble  themselves  about  the 
attitude  of  the  Brethren  towards  the  controverted  points  of  school 
theology,  or  ask  ill-mannered  questions  about  this  and  that  reproach 
which  some  grim  divine  or  reckless  sensation-monger  had  cast  upon 
them  in  his  book ;  and  they  had  not  come  to  write  a  racy  story  about 
the  customs  of  the  Moravians  in  which  the  main  object  would  be  to 
make  it  readable  and  have  it  accepted  for  publication,  with  the 
question  of  the  truth  of  the  things  written  a  quite  immaterial  consid- 
eration, as  has  been  the  case  with  so  many  a  story  in  much  more 
recent  times.  They  apparently  did  not  even  undertake,  from  the 
knowledge  gotten  through  a  conversation  of  a  few  minutes  with  the 
ferryman,  or  the  inn-keeper,  or  the  woman  who  sold  fancy-work  at 
the  Sisters'  House,  to  explain  the  principles  and  regulations  of  the 
Economy  for  the  information  of  the  public.  Undoubtedly  those  girls 
left  with  the  good  will  of  all  the  Bethlehem  people  with  whom  they 
had  come  into  contact. 

That  summer  (1761)  was  a  particularly  fruitful  one  in  field, 
orchard  and  garden,  and  the  array  of  luxuriant  growth,  in  well-kept 
condition,  certainly  enhanced  the  attractive  appearance  of  the  place, 
to  which  allusion  is  made  by  various  people  who  visited  it.  Reference 
occurs  in  the  records  to  the  particularly  abundant  harvests  of  several 
years  following  the  years  of  scarcity  that  had  added  to  the  trials  of 
those  dire  times.  It  was  therefore  under  cheerful  circumstances  that 
the  first  accessions  to  the  population  from  Europe,  since  the  arrival 
of  the  few  with  Bishop  Boehler  in  December,  1756,  were  welcomed  at 
Bethlehem  near  the  end  of  October,  1761. 

There  was  now  another  church-transport  afloat — the  fourth, 
called  the  Hope.  After  the  loss  of  the  Irene,  Captain  Jacobsen 
made  several  voyages  with  the  brig  Concord,  which  he  brought 
over  from  Europe  after  his  release  from  captivity.  His  last 
arrival  with  this  vessel,  noted  in  the  records,  was  on  June  14, 
1760.    His  only  passenger  mentioned  was  Augustus  Schubert  bound 


1756 1762.  375 

for  the  Moravian  settlement  in  North  Carolina  as  physician.  He 
started  for  his  destination  from  Bethlehem  early  in  September,  1760. 
Few  details  are  on  record  about  the  building  of  the  Hope.  The  busi- 
ness seems  to  have  been  left  almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  Captain 
Jacobsen ;  so  much  so  that  it  would  appear  to  have  been  rather  a 
private  undertaking  on  his  part,  with  perhaps  others  associated  with 
him,  than  an  enterprise  started  by  the  Church  authorities,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  Irene.  He  served  the  Church,  however,  with  this  transport 
in  the  same  manner,  to  such  extent  as  was  required.  Henry  Van 
Vleck,  merchant,  of  New  York,  referred  to  before  in  these  pages,  a 
prominent  Moravian  and  business  agent  of  the  Church  authorities  in 
that  city,  who  had  been  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Irene  and  at  this 
time  was  acting  for  the  others  in  final  settlements  on  her  account, 
made  extensive  use  of  the  Hope  for  importing  merchandise.  Probably 
the  enterprise  was  undertaken  largely  by  his  assistance  and  under  his 
personal  auspices.  From  several  allusions  it  might  almost  be  inferred 
that  the  vessel  was  purchased  by  Captain  Jacobsen  when  in  process  of 
building  at  New  Haven,  and  then  finished  and  rigged  under  his 
direction.  The  first  reference  to  the  Hope  found  in  the  Bethlehem 
records  is  the  statement  in  the  diary  on  December  11,  1760,  that, 
according  to  a  report  from  the  Moravian  minister  in  New  York,  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Yarrell,  Captain  Jacobsen  then  had  his  ship  calleki 
the  Hope  floated.  Just  before  the  close  of  the  year  the  Captain  himself 
reported  to  the  board  at  Bethlehem  that  "his  ship  the  Hope"  was 
successfully  launched  on  November  21,  and  brought  safely  to  New 
York,  December  9;  and  expressed  his  expectation  that  she  would 
prove  to  be  a  good  sailer.  He  stated  also  that  he  intended,  shortly 
after  New  Year,  to  put  off  with  her  for  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
to  take  on  a  cargo  for  London,  as  none  was  to  be  had  in  New  York. 
The  vessel  was  registered  on  January  10,  1761,  at  New  York,  by 
Jacobsen  and  Van  Vleck.  She  was  recorded  as  "plantation  built," 
of  a  hundred  and  twenty  tons  burden,  carrying  four  cannon  and  a 
crew  of  thirteen  men.  On  January  16,  when  lying  in  the  harbor  ready 
to  sail,  she  came  near  being  damaged  by  a  great  mass  of  ice  causing 
her  to  drift  to  a  dangerous  place.  On  the  17th,  "the  day  on  which 
George  HI.  was  proclaimed  King  in  the  fort  and  in  the  city,"  the 
Captain  set  sail  for  South  Carolina,  but  put  back  on  account  of  heavy 
wind  and  the  ice,  and  sailed  again  on  the  19th.  He  sailed  from 
Charleston,  S.  C,  under  convoy,  February  23,  for  England,  and 
reached  Portsmouth,  March  28.    Letters  reached  Bethlehem,  August 


3/6  A   HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM.    PENNSYLVANIA. 

27,  Stating  that  the  Hope,  three  weeks  after  leaving  London,  was  lying 
off  Portsmouth  with  sixty-nine  souls  on  board — passengers  and  crew 
— waiting  for  a  convoy.  She  finally  sailed  from  Spithead,  August  4, 
with  a  fieet  of  four  men-of-war  and  eighty  other  craft,  arrived  at 
Sandy  Hook,  October  18,  1761,  reaching  her  dock  the  next  day. 

Nathanael  Seidel,  returning  after  an  absence  of  more  than  four 
years,  was  a  passenger  with  his  wife.  He  had  during  his  absence  been 
married  to  Anna  Johanna  Piesch,  the  grand-daughter  of  Father 
Nitschmann,  who  had  been  in  America  nine  years  before.  He  had 
also  been  consecrated  a  bishop  on  May  12,  1758.  During  this  long 
absence  he  had  not  only  participated  in  the  successful  consummation 
of  a  mass  of  legal  transactions,  to  establish  more  securely  the  title  to 
the  estates  of  the  Church  in  America,  to  which  reference  has  already 
been  made,  but  had  engaged  in  several  conspicuous  tours  and  special 
labors  in  company  with  Count  Zinzendorf  who  had  now  passed  away 
from  the  joys  and  the  toils  of  his  earthly  mission.  He  died  at  Herrn- 
hut.  May  9,  1760,  and  the  tidings  of  his  decease  reached  Bethlehem, 
August  19.  Seidel  had  also  during  that  interval  made  a  protracted 
and  arduous  official  visit  to  the  West  Indies,  and,  after  his  return  to 
Europe,  had  undergone  a  surgical  operation  for  an  ailment  that  had 
been  brought  on  by  the  strain  and  exposure  to  which  he  had  been 
so  continually  subjected  during  the  years  of  his  previous  labors  in 
America.  He  returned  to  Bethlehem  to  become  the  successor 
of  Bishop  Spangenberg  as  President  of  the  Executive  Board ;  Span- 
genberg's  counsel  and  assistance  being  desired  in  the  General 
Governing  Board  of  the  Church  in  Europe  with  the  important  and 
difficult  task  of  a  new  epoch  before  it.  Seidel  furthermore,  after  the 
death  of  Father  Nitschmann,  became  the  nominal  Proprietor  of  all 
American  properties  of  the  Church — those  in  North  Carolina  excepted 
— under  the  arrangement  explained  in  a  previous  chapter.  The  most 
important  immediate  duties  before  him  were  those  connected  with 
the  abrogation  of  the  General  Economy  which  was  now  to  take  place, 
and  the  thorough  re-organization  required,  from  the  supervision  of  all 
the  settlements,  churches  and  missions  down  to  the  management  of 
single  farms  and  branches  of  industry  that  had  belonged  to  the 
Economy.  He  was  accompanied  by  the  Rev.  Frederick  William  von 
Marschall  and  his  wife,  Hedwig  Elizabeth,  who  was  a  daughter  of 
Hans  Christian  von  Schweinitz.  Being  a  man  of  high  official  standing, 
distinguished  ability  and  large  experience  in  affairs,  Marschall  had 
been  chosen  to  eventually  become  General  Superintendent  of  the 
work  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  North  Carolina. 


1756 1/62.  ^yj 

Meanwhile  he  was  to  assist  in  the  capacity  of  General  Warden  in 
the  work  of  re-construction  at  Bethlehem.  Nine  other  ordained  men 
were  with  the  company,  two  of  them  accompanied  by  their  wives, 
two  of  them  widowers  and  the  rest  single  men.  There  were,  in 
addition  to  these,  twenty-one  single  men  in  the  colony  and  ten  women, 
one  of  them  a  widow  and  the  rest  single  women. ^"  The  name  of  the 
veteran  ship  steward  David  Wahnert  appears  for  the  last  time  in  this 
list.  He  died  at  Herrnhut  in  1765,  after  a  life  of  more  faithful  and 
valuable  service  than  many  another  about  whom  more  has  been  said 
and  written. 

A  strong  body  of  men  was  added  to  the  force  at  Bethlehem  and 
in  the  work  generally  by  the  arrival  of  this  colony ;  so  that  the  loss  of 
Bishop  Spangenberg  the  next  year,  with  Bishop  Boehler  remaining 
yet  for  several  years  during  the  time  of  transition,  did  not  affect  the 
situation  at  that  critical  stage  as  seriously  as  it  might  otherwise  have 
done.  Very  busy  weeks  followed  their  arrival.  Many  preparations 
had  yet  to  to  be  made  for  the  introduction  of  the  new  order  of  things. 
There  were  many  details  with  which  Seidel  had  to  familiarize  himself, 
because  he  had  been  absent  a  long  time,  and  the  situation  had  to  be 

16  Nearly  all  of  the  ordained  men  of  this  company  subsequently  rendered  conspicuous  and 
important  service  at  Bethlehem.  They  were  Abraham  von  Gammern  who  went  to  North 
Carolina,  and  Paul  Muenster,  a  Moravian  refugee,  who  for  thirty  years  was  identified  with 
the  collegiate  pastorate  at  Bethlehem,  for  a  while  with  the  wardenship  and  for  a  few  years 
with  the  General  Executive  Board ;  these  two  being  married  men.  The  two  widowers  were 
Andrew  Langaard,  whose  labors  closed  at  Emmaus,  where  he  died,  and  John  Frederick 
Peter,  who  also  served  at  Bethlehem,  the  first  of  the  name  who  appears  in  the  records. 
Ordained  men,  single,  were  John  Arbo  who,  as  warden  of  the  single  men  and  in  other 
offices,  filled  a  prominent  place;  Jeremiah  Dencke,  long  one  of  the  most  prominent  minis- 
ters and  officials;  Ferdinand  Philip  Jacob  Dettmers,  for  many  years  the  able  and  faithful 
warden  at  Bethlehem  and  Lititz ;  Amadeus  Paulinus  Thrane,  who  from  his  arrival  to  his 
death  in  1776,  was  connected  with  the  pastorate  and  was  the  principal  preacher  at  Bethlehem  ; 
David  Zeisberger,  a  cousin  of  the  better-known  missionary  of  that  name,  who  served  a  while  at 
Bethlehem,  but  much  longer  at  Nazareth.  Numerous  trades  were  represented  by  the  other 
young  men  of  the  colony.  Individuals  of  particular  interest  among  them  were  Immanuel 
Nitschmann,  son  of  Bishop  John  Nitschmann,  the  secretary  and  musician  mentioned  in  a  pre- 
vious chapter;  John  PVancis  Oberlin,  the  store-keeper  of  Bethlehem  in  Revolutionary  times; 
Matthias  Tommerup,  the  bell-founder  who  cast  various  bells  of  historic  interest.  Among 
the  young  women  were  Anna  Dorothea  Nitschmann,  a  grand-daughter  of  Father  Nitsch- 
mann; Maria  Dorothea  Bechtel,  a  daughter  of  Jolni  Bechtel,  late  of  Germantown,  who  had 
gone  to  Europe  in  1753;  Anna  Seidel,  a  sister  of  Bishop  Nathanael  Seidel;  Elizabeth 
Broksch,  Maria  Agatha  Hammer  and  Elizabeth  Kannhaeuser  who  rendered  conspicuous 
official  service  among  the  single  women ;  Juliana  Esther  Wapler,  long  a  teacher  in  the  girls' 
school  at  Bethlehem,  and  one  of  the  last  before  its  reorganization  in  1785.  There  were  18 
other  single  men,  one  widow,  and  two  other  single  women. 


3/8  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

carefully  studied  by  von  Marschall,  particularly  the  finances  and  the 
numerous  industries  of  the  Economy  which  he,  as  General  Warden^ 
would  have  to  re-organize.  Besides  this,  the  affairs  of  the  other 
existing  congregations,  the  important  new  settlement  of  Lititz  and 
the  Indian  missions  claimed  careful  attention.  At  Old  Nazareth,  at 
Nazareth  Hall,  where  the  new  Nazareth  arose  later,  at  Gnadenthal 
and  Christiansbrunn,  and  at  Friedensthal  and  the  Rose,  each  a  little 
center  with  distinct  industries  to  foster  and  features  of  organization 
and  communal  life  to  re-adjust  under  the  new  order,  there  had  to  be 
particular  inspection,  conference  and  conclusions,  as  well  as  at  Beth- 
lehem. These  "upper  places"  remained  more  closely  combined  under 
the  new  order,  with  Nazareth  as  headquarters.  The  separation  that 
took  place  lay  in  those  changes  which  made  Bethlehem  one  center  and 
the  Nazareth  group  another  in  local  organization  and  the  supervision 
of  the  various  industries.  In  all  this,  furthermore,  the  status,  avail- 
ability for  service,  in  one  way  or  another,  and  personal  welfare  of 
more  than  eleven  hundred  souls, ^'  old  and  young,  had  to  be 
considered,  for  the  whole  situation  had  to  be  studied  from  two 
points  of  view.  On  the  one  hand,  the  people  were  here  for  the 
benefit  of  the  establishment  and  its  objects.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
establishment  also  existed  for  the  people  who  had  built  it  up,  and 
those  who  were  in  control  and  responsible  for  the  new  order  insti- 
tuted, owed  consideration  to  the  people.  To  make  the  changes  in 
such  a  way  that  due  consideration  would  be  shown  in  both  direc- 
tions, and  satisfaction  secured  throughout,  as  far  as  possible,  was  the 
problem. 

Six  elements  entered  into  the  situation,  when  analytically  consid- 
ered, a  correct  apprehension  of  which  will  be  conducive  to  clear- 
ness in  understanding  what  had  to  be  done  and  what  not.  The 
first  was  that  of  relations  to  the  general  government  and  adminis- 
tration of  the  Church.  In  this  matter  there  was  nothing  that  the 
dissolution  of  the  General  Economy  in  itself  altered.  What  alterations 

17  According  to  the  exact  census  of  December  31,  1761,  there  were  1140,  including  62 — 
54  adults  and  8  children — absent  on  journeys.  Therefore  there  were  1078  at  home.  Of 
these,  669  were  at  Bethlehem  and  409  at  the  several  places  on  the  Nazareth  land.  Of  those 
at  Bethlehem,  262  were  males  and  407  females.  At  the  upper  places  there  were  312  males 
and  97  females.  The  male  population  consisted  at  Bethlehem  of  62  married  men  13  wid- 
owers, 120  single  men,  42  older  boys  and  25  younger  boys  down  to  infancy  ;  at  the  Naza- 
reth places,  of  61  married  men,  6  widowers,  64  single  men,  37  older  boys  and  144  younger 
boys.  There  were  at  Bethlehem  62  married  women,  138  single  women,  74  older  girls,  1^3 
younger  girls ;  at  the  Nazareth  places,  61  married  women,  23  widows,  13  younger  girls.  All 
the  single  women  and  older  girls  lived  at  Bethlehem  and  all  the  widows  at  Nazareth. 


1756 1762.  379 

took  place  in  this  general  government  subsequently  affected  in  the 
same  manner  all  the  settlements  and  congregations.  The  relations 
of  the  general  administration  to  Bethlehem  had  not  been  unique  even 
if  the  organization  of  the  latter  was.  Therefore  nothing  new  had  to 
be  instituted  in  this  respect.  The  next  element  was  that  of  ownership 
in  property.  In  this  matter,  what  would  have  been  the  most  formidable 
task  was  eliminated  entirely  by  the  fact  that  the  people  did  not  own 
any  of  the  real,  personal,  or  mixed  estate  of  the  Economy ;  and  that 
the  dissolution  of  this  Economy  did  not  involve  any  purchases  or 
sales,  transfers  or  conveyances  of  real  estate.  It  was  not  a  stock 
company,  not  a  co-operative  association  in  the  sense  of  jointly 
purchasing  and  holding  property.  No  process  of  liquidation  in  this 
respect  was  required.  There  had  been  no  community  of  goods,  but 
merely  one  of  labor  with  a  "common  house-keeping"  in  that  all 
labored  for  the  common  cause  and  received  sustenance  from  the 
common  store.  No  private  property  rights  or  interests  were  merged. 
This  has  been  explained  in  a  previous  chapter.  No  person  had  or 
pretended  to  have  any  claim  on  the  property,  by  reason  of  his  mem- 
bership. Those  who  had  made  loans  of  money  stood  secured  in  the 
same  manner  as  in  like  transactions  between  any  other  persons 
elsewhere,  and  this  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  dissolution  of  the 
Economy  and  the  re-adjustment  of  terms  between  the  establishment 
and  individual  members.  The  third  element  was  that  which  lay  in  the 
operation  of  the  farms,  industries  and  handicrafts  that  had  been  estab- 
lished. In  this  matter  an  important  settlement  with  individuals  had  to 
be  made  in  two  respects.  The  further  carrying  on  of  these  concerns  to 
the  best  advantage  of  the  organization  and  its  objects,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  so  as  to  give  all  who  had  been  employed  an  opportunity  to 
further  obtain  a  livelihood  by  means  of  them  if  they  so  desired,  on  the 
other  hand,  had  to  be  provided  for;  while  any  possible  trouble  that 
might  arise,  after  all  were  no  longer  taken  care  of  en  masse  out  of  the 
common  store  as  a  matter  of  course,  through  demands  for  back  wages 
or  questions  of  indemnity,  had  to  be  guarded  against.  As  to  the  first 
of  these  problems,  the  plan  which  was  adopted  divided  the  concerns 
into  two  classes.  One  class,  some  of  the  farms,  the  taverns — Crown 
and  Sun — the  store  and  several  other  establishments,  continued  to 
be  carried  on  under  the  direct  control  of  the  authorities  by  men 
employed  on  terms  and  conditions  agreed  upon;  the  other  class, 
especially  the  various  handicrafts,  were  carried  on  by  individuals 
who  purchased  the  stock  and  fixtures  and  leased  the  buildings  on 


380  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

premises  which  remained  church  property.  This  property  was  not 
owned  by  the  local  organization  or  even  by  any  general  organization 
in  the  American  branch  of  the  Church,  but  by  the  entire  Unity  as 
such,  and  was  managed  by  its  central  financial  organization  which 
was  called  the  "General  Diacony,"  of  which  the  men  at  the  head  of 
this  business  at  Bethlehem  were  the  agents.  Special  "Diaconies" 
were  instituted  by  the  single  men  and  other  choir  organizations,  and 
the  agricultural,  mechanical  and  other  operations  carried  on  in  con- 
nection with  the  several  choir-houses,  were  managed  by  their  several 
diaconies  which  then  dealt,  as  if  they  were  individual  lessees,  with 
the  General  Diacony.  The  other  point  of  settlement  with  individuals, 
touching  questions  of  back  wages  or  indemnity,  was  covered  by  a 
release  signed  by  every  male  adult  in  which  all  such  supposable 
claims  were  renounced,  in  consistency  with  the  terms  and  conditions 
all  had  signed  as  members  of  the  Economy.^" 

While  great  results  had  been  accomplished  in  opening  up  and 
improving  the  lands,  erecting  buildings  and  establishing  industries 
through  the  combined  labor  of  the  people  under  the  system  noV^ 
terminated,  so  that  what  existed  at  Bethlehem  and  the  Nazareth 
places  was  the  product  of  their  toil,  it  would  be  a  misapprehension 
of  the  facts  to  take  the  view  that  they  were  simply  left  with  nothing 
for  all  the  time  and  strength  they  had  devoted  to  the  cause — left  to 
start  in  for  themselves  empty-handed,  many  of  them  far  past  middle 
life  with  strength  on  the  decline,  to  look  back  upon  the  work  of  years 
as  pure  benevolence  on  their  part.  In  this  light  the  case  presented 
itself  to  some  who  viewed  it  from  the  outside,  and  there  were  people 
in  the  neighborhood  who  so  represented  it  to  some  of  the  farmers, 
mechanics  and  laborers  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth,  trying  to  stir 

17  There  was  reason  enough  to  expect  that  an  effort  would  be  made  by  persons  inimical  to 
the  Brethren  to  induce  some  to  attempt  to  legally  present  such  claims,  especially  some  who 
had  left  before  this  in  a  disaffected  mood  or  had  been  given  the  consilium  abeundi.  One 
such  test  case  occurred.  In  March,  1763,  a  certain  shoemaker,  Jacob  Musch,  who  left  in 
disrepute  in  1759  and  settled  at  Easton,  took  legal  steps  to  collect  an  alleged  claim  for  work 
to  the  amount  of  ^^^S-  ^3-  9'  Bishop  Boehler  and  Warden  Schropp  had  papers  served  on 
them.  Von  Marschall  laid  the  case  before  Benjamin  Chew  and  secured  a  legal  opinion, 
which  sustained  the  position  of  the  Church  authorities.  The  case  was  watched  with  much 
interest  and  caused  the  Brethren  no  little  anxiety,  because  if  it  turned  against  them,  it  would 
become  the  precedent  for  similar  attempts  by  others  like  Musch,  and  possibly  even  by  some 
"  of  the  baser  sort "  who  had  not  left  Bethlehem.  It  went  before  the  Supreme  Court,  and 
in  October,  1766,  that  body  decided  the  case  in  favor  of  the  Brethren.  The  law  being  thus 
shown  to  be  on  their  side  no  further  like  attempt  was  made. 


1756 1762.  38i 

up  discontent,  telling  them  that  by  rights  all  these  things  belonged 
to  them  and  even  intimating  that  certain  ones  had  profited  richly 
out  of  the  products  of  their  toil.  Nothing  could  be  more  natural 
than  that  this  latter  supposition  should  find  a  place  in  some  kinds 
of  minds  and  be  recklessly  gossiped  about  the  country  by  those 
whose  studied  practice  it  was  to  say  what  they  could  against  the 
Moravians. 

The  men  and  women  who  labored  for  the  Economy  had  been  fed 
and  clothed  and  cared  for,  during  those  years,  with  no  responsibility 
resting  upon  them  but  to  behave  themselves  and  faithfully  do  their 
work.  Shelter  and  food  and  clothing  for  themselves  and  their  child- 
ren were  not  dependent  upon  their  own  ability  to  manage.  Those 
of  them  who,  if  left  to  themselves,  would  have  been  incompetent, 
shiftless  and  improvident,  were  not  put  to  the  test  of  providing  for 
themselves.  When  failure  of  crops  and  times  of  scarcity  came,  and 
thousands  of  bushels  of  grain  had  to  be  bought  to  feed  them,  it  was 
paid  for  by  mortgaging  property  which  had  cost  them  nothing,  and 
not  a  man  of  them  ever  had  to  stand  for  a  single  farthing  of  such 
debts.  When  the  dissolution  of  the  Economy  came,  a  home  and 
employment  were  provided  for  every  one  who  wished  to  avail  him- 
self of  it,  and  those  who  preferred  to  leave  were  quite  at  liberty  to 
do  so,  just  as  they  had  always  been.  Very  few  did  so,  for 
it  was  generally  believed  that  those  in  control  would  deal  in 
good  faith  with  them,  and  that  it  was  to  their  advantage  to 
remain  at  their  posts.  A  fundamental  principle  of  the  system  now 
instituted  was  to  enable  every  person  who  remained  in  connection 
to  gain  a  Hvelihood.  Eventually,  too,  all  of  the  people  who  had 
borne  the  burden  and  heat  of  thei  day  under  the  Economy  were 
regarded  as  of  right  pensioners  of  the  Church.  If  they  were  without 
resources  when  they  became  old  and  infirm,  home  and  keeping  were 
provided  for  them,  not  as  a  matter  of  benevolence,  as  towards 
paupers  with  no  claim,  but  as  a  recognized  obligation.  Their  posi- 
tion became  rather  an  honorable  one  than  one  that  hurt  their  self- 
respect.  They  had  as  little  reason  to  be  ashamed  of  it  as  the  man 
who  has  lost  an  arm  or  a  leg  or  had  his  health  ruined  in  the  service 
of  his  country  in  war,  has  reason  to  be  ashamed  of  the  pension  he 
receives  from  the  Government.  A  pathetic  interest  attaches  to  the 
references  found  in  subsequent  years  to  the  care  of  the  old  Economy 
people — "Alte  Oeconornistcir' — in  the  financial  records  of  the  Church. 

Another  element  of  the  situation  to  be  dealt  with  in  these  changes 
was  the  practical  difficulty  of  finding  separate  dwellings  for  families 


382  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

when  the  camp-hke  arrangements,  which  had  yet  continued  to  some 
extent,  were  abohshed.  This  was,  however,  not  as  formidable  as 
might  at  first  thought  be  supposed.  A  considerable  number  of  such 
private  dwelling  apartments  had  been  provided  in  various  buildings, 
after  the  removal  of  the  boys'  school  to  Nazareth  Hall.  Various 
other  places  were  fitted  up  as  a  makeshift  until,  after  some  years, 
the  increased  number  of  regular  dwelling-houses  relieved  this  diffi- 
culty. The  number  of  girls  from  other  places  connected  with  the 
boarding-school  was  before  long  greatly  reduced,  and  when,  in  the 
course  of  further  shiftings,  this  institution  was  again  fully  accom- 
modated in  the  first  seminary — the  bell-turret  house  on  Church 
Street — the  large  stone  house  on  Main  Street,  into  which  it  was 
moved  when  the  boys  were  transferred  to  Nazareth,  became  entirely 
a  building  for  private  dwellings,  and  then  got  the  third  of  its  succes- 
sive names — the  "Family  House." 

When  later  its  population  came  to  consist  for  some  years  mainly 
of  such  superannuated  Economy  people  pensioned  by  the  Church,  the 
fourth  name  came  into  vogue — the  "Economy  House."  A  substi- 
tute for  this,  brought  into  use  at  a  later  time  by  some  in  flippant  dis- 
regard of  what  they,  as  comfortable  denizens  of  Bethlehem,  owed 
those  old  Oeconomisten,  was  "the  poor-house" — a  term  applied,  in  like 
manner,  to  the  Whitefield  house  at  Nazareth,  which  for  a  consider- 
able period  was  devoted  to  the  same  use.  This  objectionable  term, 
as  applied  to  both  structures,  was  handed  down  and  used  long  after 
the  last  Economist  had  been  gathered  to  his  fathers,  and  many  a 
one  who  kept  the  name  alive,  together  with  the  staple  stock  of 
ludicrous  stories,  probably  many  of  them  were  more  humorous  than 
true,  about  the  eccentricities  of  some  of  the  old  people,  was  enjoy- 
ing in  ease  and  opulence,  the  fruit  of  their  toil  from  which  he  with 
little  toil  had  waxed  fat. 

Returning  from  this  digression,  it  may  be  observed  also  that,  so 
far  as  Bethlehem  was  concerned,  it  was  at  the  time  a  question  of 
providing  separate  dwelling-rooms  for  only  about  fifty  married 
couples  who  had  been  yet  living  in  the  former  fashion — the  men  and 
the  women  respectively  occupying  separate  large  apartments  in  com- 
mon, while  eating  together  at  one  table.  The  single  men  and  the 
single  women  were  organized  in  their  respective  large  houses  and 
were  thus  cared  for.  This  remained  as  it  was,  with  merely  a  more 
independent  establishment  of  their  several  institutions  financially  and 
some  reconstruction  of  their  general  management. 


1756 1762.  383 

Yet  another  element  of  the  problem  to  be  solved  was  the  par- 
ticular one  of  caring  for  and  educating  the  children.  Proper  school 
facilities  had  to  be  maintained,  under  any  circumstances,  for  the  resi- 
dent population.  To  some  extent,  a  house  had  yet  to  be  provided 
for  children  too  young  to  join  the  households  of  older  boys  and  girls, 
under  separate  care  and  supervision,  for  the  dwelling  arrangements 
of  many  of  the  families  were  so  scant  in  room  that  the  children  had 
to  be  yet  cared  for  in  apartments  together,  as  before.  The  institution 
for  the  very  youngest  children,  known  as  the  nursery,  gradually  came 
to  an  end,  for  it  was  finally  limited  to  the  case  of  people  who  had 
to  be  absent  in  missionary  service.  But  the  children  of  missionaries, 
from  the  time  that  they  could  be  put  in  the  care  of  others  than  their 
parents  until  the  close  of  their  school  years  and  apprenticeship, 
were  regarded  as  a  special  charge  to  be  provided  for  as  one  of  the 
foremost  obligations.  The  very  generous  terms  on  which,  before 
this,  children  of  members  in  the  country  congregations  had  been 
admitted  to  the  institutions,  both  for  girls  and  for  boys,  could  no 
longer  be  continued ;  and  due  notice  was  given  at  all  such  places,  of 
the  terms  and  conditions  under  which  children  would  further  be 
admitted.  It  was  plainly  stated  that,  in  the  absence  of  any  special 
source  of  revenue  for  the  schools — School-Diacony — to  provide  for 
which  some  time  would  be  required,  those  in  control  could  no  longer 
be  as  generous  as  before.  The  withdrawal  of  most  of  the  children 
from  such  country  places,  whose  parents  were  glad  to  have  them 
educated  and  trained  at  Bethlehem  so  long  as  it  cost  them  little  or 
nothing,  explains  the  gradual  diminution  of  the  numbers,  both  in 
the  boarding-school  at  Bethlehem  and  in  Nazareth  Hall,  in  the 
course  of  the  following  years.  While  the  attendance  of  pupils  sent 
from  other  places,  not  only  by  Moravians,  but  also  by  others  under 
special  arrangement,  never  ceased  entirely,  yet,  for  some  years  prior 
to  the  re-organization  of  those  institutions  in  1785,  their  boarding- 
pupils  were  chiefly  children  of  ministers  and  missionaries.  It  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  in  1762,  when  with  the  dissolution  of  the 
Economy  the  practically  gratuitous  education  of  numerous  boys  and 
girls  from  outside  places,  as  a  branch  of  home  missionary  activity 
and  with  a  view  to  training  useful  recruits  for  the  ranks  of  mission- 
aries and  teachers,  was  modified  for  financial  reasons,  the  Moravian 
Church  was  carrying  the  enormous  load  of  debt  referred  to  in  a 
previous  chapter.    Therefore,  even  if  it  was  not  hoped  to  make  the 


384  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

schools  a  source  of  revenue,  it  was  of  importance  that  they  should 
not  be  a  serious  drain  on  the  heavily  taxed  resources. ^^ 

Finally,  the  sixth  element  of  the  case  to  be  considered  was  the 
revision  of  rules  and  regulations,  covering  declaration  of  principle 
and  aim  as  a  whole ;  general  statutes  in  reference  to  the  conduct  of 
trades  and  industries ;  privileges  and  obligations  of  house-holders ; 
relation  of  all  classes  to  the  various  authorities  and  officials ;  the  life 
and  walk  and  conversation  of  individuals.  In  all  of  these  respects 
definite  articles  suitable  to  the  changed  situation  had  to  be  framed, 
agreed  to  by  all  and  signed,  as  a  covenant  or  brotherly  agreement, 
superseding  that  of  1754.  In  this  task  the  statutes  in  force  at  Herrn- 
hut  and  those  which  had  been  drawn  up  and  approved  by  Zinzendorf 
for  the  new  church  settlement,  Lititz,  which  was  founded  at  once 
after  the  Herrnhut  model,  into  conformity  to  which  the  hitherto, 
unique  organization  of  Bethlehem  was  now  to  be  brought,  were 
utilized  as  a  guide.  It  is  of  interest,  therefore,  to  note  that  the 
earliest  statutes  of  Lititz,  as  a  regular  church  settlement  on  the 
European  plan — Ortsgeiiicine — are  older  than  those  of  Bethlehem. 

All  the  preliminary  arrangements  had  been  made  with  such  care 
that  the  transition  from  the  old  to  the  new  system  was  efifected  expe- 
ditiously and  smoothly.  The  achievement  is  surprising  and  can  be 
rightly  appreciated  only  by  one  who  has  made  a  thorough  study  of 
the  situation  and  of  the  varied  details  involved.  Public  announce- 
ment of  the  intended  changes  was  made  on  January  17,  1762,  by 
Bishop  Spangenberg.  January  31,  at  a  Gcmeintag^^  service,  when 
many  from  other  places  were  present,  the  new  school-regulations 
were  published.  At  a  general  meeting  of  communicant  members  on 
February  23,  the  details  of  the  change,  as  then  settled,  were  explained, 
so  far  as  they  concerned  all  of  the  people. 

Meanwhile,  the  last  Synod  before  Spangenberg  left  for  Europe 
intervened.  It  was  held  at  Lancaster,  May  12-16.  There  the 
announcements  relating  to  the  general  organization  and  direction  of 

18  The  public  announcement  made  was  that,  from  the  beginning  of  1762,  the  charge 
would  be  ;^io  Pa.,  annually  for  each  child,  "to  be  paid  quarterly  in  advance  to  Christian  F. 
Oerter,  book-keeper."  For  this  sum  board  and  lodging,  light  and  iuel  and  constant  attend- 
ance were  included  with  tuition.  The  parents  or  guardians  had  to  furnish  clothing,  and  the 
expense  of  nurse  and  medicine  in  sickness  was  extra.  Music,  to  a  certain  extent,  and  in- 
struction in  some  manual  employment  were  also  included  without  extra  charge  because  in 
these  lines  the  pupils  could,  after  they  became  somewhat  proficient,  render  some  service  in 
return  for  their  instruction. 

19  On  Gemeinlag  see  note  4  of  Chapter  IV. 


1756 1762. 


3^5 


affairs  were  made,  and  all  those  points  settled  in  which  the  relations 
between  Bethlehem  and  the  other  settlements  and  congregations  had 
to  be  re-adjusted. 

On  June  i,  the  books  of  the  General  Diaconate  were  opened,  and 
the  new  basis  of  business  relations,  with  a  new  system  of  accounts 
between  the  whole  and  all  of  the  parts,  was  established.  Inside  of 
three  weeks  every  man  who  had  belonged  to  the  Economy,  had 
signed  the  release  which  was  equivalent  to  a  final  settlement  and 
receipt  in  full  of  all  claims  and  accounts.  On  June  20,  the  new 
statutes,  which  had  been  approved  by  all  voters  of  the  place, 
were  read  at  a  public  meeting,  in  their  final  shape,  and  the  taking  of 
signatures  to  these  commenced.  The  General  Economy  was  at  an 
end  and  a  new  epoch  in  the  history  of  Bethlehem  opened.  Bishop 
Spangenberg's  work  in  America  was  now  done.  On  June  22,  he 
and  his  wife  took  final  leave  of  Bethlehem  and  went  to  Philadelphia, 
whence  on  July  i,  they  sailed  for  Europe. 


COMMUNION    SERVICE    USED    BY    THE   CHOIR   OF   SINGLE    SISTERS,    1762. 


26 


CHAPTER     XL 


The  Decade  to  the  Second  Reorganization. 
1762 — 1 77 1. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  new  period  which  opened  when  the  General 
Economy  was  aboHshed  in  1762,  some  others  besides  Spangenberg, 
who  had  long  been  prominently  connected  with  affairs  at  Bethlehem, 
and  with  various  activities  elsewhere  under  the  direction  of  its  author- 
ities, disappeared  from  the  scene,  to  be  mentioned  no  more.  On 
April  I,  the  Rev.  Gottlieb  Pezold,  one  of  the  most  devoted  and 
efficient  men,  long  the  superintendent  of  the  organization  of  the 
single  men,  the  chief  promoter  of  the  work  in  the  Maguntsche 
neighborhood — Salisbury  Township — which  resulted  in  the  settlement 
and  church  of  Emmaus,  and  one  of  the  most  valuable  members 
of  the  central  board  at  Bethlehem,  died  unexpectedly  at  Lititz.  He 
had  gone  there  on  official  business,  was  taken  sick  in  consequence 
of  exposure  on  the  way,  and  there  ended  his  days  greatly  mourned 
by  all.  On  April  20,  the  Rev.  John  Michael  Graff  left  with  his  wife 
and  some  other  persons  for  Wachovia,  North  Carolina,  where  the 
rest  of  his  Hfe  was  spent;  he  being  the  first  bishop  (1773)  of  the 
Moravian  Church,  or  any  other  church,  in  that  part  of  the  country. 

On  May  18,  the  veteran  missionary  Martin  Mack  left  Bethlehem — 
he  sailed  from  New  York,  June  27 — for  St.  Thomas,  to  become  the 
superintendent  of  the  oldest  mission  field  of  the  Moravian  Church 
in  the  Danish  West  Indies.  With  Bishop  Spangenberg  sailed  for 
Europe  on  July  i,  the  Rev.  Andrew  Anthony  Lawatsch,  who  had 
been  one  of  the  most  important  men  connected  with  the  direction 
of  affairs  at  Bethlehem.  He  was  a  widower.  His  wife  Anna  Maria 
Demuth,  who  had  suffered  tribulation  for  the  gospel  in  Bohemia 
and,  with  others  of  her  family,  fled  to  Herrnhut — a  peculiarly  gifted 
and  noble  woman,  and  one  of  the  most  notable  engaged  in  official 
work  at  Bethlehem — had  died  January  20,  1760.  They  were  accom- 
panied also  by  the  Rev.  Jacob  Rodgers,  son-in-law  of  William  Parsons 
"the  father  of  Easton,"  at  whose  funeral,  on  December  19,  1757, 
he  had,  at  the  dying  request  of  the   deceased,  conducted  the  last 

386 


1762 I77I-  3^7 

rites.  Rodgers  was  also  now  a  widower  and  was  returning  to 
England  after  twenty  years  of  varied  activity  in  America.  David 
Wahnert  and  his  wife  also  returned  with  them  to  Europe,  to  cross 
the  ocean  with  Moravian  colonies  no  more.  On  the  other  hand, 
some  new  names,  besides  those  of  the  recently  arrived  colony,  come 
into  prominence. 

One,  particularly,  may  be  mentioned  here,  because  of  the  distin- 
guished missionary  career  that  had  its  beginning,  early  in  1762, 
with  the  first  conspicuous  reference  to  a  man  later  so  well  known. 
In  the  summer  of  1761,  the  restless,  roving  and  adventurous  mission- 
ary Post,  by  agreement  with  some  western  Delawares,  had  built  a 
cabin  on  the  Tuscarawas  River  in  Ohio,  not  far  from  the  site  of 
the  present  town  of  Bolivar,  where  he  proposed  to  found  a  ndw 
mission.  He  returned  to  Bethlehem  in  February,  1762,  to  seek  a 
companion  and  fellow-laborer  from  among  the  young  men.  John 
Heckewelder,  although  not  yet  of  age,  was  the  person  he  selected. 
Heckewelder  desired  to  enter  the  missionary  service  but  hesitated 
about  this  proposition.  Bishop  Spangenberg  was  yet  in  Bethlehem. 
An  interview  was  had  on  the  matter,  encouragement  was  given  him 
to  try  it.  This  encouragement  by  Spangenberg  was  supported  by 
that  of  Zeisberger,  who  just  then  was  sojourning  at  Bethlehem.  The 
hesitating  young  man  came  to  a  decision  and  said  "here  am  I,  send 
me."  Spangenberg  announced  this  to  the  people  at  a  public  meeting 
on  February  23.  Preparations  for  the  journey  were  soon  made,  for 
in  those  days  it  did  not  take  such  men  long  to  get  ready.  Hecke- 
welder started  with  a  traveling  companion  afoot  through  the  deep 
snow  on  March  9,  for  Lititz,  where  he  was  to  meet  Post,  who  mean- 
while had  gone  to  Philadelphia.  He  reached  Lititz  on  March  12, 
the  day  on  which  he  became  twenty  years  old.  There  he  was  again 
warmly  encouraged  by  his  beloved  friend  and  spiritual  advisor  Pezold, 
who  gave  him  his  dying  blessing  at  the  beginning  of  his  new  under- 
taking, and  from  Lititz  he  and  his  veteran  companion  set  out  together 
for  the  West.  Thus  began  the  missionary  life  of  John  Heckewelder, 
and,  although  nothing  came  of  that  first  attempt,  on  account  of  the 
unsettled  state  of  things  in  the  Indian  country — Heckewelder  was 
back  in  Bethlehem,  the  end  of  November — that  was  the  beginning  of 
work  by  the  Moravian  Church  in  the  historic  Tuscarawas  Valley 
of  Ohio,  in  which  later  so  much  of  Heckewelder's  valuable  service 
to  the  Church,  the  State  and  the  General  Government  was  rendered. 

In  the  summer  of  1762,  the  institutions  of  Bethlehem,  its  adjunct 


388  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Indian  village  of  Nain,  its  missionary  and  other  enterprises  generally 
were  again  the  objects  of  inspection  and  inquiry  on  the  part  of  a 
number  of  prominent  men.  Another  of  the  numerous  almost  farcical 
treaties  with  the  Indians,  held  at  Easton  in  June,  1762,  brought 
many  persons  to  the  neighborhood.  Among  those  who  visited  Beth- 
lehem were  Governor  Hamilton,  Sir  John  Sinclair,  and  the  famous 
Sir  William  Johnston.  The  Governor  dined  at  the  Sun  Inn  on 
June  29.  The  peculiar  connection  of  Bethlehem  with  the  Indians 
made  the  place  particularly  interesting  to  such  men  at  that  time. 
The  customary  tour  of  the  various  official  buildings  and  industrial 
establishments  was  made  by  some  of  them.  The  state  of  things 
probably  did  not  reveal  the  important  reconstructions  and  changing 
of  hands  that  were  then  in  progress,  for  no  disturbance  of  the  regular 
routine  took  place. 

An  imaginary  tour  with  visitors  might  be  taken  among  the 
industries  of  Bethlehem  at  that  interesting  beginning  of  a  new 
period,  and  something  noted  of  the  concerns  then  being  operated.  In 
the  Brethren's  House,  for  the  enlargement  of  which  preparations 
were  being  made — the  corner-stone  of  the  eastern  extension  was  laid 
on  August  31 — they  found,  besides  the  large  bakery  yet  being  oper- 
ated there,  a  number  of  handicrafts  carried  on  that  could  be  accom- 
modated in  one  and  another  of  its  rooms.  Besides  tailors,  shoe- 
makers, saddlers  and  other  such  craftsmen,  they  came  upon  a  corps 
of  men  in  one  room  busily  writing.  From  three  to  six  men  were 
continually  occupied  at  this  work.  Looking  out  of  the  windows 
at  the  north-west  corner,  clusters  and  rows  of  buildings,  log  and 
stone,  of  various  sizes  appeared,  with  the  grist-mill  and  the  Indian 
House  just  across  the  creek  from  it,  in  the  background  to  the  left; 
the  group  of  structures  in  the  grain  and  stock-yards,  about  the 
original  log  cabin  of  Bethlehem,  in  which  the  overseer  of  that  depart- 
ment lived,  in  the  central  background,  while  to  the  right  and  due 
north,  along  the  line  of  the  present  Main  Street,  they  saw,  beyond 
the  log  house  with  the  water-tower  at  the  end  of  it  where  the  church 
now  stands,  the  dwelling  and  laboratory  of  Dr.  Otto ;  above  that  the 
large  stone  house  of  various  uses,  then  occupied  mostly  as  a  dwelling, 
with  the  weavers  busy  in  the  basement ;  farther  up,  and  in  a  line 
with  it,  the  large  barn  and  horse  stable  containing  the  dwelling  of 
the  men  in  charge,  and  beyond  that  on  the  same  line,  the  Sun  Inn. 

The  nearest  of  these  buildings,  almost  under  the  shadow  of  the 
Brethren's  House  at  the  north-west  corner,  on  the  slope  of  the  hill, 


1762 I77I-  389 

where  the  present  Main  Street  makes  the  turn,  was  the  log  house 
built  in  1742  for  the  carpenters  and  joiners,  connected  with  the  first 
little  log  cooper's  shop.  In  the  new  one  farther  north  at  this  time 
John  Heckewelder  was  learning  to  make  cedar  tubs.  The  first  was 
now  used  by  the  turners  under  the  direction  of  "Father"  Bechtel,  for 
the  joiners  had  moved  to  other  quarters.  There  spinning-wheels 
were  made  in  considerable  numbers,  there  being  a  constant  demand 
for  them  throughout  the  surrounding  country,  and  many  being 
needed  for  the  Sisters'  House  and  for  the  use  of  the  girls  in  the 
school  in  those  days  of  much  spinning.  Possibly,  if  a  brand  or  trade- 
mark had  been  put  upon  these  wares,  more  than  one  ancient  spinning- 
wheel  preserved  as  a  relic  would  be  found  to  have  been  made  in 
that  little  log  shop  on  the  premises  now  known  as  the  Abbott 
property.  There  also,  on  the  slope  of  the  hill,  just  north  of  that, 
stood  the  log  house  which  was  fitted  up  in  the  first  years  of  the  settle- 
ment as  the  primitive  hostelry,  mentioned  in  an  earHer  chapter, 
before  the  Crown  Inn  was  built.  Near  it,  on  the  hill  side,  Ludwig 
Huebener  built  his  first  oven  and  in  a  corner  of  that  house,  for  a* 
while,  set  up  his  first  rude  wheel  to  turn  out  pottery  for  the  use  of 
the  settlement.  A  more  pretentious  building  of  stone  near-by, 
thirty-two  by  thirty-five  feet,  built  in  1749,  and  constituting  the  first 
structure  of  the  more  permanent  row  from  the  Brethren's  House 
corner  towards  the  first  house  of  Bethlehem — the  line  from  the  bend 
in  Main  Street  to  what  is  now  called  Rubel's  Alley — was  at  this 
time  the  pottery,  where  a  thriving  business  was  carried  on,  and  when 
the  Economy  was  abolished,  was  taken  over  by  Huebener.  Large 
demands  for  the  useful  earthen-ware  there  produced,  came  from 
the  Durham  furnace  where  the  Brethren  bought  much  iron,  and  from 
farmers  about  the  country,  and  some  orders,  even  from  Philadelphia, 
were  filled,  while,  as  can  be  readily  understood,  much  had  to  be 
made  for  the  use  of  the  spring-houses  and  larders  of  Bethlehem  and 
the  Nazareth  places.  Some  dwellings  were  fitted  up  in  the  second 
story  of  the  pottery  building,  to  which  an  addition  was  built  in  1756, 
and  at  the  time  of  the  dissolution  of  the  Economy,  the  thirteen 
widowers  living  in  Bethlehem  had  their  common  room  and  dormitory 
there.  This  was  the  property  where  now  a  modern  structure  is  to 
replace  the  old  landmark  at  the  corner,  on  the  south  side  of  the 
road  leading  from  Main  Street  down  to  the  mill. 

Next  to  it,  on  the  opposite  corner,  stood  the  second  stone  house 
of  the  row — it  is  yet  there — built  in  1750.     An  extension  had  been 


390  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

built  to  the  east  in  1761  and  a  second  story  was  added  to  the  whole 
in  1763.  There  work  in  iron  was  done.  The  blacksmiths  were 
occupying  it,  their  first  shop,  built  in  1743,  having  stood  just  back 
of  it  on  the  hill-side  towards  the  spring.  There  the  locksmith  also 
had  his  stand,  and  there,  for  a  while,  the  first  wrought-iron  nails  were 
made  at  Bethlehem.  In  1754,  however,  the  nail-smith  took  possession 
of  the  log  house  first  used  by  the  potter,  already  mentioned.  Another 
log  building  standing  on  the  slope  in  the  rear  of  the  stone  smithy, 
adjoining  the  east  end  of  its  rude  predecessor — both  of  these  log 
houses  stood  in  a  line  with  the  first  house  of  Bethlehem — was  that 
used  by  the  wheel-wrights  and  wagon-makers.  There  the  stock  of 
freight-wagons,  carts,  plows,  harrows  and  lighter  farming  utensils 
was  supplied  and  kept  in  repair.  In  the  above  mentioned  first  smith- 
shop  the  primitive  battery  was  in  operation.  What  shape  the  blocks 
had  which  turned  off  the  "wool  hats"  of  that  time  is  a  question  not 
to  be  settled  now,  but  it  may  be  assumed  that  it  did  not  vary  often 
in  punctilious  conformity  to  changing  styles  of  the  season.  The 
straw  hats  worn  in  summer  were  plaited  by  women  and  girls  in  the 
Sisters'  House.  This  branch  of  female  industry,  which  in  subsequent 
years  continued  to  be  of  some  importance,  had  been  introduced  in 
1755,  under  instruction  given  by  Jacob  Boerstler's  wife,  of  Oley. 
From  those  log  houses  behind  the  stone  smithy  it  was  but  a  short 
descent  to  the  grist-mill,  with  its  double  run  of  stones,  at  some 
seasons  rumbling  day  and  night  under  the  red  tile  roof  and  on  the 
red  tile  floor  that  rested  upon  the  solid  masonry,  rebuilt  in  1751, 
of  stone  quarried  from  the  brow  of  the  hill,  later  named  Nisky  by 
Captain  Garrison,  across  the  Monocacy  from  the  saw-mill.  The 
whirling  of  these  stones  did  not  jar  the  massive  walls  erected  in  the 
manner  in  which  Henry  Antes  had  his  workmen  build  mills,  nor  crack 
the  smooth  plastering  of  the  interior  spread  upon  laths  from  the 
little  saw-mill  at  Christiansbrunn.  No  doubt  those  distinguished 
visitors  stepped  into  the  mill  and  had  a  friendly  word  with  Abraham 
Andreas,  the  miller,  who  had  taken  charge  of  it  under  the  new 
arrangement.  Connected  with  the  grist-mill,  to  the  west,  was  the  full- 
ing-mill, rebuilt  of  stone  in  1759,  and  started  up  on  October  19,  of 
that  year,  with  its  four  beaters  working  excellently,  as  the  record 
states,  and  "capable  of  running  through  three  hundred  yards  of  stuff 
at  once."  This,  with  the  adjoining  room  for  the  clothiers  and  at  the 
west  end  the  dye-house,  presented  a  front  of  a  hundred  and  eight 
feet  from  the  eastern  end  of  the  grist-mill  towards  the  Monocacy.  It 
is  not  unlikely  that  there  they  crossed  the  creek  and  looked  into  the 


1762 ^77^- 


391 


PLAN    OF    BETHLEHEM,    I758. 


392  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Indian  House,  an  establishment  that  would  probably  interest  Sir 
William  Johnston.  Moving  southward  from  the  mill,  on  the  road 
by  which  the  laden  wagons  came  and  went  between  that  point  and 
the  ferry,  they  were  in  the  heart  of  the  cluster  of  structures  which 
they  had  surveyed  from  the  windows  of  the  Brethren's  House.  Just 
south  of  the  grist-mill,  on  the  east  side  of  the  tail  race,  in  the  small 
frame  building  of  1743,  to  which  several  others  were  added,  tanning, 
tawing  and  currying  had  been  undertaken  on  a  small  scale,  and  soon 
became  an  important  industry.  A  large  stone  building  commenced 
on  the  other  side  of  the  race  in  May,  1761,  had  been  completed  and 
the  new  tannery  was  being  rapidly  gotten  into  order  for  work  on  a 
more  extended  scale.  It  became,  and  for  many  years  continued  to 
be,  the  most  lucrative  business  at  Bethlehem.  In  the  rear  of  the 
tannery  stood  the  slaughter-house,  near  the  bank  of  the  creek,  pre- 
empting a  locality  to  be  the  place  for  the  shedding  of  much  innocent 
blood  and  the  dressing  of  much  meat,  even  down  to  the  present 
day,  when  man  is  no  less  carnivorous  than  a  century  and  a  half  ago. 
A  little  farther  down  was  at  that  time  the  oil-mill,  where  the  seed 
from  the  many  acres  of  flax  that  furnished  the  linen  of  the  place 
was  converted  into  a  profitable  article  of  export  to  the  cities,  with 
the  little  mill  for  grinding  tan-bark  adjacent.  But  at  this  point,  a 
piece  of  important  mechanism  which  interested  all  visitors  more 
than  anything  else,  attracted  attention.  The  enlarged  and  improved 
water-works  of  Bethlehem  were  just  being  gotten  into  final  working 
order,  for  on  July  6,  1762,  the  first  flow  began.  The  surprise  and 
admiration  elicited  by  this  enterprising  and  ingenious  achievement — 
for  the  like  of  it  was  not  then  to  be  found  anywhere  in  the  colonies — 
perhaps  led  to  an  inspection  of  the  remarkable  spring  from  which 
the  water  was  pumped,  and  around  which  all  of  these  establishments 
had  arisen.  There,  about  two  hundred  and  forty  feet  from  the  old 
water-works,  was  the  milk  house,  cool  and  shady,  with  the  over- 
flow stream  from  the  spring-house  running  through  it,  after  passing 
through  another  apartment,  in  which  meat  and  butter  were  kept, 
and  at  the  end  the  heavy  log  structure,  that  enclosed  and  covered  the 
place  of  gushing  water,  was  entered — the  whole  primitive,  but  neat 
and  scrupulously  clean.  In  those  days  there  was  no  reason  yet 
for  the  dread  thought  of  contamination  to  be  associated  with  that 
remarkable  water  supply  in  the  mind  of  resident  or  visitor.^ 

I  After  this  cursory  survey  of  the  principal  establishments  of  the  place — there  were  sundry 
other  minor  ones — as  they  existed  at  the  dissolution  of  the  Economy,  there  will  be  less  ref- 
erence in  these  pages  than  hitherto  to  such  matters  in  detail.     In  general,  the  plan  of  merely 


1762 I77I-  393 

For  a  year  after  the  new  era  opened,  the  course  of  Ufe  at  Bethlehem 
ran  smoothly  and  quietly,  but  in  midsummer  of  1763,  signs  of 
approaching  trouble  again  began  to  appear.  Apprehending  new 
Indian  raids  upon  the  frontiers,  nursing  the  old  dislike  for  Beth- 
lehem and  particularly  for  Moravian  missionaries  and  a  sullen  resent- 
ment that  became  fanatical  in  its  unreasoning  intensity  towards  the 
Christian  Indians  living  under  Government  protection  at  Nain,  some 
people  in  the  Irish  Settlement  again  began  to  threaten  both  Nain 
and  Wechquetank  with  summary  destruction,  and  even  to  intimate 
that  Bethlehem  would  suffer,  so  soon  as  the  first  occasion  occurred 
for  again  taking  up  arms  on  account  of  the  Indians.  Pontiac's  savage 
dream  of  effectually  checking  the  further  advance  of  the  white  man, 
taking  shape  in  the  deep-laid  plan  of  attacks  upon  frontier  settlements 
from  the  easternmost  Indian  borders  to  far-off  Fort  Detroit,  had 
begun,  already  in  May,  to  bear  its  fruit.  StartUng  evidences  of  this 
bloody  conspiracy  began  to  send  a  new  thrill  of  terror  through  one 
region  after  another,  widely  separated.  Reason  enough  was  there 
for  alarm  as  far  down  as  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware.  But  even  under 
circumstances  that  created  a  panic  of  fear  and  stirred  up  the  utmost 
exasperation,  the  mournful  lesson  of  Gnadenhuetten  and  the  shelter, 
food  and  protection  these  people  had  shared  at  Bethlehem  when  they 
fled  like  frightened  sheep  before  the  dogs  to  seek  refuge  with  the 
Moravians,  should  not  have  been  forgotten  so  soon.  It  might  also 
have  been  expected,  at  least  of  those  who  professed  to  be  enlight- 
ened and  even  Christian  men,  that  they  would  have  learned  to  under- 
stand the  difference  between  this  little  residue  of  really  Christian 
Indians  whom  the  Moravians  had  rescued  from  the  ruins  of  the 
missions,  and  merely  "friendly"  Indians,  so-called,  who  were  never- 
theless yet  heathen  and  savages  in  ideas  and  practices,  and  whom 
men  could  not  in  such  times  be  blamed  for  not  trusting.  It  might 
also  have  been  expected  that  by  this  time,  all  the  people  of  the 


sketching  leading  features  and  incidents  will  be  followed  after  this  point,  more  than  in  the 
preceding  chapters.  The  period  to  the  end  of  the  General  Economy  was  the  more  heroic 
period  of  Bethlehem,  in  which  the  most,  both  externally  and  internally,  that  is  of  permanent 
historic  interest  in  connection  with  the  town,  originated.  With  two  exceptions,  to  be  treated 
of  yet  at  the  proper  place,  all  the  important  historic  buildings  of  Bethlehem  dating  from  the 
eighteenth  century,  were  erected  prior  to  1762.  That  being,  furthermore,  the  period  to 
which  most  of  the  things  pertain  which  are  regarded  as  "  peculiarities"  of  Moravian  princi- 
ples, operations,  customs  and  experiences,  so  much  written  about  from  differing  standpoints, 
and  with  varying  degrees  of  understanding  and  correctness,  there  is  more  to  be  explained, 
from  the  beginning  of  Moravian  work  in  Pennsylvania  up  to  1762  than  after  that. 


394  A    HISTORY    OF   BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

neighborhood  would  have  learned  to  understand  that  the  traveling- 
of  Indians  from  Wyoming  and  beyond  to  Wechquetank  and  Nain  and 
back  again,  was  not  necessarily  to  be  taken  as  evidence,  that  any 
of  the  Christian  Indians  at  these  places  were  in  league  with  the 
savages.  It  had  become  clear  enough  in  the  former  Indian  war  that 
emissaries  from  the  hostiles  tried,  of  course,  in  every  way  to  entice 
the  converts  to  join  them  ;  that  they  also  shrewdly  lurked  about  and 
went  to  and  fro  to  produce  the  impression  upon  observers  that 
these  were  their  allies ;  and  that,  when  they  failed  to  move  them  they 
plotted  to  wreak  vengeance  upon  them  by  murdering  them,  the 
same  as  white  settlers.  It  was  the  common  practice  for  men  who, 
either  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Christian  Indian  villages  or  farther  off 
in  the  Indian  country,  observed  the  movements  of  such  Indians 
coming  and  going,  to  apply  the  term  "Moravian  Indians"  quite  indis- 
criminately, not  only  to  those  who  dwelt  at  these  stations  and  the 
few  faithful  ones  who  lived  in  the  Indian  country,  but  also  to  the 
apostates  who  had  once  been  connected  with  the  missions  but  were 
now  with  the  hostiles  in  their  plots,  and  even  to  many  who  had  merely 
been  known  to  have  stood  in  some  association  with  the  converts 
formerly  or  were  visitors  at  their  villages,  but  who  never  had  any 
connection  with  the  missions.  These  two  unfortunate  mistakes  of 
misinterpreting  the  going  to  and  fro,  and  of  accepting  reports  about 
the  movements  of  "Moravian  Indians"  with  the  term  thus  applied 
to  many  who  had  no  connection  with  the  missions  and  over  whom 
the  missionaries  had  no  influence  whatever,  gave  rise  to  all  the 
statements  that  were  reproduced  in  current  reports,  official  corre- 
spondence and  public  documents  of  the  time,  casting  serious 
reflections  upon  that  little  band  of  loyal  and  inofifensive  converts,  and 
even  upon  the  devoted  missionaries,  so  groundless  and  unjust. - 

The  threats  thus  made  on  every  side  led  the  Indians  at  Nain  and 
Wechquetank,  the  latter  part  of  July,  1763,  to  address  Governor 
Hamilton  with  an  appeal  for  protection.  This  was  promised  them, 
and,  by  arrangement  between  the  Government  and  Justice  Horsfield, 

2  In  view  of  the  wild  excitement  and  fierce  resentment  against  all  Indians  whatsoever 
which  the  terrible  experiences  of  so  many  along  the  borders  had  aroused,  and  the  utter  ina- 
bility of  such  men  as  many  of  those  Scotch-Irish  frontiersmen  were,  by  nature  and  training, 
to  understand  or  sympathize  with  missionary  efforts,  it  is  easier,  after  the  lapse  of  many  years, 
to  condone  their  blind  injustice  in  this  matter,  and  even  the  retaliatory  acts  of  barbarity, 
quite  equal  to  that  of  the  savages,  which  some  finally  perpetrated,  than  it  is  to  read  with 
patience  the  pages  of  some  modern  historians  who  continue  to  reproduce  those  unmerited 
imputations,  as  if  they  were  established  facts. 


1/62 I77I-  395 

certain  careful  regulations  were  adopted,  drawn  up  by  Horsfield  and 
officially  communicated  to  the  settlers  in  the  surrounding  country, 
to  which  strict  compliance  was  promised  and  observed  by  the 
converts,  respecting  their  movements,  dress,  manner  of  meeting  and 
greeting  white  men,  method  of  carrying  and  handling  their  guns,  and 
other  details,  so  that  they  might  easily  be  distinguished  by  people 
from  savages  or  even  from  strange  Indians  in  civilized  dress.  This 
was  done  at  the  Governor's  suggestion. 

It  had  little  effect,  however,  among  the  kind  of  men  who  were 
making  threats,  for  they  had  no  desire  to  avoid  disturbing  the 
Indians,  but  were  rather  planning  to  make  an  end  of  them,  or,  at 
least,  to  force  their  removal.  Zeisberger,  who  had  again  been  trying 
to  accomplish  some  good  in  Wyoming,  and  had  on  June  26,  baptized 
the  noted  Monsey  chief  Papunhank,  a  genuine  convert,  but  had  been 
officially  recalled  to  Bethlehem  towards  the  middle  of  July  when  the 
danger  around  him  became  serious,  went  up  to  Wechquetank  some 
weeks  later  to  see  how  Grube  and  his  Indians  fared.  He  returned  on 
August  15,  and  reported  that  several  hostile  Indians  who  had  been 
prowling  about,  evidently  bent  on  mischief,  had  been  called  to 
account  for  their  actions  by  an  old  Indian  at  the  mission,  named 
Petrus,  and  sternly  admonished  by  him  to  forsake  their  evil  ways,  to 
return  to  their  homes  and  to  commit  no  depredations  on  the  way, 
lest  they  help  to  bring  calamity  upon  themselves  and  their  country ; 
and  that  the  strangers  had  thereupon  gone  their  way  crest-fallen.  In 
Wyoming,  which  region  the  Indians  still  claimed  as  their  own,  the 
melancholy  death  of  Teedyuscung,  on  the  19th  of  April,  charged  by 
his  partisans  among  the  savages  to  the  instigation  of  the  Six  Nations, 
the  assuming  lords  of  the  Delawares  and  Shawanese,  led  those  who 
were  disposed  to  co-operate  with  Pontiac's  conspiracy,  to  urge  disre- 
gard of  the  message  that  was  sent  them  with  a  belt  by  those  lords, 
in  July,  commanding  them  to  remain  quiet  and  not  take  part  in  the 
war.  The  receipt  of  this  message  was  reported  by  peaceable  Indians 
as  a  re-assurance  to  the  converts  at  Nain  on  July  29,  and  again  at 
Bethlehem  by  some  others  on  August  10.  They  stated  that  the  Six 
Nations  would  not  permit  attacks  to  be  made  "this  side  of  the  Susque- 
hanna." Even  if  this  policy  on  the  part  of  those  chiefs  was  seriously 
meant,  the  turbulent  and  discordant  elements  in  Wyoming  could  not 
thus  be  restrained.  There  again  the  reckless  fatuity  of  white  men 
helped  to  precipitate  what  it  was  hoped  might  be  averted.  In  the  night 
of  August  20,  three   peaceable   and   unoffending   Christian   Indians, 


396  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA, 

a  man  and  two  women,  with  a  little  child,  on  their  way  from  Wechque- 
tank  to  their  place  of  abode  on  the  upper  Susquehanna,  were  sleeping 
at  a  place  on  the  Pocopoco  Creek  where  Captain  Jacob  Wetterhold 
and  his  company  of  militia  were  lodging.  These  Indians  had  put 
themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  troops  and,  taking  their 
promise  of  security  in  good  faith,  lain  down  to  sleep.  The  militia  fell 
upon  them  in  their  defenceless  situation  and,  in  cold  blood,  put  them 
all  to  death.  Such  an  occurrence  showed  clearly  how  the  disposition 
of  some  white  men  was  not  a  whit  better  than  that  of  the  savages, 
while  they  could  surpass  the  latter  in  the  blundering  folly  of  some  of 
their  deeds.  They  were  recklessly  throwing  the  fire  that  all  were 
dreading  into  the  straw.  The  treachery  of  the  act  gave  the  same 
excuse  to  the  Indians  for  concluding  that  no  white  man  could  be 
trusted  because  some  could  not,  that  many  white  men  found  for  class- 
ing all  Indians  together  and  declaring  that  none  of  them  could  be 
trusted.  The  cowardly  nature  of  the  act  was  quite  characteristic  of 
the  kind  of  men  who  went  blustering  about  the  neighborhood,  threat- 
ening to  "lay  Bethlehem  in  ashes"  on  account  of  Indian  outrages ; 
then  when  the  savages  took  them  by  surprise,  ran  panic-stricken  to 
that  same  Bethlehem  to  seek  shelter  and  eat  the  bread  of  the  maligned 
Moravians,  and  after  the  scare  was  over,  went  out  and  denounced 
them  anew  with  the  same  braggart  threats.  A  careful  study  of  all  the 
evidence  leaves  no  doubt  that  this  deed  was  intended  to  goad  the  In- 
dians at  Nain  and  Wechquetank  to  some  overt  act  or  threat  that 
would  afiford  a  pretext  for  attacking  them,  and  they  could  be  attacked 
with  more  convenience  and  less  peril  than  the  fierce,  painted  warriors 
farther  of¥  who  did  not  pretend  to  be  followers  of  Jesus.  The  brothers 
of  the  unfortunate  Indian  who  was  killed  by  the  militia  lived  at  Wech- 
quetank. Thither  these  militia,  joined  by  others,  then  went,  with  a 
view  to  destroying  the  place,  presuming  that  some  alleged  move  of 
retaliation  could  easily  be  put  forward  as  a  reason.  Twice  and  thrice 
such  demonstrations  were  made,  but  without  even  inducing  the  con- 
verts to  make  any  show  of  special  preparation  to  as  much  as  defend 
themselves.  The  patient  heroism  of  the  missionary  Grube  and  his 
noble  wife,  sitting  there  through  these  ordeals,  while  on  the  other 
hand  treacherous  spies  of  the  savages  lurked  about  to  the  peril  of  the 
place,  most  of  the  time  alone,  single-handed  and  unarmed,  encour- 
aging the  little  band  to  remain  quiet  and  trust  in  God,  was  sublime. 
At  any  moment,  the  Indians  might,  upon  a  word  from  him,  have 
gathered  up  their  effects  at  night  and  fled  to  the  forest  and  made 
their  escape,  and  he  could  have  slipped  ofif  with  his  wife  and  found 


1762 I77I-  397 

his  way  to  a  place  of  safety.  Far  more  reason  and  right  had  he  to 
flee  to  Bethlehem  than  many  of  his  maligners  from  the  settlements 
who  did  so.  When  explanations  and  declarations  of  the  missionaries, 
appeals  to  the  Government  protection  that  had  been  assured  and 
expostulations  by  Horsfield  as  Magistrate,  availed  nothing,  threats 
to  lodge  formal  complaint  against  Wetterhold  before  the  Governor 
for  the  unprovoked,  unsoldierlike  and  cowardly  act  of  August  20,  for 
lawless  disturbance  and  contempt  of  orders  promulgated  under  the 
Government  seal,  had  the  effect  of  restraining  these  rangers  from 
further  menacing  Wechquetank  just  then.  Ere  long,  shocking  retri- 
bution came  upon  some  of  them  and  their  Captain  by  the  hands  of 
savage  avengers,  for  the  occurrence  of  August  20,  soon  became 
known  in  the  Indian  country,  and  what  they  brought  upon  them- 
selves as  the  result  of  their  folly,  caused  the  spark  they  had  kindled 
to  burst  into  a  flame,  for  others  had  to  suffer  with  them  and  an 
extensive  region  was  again  terrorized.  On  October  7,  1763,  Captain 
Wetterhold  and  some  of  his  men  were  in  night-quarters  about  nine 
miles  from  Bethlehem  at  John  Stenton's  tavern,  which  stood  a  Httle 
more  than  a  mile  from  the  site  of  the  present  village  of  Howertown 
in  East  Allen  Township.  Some  savages  had  determined  to  avenge 
the  killing  of  those  Indians,  against  whdm  they  had  no  grudge 
because  they  did  not  live  at  the  mission  but  in  the  Indian  country, 
and  to  base  upon  this  their  first  new  incursion  in  the  Lehigh  Valley. 
They  made  an  attack  upon  the  tavern  at  night,  mortally  wounded 
the  Captain,  killed  several  of  his  men  and  also  Stenton  and  a  servant. 
This  deplorable  affair  was  reported  at  Bethlehem  early  the  next 
morning,  as  well  as  other  acts  of  violence  at  several  places.  The 
Bethlehem  diary  says  the  road  from  the  Irish  Settlement  was 
thronged  with  refugees  to  Bethlehem.  "They  were  received  with 
willing  hearts  and,  as  far  as  possible,  housed  and  cared  for.  At  noon 
several  brethren  were  sent  to  bring  in  the  wounded,  who  were  how^- 
ever,  with  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  already  on  the  way.  They  arrived 
in  the  afternoon.  The  dead  soldiers  were  buried  on  the  Burnside 
farm."  The  unfortunate  Captain  was  carried  to  the  Crown  Inn 
south  of  the  Lehigh,  where  a  number  of  terror-stricken  people  had 
gathered.  He  died  there  the  next  day,  October  9,  and  was  buried 
in  the  little  graveyard  on  the  hill  nearby.^     October  10,  word  came 


3  In  The  Crown  hut,  appendix  2,  page  131,  the  Rev.  \V.  C.  Reichel  gives  the  burial  of 
Captain  Wetterhold  as  the  last  in  that  little  cemetery.  Five  more,  at  least,  took  place — cases 
specially  pathetic  and  strikingly  similar.      It  is  recorded  that  on  October   19,  1 763,  a  young 


39^  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

from  Cjrube  at  Wechquetank  that  his  Indians  had  received  notice, 
the  previous  day,  that  the  blood-shed  would  be  avenged  on  them. 
It  was  now  decided  that  he  and  his  wife  with  their  Indians  should 
be  transferred  to  Nazareth,  and  David  Zeisberger,  Sr.,*  was  sent  up 
with  several  others  to  deliver  this  message  and  aid  them  in  their 
exodus. 

They  left  at  once  and  all  reached  Nazareth  safely  on  the  12th. 
When  they  took  their  departure  the  "well-known"  triumphant  shout 
of  the  savages  and  gun  shots  were  heard  in  the  vicinity.  Later  infor- 
mation revealed  that  at  that  time  Indians,  as  well  as  white  foes,  were 
plotting  the  destruction  of  the  place.  Meanwhile,  on  the  17th,  Justice 
Horsfield  had  sent  a  special  report  of  these  developments  to  the 
Governor.  On  that  day  a  panic  spread  in  the  Saucon  Valley  and 
many  people  rushed  together  at  the  Crolwn  Inn.  On  that  and  the 
following  days,  several  companies  of  militia  rode  through  Bethlehem 
bound  for  the  Irish  Settlement.  Tidings  of  the  atrocious  massacre 
of  New  England  settlers  in  the  Wyoming  Valley,  October  15,  1763, 
reached  Bethlehem  three  days  later.  The  diary  states :  "We  at  once 
informed  our  neighbors  in  the  Irish  Settlement  of  this,  so  that  they 
might  be  on  their  guard."  Several  families,  among  them  "Mr. 
Lawrence^  of  Fort  Allen"  arrived  as  refugees  in  the  afternoon. 


woman  shot  in  the  body  in  the  recent  Indian  attack,  and  brought  to  Bethlehem,  died  and 
was  buried  there,  leaving  an  infant,  her  first-born,  four  months  old.  An  earlier  case  not 
mentioned  in  The  Crown  Inn  list  was  "the  young  wife  of  Solomon  Davis,"  one  of  the  refu- 
gees from  the  neighborhood,  during  the  first  Indian  raid,  who  died  at  Bethlehem  and  was 
buried  in  that  south-side  cemetery  January  26,  1756.  Her  infant,  bom  two  days  before,  died 
and  was  buried  there  January  31.  Another  case  was  tliat,  on  June  15,  1769,  of  a  Mrs. 
Gender  who  with  her  husband  "  had  come  from  Virginia  to  visit  relatives  near  Lynn  " — for- 
merly Allemaengel  in  Lynn  Township,  work  abandoned  December,  1770,  and  minister  trans- 
ferred to  former  Gnadenhuetten — had  taken  lodgings  at  the  Crown  where  a  child  was  born 
June  II  and  baptized,  receiving  the  name  Elizabeth,  the  mother's  name.  The  child  died  the 
next  day  and  the  mother  on  the  15th  and  both  were  buried  in  that  graveyard.  Possibly 
missing  links  of  ancestry  may  be  discovered  by  some  one  in  this  note,  and  traced  to  un- 
known graves  in  that  now  obliterated  place  of  burial. 

4  After  another  David  Zeisberger  was  in  Pennsylvania,  the  famous  missionary  is  frequently 
referred  to  in  records  as  Senior,  to  distinguish  him.  In  the  early  days  of  Bethlehem  he  was 
Junior  when  his  father,  whose  name  was  also  David,  was  yet  living.  Further  references  to 
him,  as  the  better-known  man.  will  be  without  any  distinction,  and  if  Zeisberger  of  Nazareth 
is  mentioned  he  will  be  distinguished  as  Junior  or  otherwise. 

5  He  is  occasionally  mentioned  in  the  records  in  previous  references  to  Gnadenhuetten. 
He  occupied  one  of  the  houses  of  Nain  for  a  while,  after  the  removal  of  the  Indians  to 
Philadelphia.     There  one  of  his  children,  a  daughter,  died  and  at  the  request  of  the  parents 


1762 1 77 1-  399 

On  October  19,  a  very  different  view  of  the  presence  of  the  Chris- 
tian Indians  at  Wechquetank,  from  that  taken  in  the  Irish  Settlement, 
came  to  Ught,  as  held  by  people  in  the  neighborhood  of  that  mission 
who  were  better  qualified  to  judge  and  who  had  more  to  fear  if  their 
presence  had  been  dangerous.  The  diary  of  Bethlehem  states :  "A 
petition  to  the  Governor  at  Philadelphia  was  taken  through  here 
from  the  people  living  near  Wechquetank  beyond  the  Blue  Moun- 
tains, in  which  they  very  greatly  deplored  the  removal  of  the  Indians 
from  Wechquetank,  inasmuch  as  those  same  Indians  had  hitherto 
been  their  only  security,  they  having  put  more  reliance  on  them 
than  on  a  few  soldiers;  and  praying  the  Governor,  therefore,  to 
either  have  the  aforesaid  Indians  return  to  their  former  place  if 
possible,  or  send  an  adequate  force  for  their  protection,  without 
which  they  would  no  longer  consider  themselves  safe  at  their  places." 
Those  people  evidently  were  not  imbued  with  "border  ruffian"  spirit, 
and  they  probably  did  not  share  the  animosity  of  some  others  against 
Moravians,  nor  share  the  ideas  of  a  religion  which  held  that  the 
Indians  were  simply  the  heathen  to  be  exterminated  to  the  glory  of 
God.  There  is  nO:  doubt  about  it  that,  while  the  reckless  militia 
rangers — in  whose  exploits  many  had  little  confidence  as  a  defence, 
of  which  there  is  abundant  evidence — werer  bent  upon  killing  the 
Indians  at  Wechquetank,  these  Indians  were,  by  their  vigilance  and 
dissuading  counsel,  when  Indian  scouts  from  Wyoming  came  near, 
holding  back  the  arm  of  violence  raised  against  the  neighborhood. 
This  is  the  secret  of  the  shout  of  exultation  and  the  jubilant  shots 
from  the  savages  hidden  in  the  woods,  when  they  saw  these  Indians 
leave  the  place. 

Now  the  state  of  things  had  become  so  precarious  that  it  was 
resolved,  at  a  general  meeting  of  citizens,  October  25,  1763,  to  put 
Bethlehem  in  a  position  of  defence,  as  in  1756.  The  strong  guard 
was  again  organized,  stockades  were  constructed  as  before,  on  sev- 
eral sides  of  the  buildings,  where  the  women  and  children  lived,  and 
around  the  barn-yard  and  stabling,  where  the  most  danger  from 
incendiaries  was  to  be  feared,  and  watch-houses  were  again  built 
at  the  same  corners  as  before.  During  the  subsequent  weeks  the 
chief  alarm  at  Bethlehem  was  caused  by  the  burning  of  the  oil-mill 

was  buried  at  Bethlehem,  on  the  hill  back  of  the  Indian  House,  December  9,    the    Rev. 

Jacob  Friis  having  charge  of  the  funeral.  Why  that  spot  was  selected  does  not  appear. 
There  was  no  cemetery  there.  During  the  Revolution  that  hill  became  the  burial  place  of 
soldiers  who  died  in  the  hospital  at  Bethlehem. 


400 


A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 


on  the  night  of  November  i8,  the  same  day  on  which  information 
was  received  that  the  vacated  houses  of  Wechquetank  had  been 
burned  "by  parties  unknown."  The  conflagration  at  the  oil-mill, 
which  was  later  ascertained  to  have  been  the  work  of  white  despera- 
does of  the  county,  was  the  nearest  approach  to  the  execution  of  the 
repeated  threats  to  burn  Bethlehem  to  the  ground.  Four  days  after 
that,  the  first  experiments  were  made  with  the  fire-engine  that  had 
been  brought  from  London  by  Captain  Jacobsen,  in  accordance  with 
the  decision  of  the  previous  year,  but  which  reached  Bethlehem  too 
late  to  be  of  service  at  that  perilous  fire,  which  greatly  endangered 
the  water-works  and,  therefore,  the  water  supply  of  the  town,  for 
use  in  possible  further  conflagrations  as  well  as  for  other  purposes. 
That  the  torch  was  applied  first  at  that  point,  in  view  of  this,  revealed 
an  intelligent  plan  in  that  act  of  dastardly  wickedness  which  would 
not  have  governed  the  attempts  of  wild  Indians.^ 


THE    PERSEVERANCE   FIRE-ENGINE, 

With  Modern  Environment. 

Built  in   1698. 


6  This  ancient  engine,  old  already  when  brought  to  Bethlehem,  subsequently  repaired  and 
improved  several  times  and  long  used,  is  now  preserved  as  a  relic  in  the  museum  of  the 
Young  Men's  Missionary  Society.  At  its  first  trial,  November  22,  1763,  it  sent  a  jet  of 
water  over  the  roof  of  the  Brethren's  House.  In  April,  1773,  after  being  repaired,  it  threw 
a  stream  twenty  feet  above  the  terrace  on  the  roof  of  that  building,  and  its  flow  was  78 
gallons  a  minute.  Its  cost  in  London  was  £4.;^  12  s.  It  was  brought  on  the  Hope,  which 
reached  New  York  October  21.  Captain  Garrison  and  his  wife  returned  after  an  absence  in 
Europe  of  seven  years,  to  pass  their  remaining  days.  Here  for  a  season  he  did  service  as 
cicerone.  He  died  in  September,  1781,  and  his  widow,  Mary  Ann,  m.  n.  Brandt,  in  March 
1790.  Other  passengers  were  the  Rev.  John  Fromelt,  called  as  general  superintendent  of 
all  the  organizations  of  single  men  ;  Paul  Tiersch,  first  co-director  of  Nazareth  Hall  school, 


1762 I77I-  40i 

Meanwhile  the  move  against  Wechquetank  having  been  frustrated 
by  the  departure  of  the  missionary  with  his  Indians,  the  hostile 
attention  of  those  who  were  more  intent  upon  retaliation  for  the 
murder  at  Stentons,  at  some  point  where  it  would  be  easiest  and 
least  dangerous,  than  upon  aiding  the  public  defence  in  a  proper  way 
or  rationally  guarding  their  own  houses  against  savages,  was  cen- 
tered upon  Nain.  The  widow  of  Stenton  became  the  agent  in  the 
next  move,  by  professing,  under  oath,  to  identify  a  young  Indian  of 
Nain,  by  the  name  of  Renatus,  as  having  been  with  the  murderers 
of  her  husband.  Doubtless,  in  the  excitement  of  the  hour,  and  being 
of  those  who  refused  to  regard  this  as,  on  general  principles,  improb- 
able, she  believed  it.  It  was  not  the  first  nor  the  last  time  that  inno- 
cent men  have  been  thus  "identified"  in  such  cases,  and  many  an 
innocent  man  has  in  this  way  lost  his  life  at  the  hands  of  an  infuri- 
ated avenging  mob,  as  at  one  time  threatened  to  be  the  fate  of  Rena- 
tus. The  men  who  had  been  persuaded  in  October,  by  a  just  and 
cool-headed  neighbor,  probably  John  Jennings,  Sheriff  of  North- 
ampton County,  to  refrain  from  a  proposed  attack  upon  the  Indians 
at  Nain,  now  eagerly  availed  themselves  of  this  new  development 
to  spread  bitterness  against  that  peaceable  and  loyal  band.  Renatus 
was  formally  arrested  under  a  legal  warrant  from  Philadelphia  on 
October  29,  1763,  by  George  Klein,  of  Bethlehem,  deputy  of  John 
Jennings,  Sheriff.  The  missionary  Schmick,  at  this  time  stationed 
at  Nain,  was  appointed  by  Klein  as  further  deputy  to  take  him  to 
Philadelphia.  Renatus  was  a  son  of  old  Jacob,  "the  patriarch  of 
Nain,"  the  only  survivor  of  the  first  three  converts  baptized  in  1742 
by  Ranch  at  Oley.  This  old  Indian  accompanied  his  accused  son 
to  Philadelphia ;  Klein,  von  Marschall  and  others  following.  The 
excitement  was  intense  and,  whatever  might  be  the  result  of  the 
trial,  it  was  evident  that  the  end  of  the  sojourn  of  the  Indians  at  Nain 
was  near.  At  Philadelphia,  where  they  arrived,  October  30 — the  day 
of  the  earthquake  and  of  the  arrival  of  young  John  Penn  to  take  the 
Governor's  seat — the  best  legal  counsel  was  secured  to  insure  the 
accused  man  a  fair  trial.     No  less  a  man  than  John  Dickinson  under- 

and  in  1771  ordained  and  transferred  to  Wachovia,  N.C.;  Susan  von  Gersdorf,  called  as 
spiritual  overseer  of  the  single  v/omen  at  Bethlehem ;  Anna  Salome  Steinmann,  called  as 
spiritual  overseer  of  older  girls;  Maria  Wilhelmina  Werwing,  who  became  spiritual  over- 
seer of  the  widows  ;  also  the  following  single  women  :  Justina  Erd ;  Maria  Barbara  Horn, 
cook  in  the  Sisters'  House;  Dorothea  Loeffler,  stewardess  of  the  Sisters'  House;  Fredericka 
Pletscher  and  Elizabeth  Seidlitz. 
27 


402  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

took  the  defence.  Renatus,  after  sitting  in  prison  in  Philadelphia 
for  seven  months,  was  brought  to  Easton,  where  his  final  trial  took 
place,  the  third  week  in  June.  The  evidence  examined  was  so  flimsy 
and  the  impression  of  his  innocence  and  of  the  unrighteous  animus 
of  those  who  had  started  and  were  pushing  the  prosecution 
was  so  overwhelming,  that  in  the  face  of  all  the  turbulent 
clamor,  he  was  quickly  and  easily  acquitted,  on  June  21, 
1764,  and  then,  when  his  life  was  manifestly  in  danger  at 
the  hands  of  men  as  lawless  and  infuriated  as  the  savages, 
he  was  taken  back  to  Philadelphia  a  few  days  later,  under  guard,  for 
safety;  for  all  his  fellow-converts  from  Nain  were  there  under  the 
protection  of  the  Government,  excepting  his  aged  father  and  his 
wife,  who,  with  more  than  fifty  others,  had  fallen  victims,  in  the  inter- 
val, of  small-pox.  Directly  after  his  arrest,  an  effort  was  made  by 
influential  men  at  Philadelphia  to  have  special  measures  adopted  by 
the  Government  to  secure  the  Indians  of  Wechquetank  and  Nain  by 
their  confinement  under  guard  and  restrictions  at  the  latter  place, 
with  a  small  allowance  for  their  support  in  lieu  of  the  privilege  of 
hunting  and  fishing,  from  which  they  would  be  cut  ofif  by  being  thus 
kept  close  within  their  village,  as  in  a  fort.  This  proposition  was 
voted  down  in  the  Assembly,  and  it  was  finally  resolved  to  have  them 
all  brought  to  Philadelphia  in  order  to  meet  three  ends ;  to  keep  the 
Government  pledge  of  protection,  to  have  them  under  the  eye  of  the 
Government  and  cut  off  from  all  communication  with  other  Indians 
in  order  to  satisfy  those  who  suspected  them  of  treachery,  and  to 
end  the  turmoil  which  their  continued  presence  in  Northampton 
County  caused  there.  This  measure,  of  questionable  expediency, 
caused  more  serious  disturbance, perplexity  and  expense  than  the  first 
plan  would  have  involved.  The  order  for  the  removal  of  the  Indians 
reached  Bethlehem  on  November  5,  1763.  It  was  communicated 
to  them  the  next  day,  when,  upon  demand,  they  surrendered  all  their 
guns  and  then  commenced  to  pack  together  their  effects  for  the  jour- 
ney. November  8,  Grube  arrived  from  Nazareth  with  the  forty-four 
Indians  from  Wechquetank.  In  the  afternoon  they  joined  those 
from  Nain,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Lehigh,  seventy-seven  in  num- 
ber. Wagons  were  in  readiness  to  convey  the  aged,  the  infirm 
women  and  the  children,  with  the  wives  of  the  missionaries,  who 
heroically  accompanied  the  caravan,  while  their  husbands  went  afoot 
with  the  rest  of  the  Indian  men  and  women.  A  sheriff  and  guard 
\vere  on  hand  to  escort  them,  and  thus  they  set  out  for  Philadelphia, 


1762 1 77 1-  403 

where  they  arrived  in  the  forenoon  on  November  11.  Their  destina- 
tion was  the  barracks  that  had  been  constructed  in  1755  in  the 
"Northern  Liberties."  Their  first  experience  was  to  face  the  fury  of 
a  mob,  to  the  indignities  and  menaces  of  which — the  soldiers  at  the 
barracks  joining  with  the  frenzied  populace — those  noble  women, 
as  well  as  their  husbands,  were  subjected,  with  the  Indians.  The 
authorities  were  compelled  to  change  their  plan,  and  from  the  bar- 
racks they  were  taken,  amid  the  hootings  and  cursings  of  the  rabble, 
to  Province  Island,  where  they  were  quartered.  The  missionaries 
Grube  and  Roth,  their  wives  and  David  Zeisberger  were  with  them, 
and  in  December,  when  Zeisberger  returned  to  Bethlehem,  Schmick 
took  his  place.  It  would  lie  outside  the  scope  of  these  pages  to  fol- 
low their  trying  experiences  in  detail.  All  features  and  all  versions 
of  what  ensued  have  been  often  narrated,  from  every  standpoint ; 
from  that  of  the  Government  and  that  of  the  mob ;  that  of  the  city 
and  that  of  the  country ;  that  of  the  Moravians,  of  the  Quakers  and 
of  the  Scotch-Irish  people  of  the  frontiers  who  had  mainly  led  the 
crusade,  from  its  beginning,  against  Moravian  missionaries  and  their 
converts  and  against  all  compromise  with  Indians  of  any  kind. 

The  extreme  movement  in  this  crusade,  by  men  among  whom  this 
sentiment  had  developed,  under  the  great  provocations  of  the  time, 
into  fierce  and  lawless  fanaticism,  brought  on  the  most  critical  epi- 
sode in  the  experiences  of  these  Indians  and  their  missionaries  at 
Philadelphia.  This  was  the  well-known  descent  upon  the  capital  by 
the  Paxton  rangers  early  in  1764,  with  the  intention  of  exterminating 
the  protected  converts  on  Province  Island,  after  these  desperate  men 
had,  in  the  previous  December,  rivaled  the  deeds  of  the  savages  by 
slaughtering  the  peaceable  Indians  of  Conestoga  Manor.  This 
attempt  to  get  at  the  Moravian  Indians  in  February,  1764,  which,  for 
a  while,  threatened  to  make  the  city  of  Philadelphia  the  scene  of  riot 
and  carnage,  but  was  averted  by  the  show  of  armed  resistance  in 
which  even  young  Quakers,  in  the  dire  emergency,  joined,  and  by 
the  dissuading  influence  of  leading  citizens,  was  the  most  con- 
spicuous event  in  Pennsylvania  at  that  time.  All  that  remained  of 
Moravian  missions  among  the  Indians  was  embodied  in  that  band  of 
hunted  fugitives  on  Province  Island.  Around  it,  for  the  moment, 
were  concentrated  in  a  boisterous  climax — afifrighting  at  the  time, 
pathetic  so  far  as  that  mission  residue  was  concerned,  ludicrous  in 
some  aspects,  when  looked  back  upon — the  chronic  antagonisms  of 
contending  political  parties,  incompatible  races  and  creeds,  divergent 


404  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

views  of  policy,  competitive  local  interests,  all  bearing  upon  the  one 
question  of  the  hour — the  Indian  problem.  In  the  subsequent  Sep- 
tember, Pontiac's  war  came  nominally  to  an  end  and,  early  in  Decem- 
ber, peace  with  the  Indians  was  proclaimed  at  Philadelphia.  The 
good  tidings  reached  Bethlehem,  December  7,  1764.  Quiet  had  been 
restored  in  the  neighborhood,  the  sensation  connected  with  the  trial 
of  Renatus  had  subsided,  the  last  of  the  two  hundred  refugees  who 
had  again  found  shelter  at  Bethlehem  had  long  returned  to  their 
homes,  and  strict  vigilance  was  no  longer  considered  necessary,  when 
the  good  news  was  communicated  to  the  congregation. 

In  the  meantime  another  important  personal  change  had  taken 
place  at  Bethlehem.  The  man  who  was  the  pioneer  leader  in  the 
Forks  of  the  Delaware,  and  next  to  Spangenberg  had  stood  pre- 
eminent— Bishop  Peter  Boehler,  had  taken  final  leave  of  America 
and  returned  to  Europe.  He  and  his  wife  left  Bethlehem  on  May  7, 
1764,  the  day  on  which,  twenty-four  years  before,  he  first  came  to  the 
neighborhood.  They  sailed  with  Captain  Jacobsen  on  the  Hope  on 
May  16? 

On  April  26,  prior  to  his  departure,  he  had  held  a  Synod  at  Beth- 
lehem, at  which  the  scope  and  plan  of  the  boarding-school  at  Naza- 
reth Hall  were  elaborated  to  embrace  not  only  training  for  mis- 
sionary service,  but  a  "paedagogium"  course  in  different  branches  of 
knowledge,  with  a  view  to  other  pursuits.  Things  had  again  assumed 
a  sufficiently  normal  condition  that  there  was  encouragement  to  plan 
for  the  future,  and  even  in  the  matter  of  missions  among  the  Indians, 
the  outlook  was  not  considered  hopeless. 

Boehler  took  occasion  to  caution  the  people  against  participating 
in  political  discussion  and  party  strife.  This  was  then  rampant  under 
the  new  Lieutenant  Governor,  John  Penn,  inexperienced,  unfamiliar 

7  Besides  Bishop  Boehler,  his  wife  and  two  children,  there  were  four  other  passengers  from 
Bethlehem:  Anna  Rosina  Anders,  John  and  Mary  Antes  and  Dr.  John  Michael  Schmidt, 
who  had  come  to  Pennsylvania  with  Spangenberg  in  1754.  He  is  a  somewhat  unfamiliar 
person.  He  seems  to  have  remained  in  New  York  until  March,  1755,  when  he  came  to 
Bethlehem  with  Boehler.  In  November,  1755,  he  went  to  Lancaster  County,  with  George 
Klein.  He  married  Anna  Elizabeth  Smouth,  widow  of  Justice  Edward  Smouth,  of  Lancas- 
ter. She  died  in  October,  1757.  He  seems  to  have  had  an  apothecary's  shop  there  which 
after  the  death  of  his  wife  he  transferred  to  Lititz  for  a  while.  Subsequently  he  came  to 
Bethlehem,  where  he  assisted  Dr.  Otto  and  looked  after  patients  at  Nazareth.  He  also 
served  as  one  of  the  organists  at  Bethlehem  during  his  last  sojourn.  His  name  deserves  a 
place  among  the  medical  practitioners  of  olden  time  in  the  Lehigh  Valley.  He  was  called 
a  doctor  when  he  came  to  America,  and  was  then  a  widower.  He  was  born  September 
28,  1697. 


1/62 I77I-  405 

with  the  situation,  assuming  office  under  great  disadvantages  at  such 
a  time,  and  lacking  both  strength  and  tact  to  deal  with  the  growing 
movement  to  overthrow  the  Proprietary  Government  and  have  an 
executive  appointed  directly  by  the  Crown,  which  was  being  fostered 
by  Franklin  and  other  strong  men  of  the  Province.  Agitation  was 
rife,  and  the  Indian  question  with  others,  on  which  parties  were  again 
quite  differently  divided,  complicated  matters.  The  position  of  the 
Moravian  leaders  was  that  of  conservative  loyalty  towards  the  Pro- 
prietary Government,  as  well  as  towards  the  Crown  as  supreme. 
This  was,  with  them,  a  matter  of  general  principle  as  well  as  policy, 
in  connection  with  what  they  held  to  be  the  calling  of  the  Church,  as 
an  international  Unity  of  Brethren,  propagating  the  gospel  in  many 
lands  and  under  different  governments.  Their  calling,  as  they  viewed 
it,  was  not  to  help  make  and  unmake  governments,  but  to  use  the 
privileges  and  opportunities  which  the  existing  government,  what- 
ever it  might  be,  afforded  to  pursue  the  one  chief  object  which  was 
the  same  everywhere,  and  to  seek  the  peace  of  the  places  where  they 
dwelt.  While,  in  consistency  with  this  standard  there  is  no  dicussion 
of  the  great  questions  of  the  time  in  Moravian  records,  there  is 
occasional  reference  to  the  discord  and  excitement  on  occasions  like 
that  of  the  election  of  an  Assemblyman  in  September,  1764.  Indirectly 
the  effects  of  the  efforts  being  made  in  that,  and  the  following  years 
by  the  British  Government,  burdened  with  the  debts  of  protracted 
war,  to  press  more  revenue  out  of  the  colonies,  were  felt  in  the 
struggles  at  the  polls  on  such  occasions.  It  was  not  long  before  the 
question  of  taxation  without  representation,  the  obnoxious  Stamp 
Act  and  the  "Declaratory  Act"  which  followed  the  repeal  of  the  other 
{1764-66)  were  topics  of  conversation,  at  least  among  English 
speaking  people,  in  all  corners,  even  of  the  back  townships,  where 
men  gathered  at  the  mills  or  at  the  Squire's  office  and  heard  matters 
expounded  by  some  one  who  was  better  informed  or  who  regularly 
read  a  newspaper. 

At  Bethlehem  there  were  more  men  of  education  and  general 
information  and  more  men  who  read  the  newspapers  and  often  got 
away  from  home  than  could  probably  have  been  found  in  any  other 
town  of  its  size  in  Pennsylvania.  They  were,  moreover,  near  the 
county-seat,  where  Court  statedly  met,  and  there  was  constant 
contact  with  men  who  went  to  and  fro  on  such  business.  Further- 
more, there  was  not  a  point  at  the  same  distance  from  Philadelphia 
so  much  visited  by  people  from  that  city,  and,  with  few  exceptions, 


406  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

the  visitors  were  of  the  intelHgent  classes,  very  many  of  them  persons 
of  prominent  position.  That  the  men  of  Bethlehem  had  little  to  say 
on  the  public  questions  of  the  time  was  by  no  means  an  evidence 
that  they  knew  and  thought  less  about  them  than  those  who  continu- 
ally "talked  politics."  The  favorite  popular  idea  in  modern  times, 
that  Bethlehem,  in  those  days,  was  a  secluded  hamlet  cut  off  from 
the  world,  a  kind  of  large,  quiet  cloister  around  which  men  traveled^ 
wondering  what  was  inside,  is  a  very  great  fallacy.  It  was,  amid  its 
surroundings  of  that  time,  even  less  so  than,  by  comparison  with 
other  progressing  towns,  it  was,  half  a  century  later,  when  things 
elsewhere  were  moving  and  Bethlehem  was  self-centered  and 
stagnant. 

The  year  1765,  which  brought  general  restoration  of  orderly  life 
and  activity  and  renewed  vigor  in  trades  and  industries,  also  brought 
the  end  of  what  may  be  called  the  Indian  history  of  Bethlehem. 
Under  the  settlements  and  arrangements  which  followed  the  termin- 
ation of  the  Pontiac  War,  so  far  as  Pennsylvania  was  concerned,  the 
Moravian  Indians  were  released  from  the  barracks  at  Philadelphia 
to  be  removed  in  a  body  to  the  Wyoming  Valley.  On  March  22,  in 
the  midst  of  a  heavy  snow-storm  they  arrived  at  Bethlehem.  They 
left  about  sixty  of  their  number  behind  them,  buried  in  unmarked 
graves.  There  were  now  eighty-three  souls  belonging  to  the  mission. 
With  them  were  a  number  of  other  peaceable  Indians  who  had 
surrendered  themselves,  secured  the  protection  of  the  Government 
and  latterly  occupied  the  barracks  with  the  Moravian  Indians.  They 
were  under  the  responsible  escort  of  Major  Thomas  Apty,  Govern- 
ment Commissary,  with  a  small  guard.  They  were  taken  to  the 
houses  at  Nain  to  rest  a  few  days.  Their  arrival  awakened  much 
sympathetic  interest  at  Bethlehem.  The  inclement  weather  continued 
during  the  following  days.  On  Sunday,  March  24,  the  snow  lay 
two  feet  deep,  and  such  a  high  wind  prevailed  that  no  paths  could 
be  opened  and  services  had  to  be  omitted.  At  the  evening  service 
on  March  26,  the  letter  of  thanks  sent  to  the  Governor  by  the 
Indians,  before  they  left  the  barracks,  was  read  to  the  congregation. 
March  31,  a  farewell  service  was  held  at  Nain  which  is  described  as 
a  deeply  touching  occasion.  April  i,  William  Allen,  Jr.,  arrived  from 
Philadelphia,  as  a  representative  of  the  Governor,  to  give  personal 
attention  to  their  secure  passage  through  the  country  between  Beth- 
lehem and  the  mountains,  because  it  was  learned  that  an  attack 
upon  them  had  been  threatened  by  vindictive  men. 


1762 ^77^'  407 

The  next  day  he  had  a  consultation  with  the  Justices  of  the  several 
Townships  in  reference  to  this  matter,  and  arranged  for  the  time 
and  manner  of  their  departure.  April  3 — Wednesday  of  the  Holy 
Passion  Week — they  set  out  on  their  journey  to  the  Indian  country, 
accompanied  by  the  missionaries  Zeisberger  and  Schmick,  and 
escorted  by  Major  Apty,  Lieutenant  Hundsecker,  Sheriff  KichHne 
and  Justice  Moore.  Passing  through  Bethlehem,  they  again  thanked 
the  people  for  all  the  kindness  they  had  experienced  and  were  warmly 
commended  to  the  Divine  protection.  A  brief  halt  was  made  at  the 
Moravian  outpost,  the  Rose  Inn,  where  they  were  again  speeded  on 
their  way  by  words  of  good  cheer  and  benisons  from  a  number  of 
persons,  gathered  there  to  greet  them  in  passing.  The  next  day  they 
reached  the  ruins  of  Wechquetank  where  they  built  temporary  huts 
of  bark  and  remained  until  after  Easter.  Then  they  continued  their 
journey  through  the  wilderness,  a  journey  of  great  hardship,  and 
reached  Machwihilusing  (Wyalusing)  on  May  9.  There  a  village  was 
laid  out,  with  gardens  and  fields,  and  there  a  new  mission  was  founded 
which  received  the  name  Friedenshiietten — Habitations  of  Peace — like 
the  temporary  Indian  village  of  twenty  years  before,  at  Bethlehem. 
They  were  permitted  to  remain  there  in  peace  for  seven  years.  Then 
came  again  the  call  to  move  on,  and  in  1772  the'  one  hundred  and 
fifty-one  people  to  which  this  Indian  congregation  had  again  grown 
had  to  leave  their  beautiful  Friedenshuetten  in  the  Wyoming  Valley, 
and  with  the  fifty-three  of  the  Schechschiquanunk  mission  which  had 
arisen  west  of  the  Susquehanna,  proceeded  westward  to  Ohio,  to 
make  the  Tuscarawas  Valley  historic.  Thus,  with  the  departure  of 
those  Indians  from  Bethlehem  on  April  3,  1765,  Moravian  Indian 
missions  in  the  Lehigh  Valley  came  to  an  end.  The  houses  of  Nain 
had  been  sold  at  auction,  on  March  30,  to  citizens  of  Bethlehem. 
April  13,  they  were  taken  down  and  removed.  Six  of  them,  among 
which  was  the  chapel  of  the  village,  were  set  up  again  in  Bethlehem 
and  made  use  of  for  many  years.* 

During  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1765,  numerous  visits  by  persons 
of  prominence  are  alluded  to  in  the  diary  of  Bethlehem.  The  conspic- 
uous connection  of  the  place  and  Its  people  with  the  dealings  between 
the  Government  and  the  Indians  had  attracted  the  attention  of  some 
of  these  who  otherwise  would  have  taken  little  notice  of  the  Moravian 


8  One  of  them  remains  standing  at  the  south-west  corner  of  Market  and  Cedar  Streets. 
The  old  chapel,  until  1868,  stood  a  little  way  above  that,  on  the  same  side  of  the  street,  on 
the  site  of  the  present  "  Chapter  House." 


408  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

town.  The  weekly  trips  now  made  by  the  "stage-wagon"  which 
George  Klein,  in  September,  1763,  put  on  the  road  between  Beth- 
lehem and  Philadelphia  made  travel  more  convenient,  and  the  Sun 
Inn  had  already  acquired  the  reputation  of  being  by  far  the  best 
house  of  entertainment  outside  of  Philadelphia  and  its  immediate 
environs.  The  fact  that  such  a  hotel  was  to  be  found  so  far  up  the 
country  added  inducements  to  many  to  visit  the  picturesque  region 
of  the  Lehigh  Valley,  not  merely  with  a  view  to  investments  in 
land  farther  up  where  desirable  purchases  could  be  made,  but  also 
in  mere  search  of  recreation  and  for  the  purpose  of  hunting  and 
fishing;  Bethlehem  being  a  convenient  point  from  which  to  make 
tours  into  the  back  country  in  various  directions.  Here  and  there 
men  of  w'ealth  were  selecting  spots  at  which  to  erect  a  "forest  lodge" 
or  a  remote  country-seat  within  a  day's  journey,  to  and  fro,  of 
Bethlehem.  One  such  place  quite  near,  that  became  the  nucleus  of 
a  city,  now  the  most  populous  center  in  the  Lehigh  Valley,  appears 
upon  the  scene  at  this  time.  It  was  the  country-seat  of  the  Aliens  on 
the  Jordan  Creek  which  received  the  name  Trout  Hall.  Already  in 
December,  1763,  the  diary  of  Bethlehem  refers  to  a  party  with  "young 
Mr.  Allen,"  who  were  on  a  hunting  trip  and  passed  the  night  at  the 
Sun.  On  June  6,  1764,  the  first  mention  is  made  of  "Northampton 
Town,"  at  that  point  up  the  river.  In  July,  1765,  Governor  John 
Penn,  who  was  a  son-in-law  of  Chief  Justice  WiUiam  Allen,  was  here 
with  his  brother  and  young  Mr.  Allen,  and  they  were  guests  at  the 
Inn.  They  paid  a  visit,  as  it  seems,  to  that  place.  In  October  and 
November,  "Mr.  Penn,  brother  of  the  Governor,"  and  other  men 
from  Philadelphia,  were  again  here  at  intervals,  some  of  them 
engaged  in  hunting,  as  it  appears,  and  on  December  i,  the  Governor 
himself  was  again  in  the  neighborhood  and  stopped  over  night  at 
the  Sun.  Their  movements  indicate  that  they  came  and  went 
between  Bethlehem  and  "Northampton  Town,"  and  perhaps  plans 
in  reference  to  the  prospective  town  were  combined  with  the  enjoy- 
ment sought  by  sportsmen  on  these  occasions. 

During  the  following  summer  (1766)  there  were  again  many  per- 
sons of  note,  in  connection  with  f)ublic  affairs  of  the  time,  among 
the  visitors  at  Bethlehem.  One  of  these,  in  September,  with  a  party 
from  Philadelphia,  was  Sir  Thomas  Stirling,  captain  of  the  Royal 
Highlanders,  later  prominent  in  the  Revolution,  who  had  in  the  pre- 
vious months  accomplished  a  march  of  over  three  thousand  miles 
with  his  troops. 


1762 ^77^-  409 

In  the  autumn  of  1765,  however,  a  visitor  had  arrived  from  Europe 
whose  presence  was  of  far  more  interest  to  the  people  at  Bethlehem 
than  that  of  such  persons.  This  was  Bishop  David  Nitschmann,  Jr., 
often  officially  styled  the  "Syndic."  He  was  sent  by  the  central 
board  in  Europe  to  make  a  thorough  inspection  of  things,  to 
announce  and  explain  the  enactments  of  the  important  General 
Synod  of  1764,  at  which  the  foundations  of  a  proper  constitutional 
church  government  were  laid  to  take  the  place  of  the  system  that 
had  existed  to  the  death  of  Zinzendorf  in  1760.  Nitschmann  was  a 
member  of  the  board  that  had  been  administering  the  government 
of  the  Church  under  the  ad  interim  plan,  and  now  was  a  member  of 
the  General  Board  of  Syndics  which  administered  constitutional 
affairs  and  represented  the  government  of  the  Church  over  against 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities  and  the  public  generally."  He  was 
accompanied  by  his  wife  and  reached  Bethlehem,  November  28, 
1765,  having  come  over  on  the  Hope  with  the  Rev.  Joseph  Neisser 
and  his  wife.  Their  visit  gave  great  pleasure  to  the  people  and  was 
regarded  as  of  much  importance.  Bethlehem  was  at  this  time  the 
center  of  a  body  of  Moravian  work  embracing,  besides  the  local  con- 
gregation, those  on  the  Nazareth  land  and  the  new  settlement  of 
Lititz,  fourteen  congregations  and  five  preaching-places  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, New  York,  New  Jersey,  the  New  England  States  and  Mary- 
land, together  with  the  transplanted  Indian  mission.  Nitschmann 
visited  the  most  of  these  places  and  convened  a  Synod  which  was  in 
session  at  Bethlehem  from  May  30  to  June  4,  1766.  One  of  his  tasks 
at  Bethlehem  was  a  thorough  examination,  assortment  and  arrange- 
ment of  the  archives.  Much  of  the  accumulated  manuscript  matter 
was  filed  to  remain  at  the  place,  some  was  taken  by  him  to  Europe 
and   some  was   destroyed."     He   remained   until   September,    1766. 


9  David  Nitschmann,  Jr.,  was  a  younger  man  than  Bishop  David  Nitschmann — since  1760 
living  in  retirement  at  Bethlehem — who,  with  his  uncle,  Father  David  Nitschmann,  founded 
Bethlehem.  This  official  visitor  of  1765  was,  with  his  senior  namesake,  among  the  three 
David  Nitschmanns  who,  with  Zeisberger  and  Toeltschig,  were  called  "  the  five  Moravian 
Churchmen"  of  1724.  The  General  Synod  of  1764  instituted  the  General  Boards  in 
control :  the  Directory,  in  general  oversight ;  the  Board  of  Syndics,  as  stated  above ;  and 
the  Board  of  Wardens,  in  charge  of  the  finances. 

'o  The  oldest  extant  catalogue  of  the  Bethlehem  archives  was  compiled  by  him  at  this 
time.  In  1769,  he  was  appointed  General  Archivist  of  the  Unity,  this  being  considered  a 
post  of  much  importance.  Zinzendorf  once  said  "  Die  Archive  ganzer  Kirchen  giebt  man 
in  keine  ungewaschene  Haende." 


4IO  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

On  the  1 6th  of  that  month  he  embarked  at  Philadelphia,  with  some 
others  who  accompanied  him,  to  return  to  Europe. 

A  general  toning  up  of  things  and  a  revival  of  cheerfulness,  zeal 
and  harmony,  after  the  disturbing  experiences  that  had  again  been 
passed  through,  resulted  from  his  visit.  Various  matters,  in  external 
affairs,  were  gotten  into  better  order  and  simplified.  It  was  decided, 
among  other  things,  to  lease  the  farms  of  the  place  to  individual  ten- 
ants, as  a  more  business-like  and  profitable  arrangement,  and  less 
troublesome.  There  was  a  large  increase  during  1766  in  the  demand 
for  wares  from  the  Bethlehem  manufactories,  so  that  the  most  of 
them  were  decidedly  profitable.  Towards  the  end  of  1765,  a  very 
substantial  stone  building^^  had  been  erected  in  the  place  of  the  oil- 
mill  that  was  burned  down  in  November,  1763.  At  the  time  when 
the  rafters  were  set  up,  in  October,  1765,  it  was  referred  to  in  the 
records  with  some  pride,  as  one  of  the  most  solid  and  durable  struc- 
tures in  the  country.  It  was  equipped  with  two  water-wheels  in  the 
center.  One  was  to  drive  the  machinery  of  the  oil-mill,  with  the 
hulling  and  stamping  machines  and  the  fan  in  the  loft.  The  other 
one  was  to  operate  the  bark  grinder  and  other  appurtenances  of  the 
tannery,  a  hemp-stamper,  "of  the  kind  in  use  on  the  Rhine,"  in  the 
first  story,  and  a  rubber  or  grater  for  hemp  in  the  second  story. 

The  active  inception  of  a  larger  and  eventually  more  interesting 
building  enterprise  comes  into  view  at  this  time.  It  was  the  erection 
of  a  home  at  Bethlehem  for  the  widows,  projected  some  years  before. 
This  constituted  one  of  the  subjects  of  deliberation  at  the  Synod  in 
June,  1766,  while  Bishop  Nitschmann,  Jr.,  was  in  Bethlehem,  for  it 
concerned  all  the  ministers  and  missionaries  present  and,  to  some 
extent,  the  membership  of  other  congregations ;  for,  through  various 
circumstances,  many  a  woman  from  Lititz  and  the  Nazareth  places 
and  even  from  other  points  would  be  likely  to  become  an  inmate  of 
such  a  home.  The  cramped  and  imcomfortable  quarters  in  the  log 
house  at  Nazareth  were  commented  upon  and  it  was  remarked  that 
it  was  a  hardship  for  women,  after  the  death  of  their  husbands,  to 
be  compelled,  for  want  of  a  "choir  house"  for  widows  at  Bethlehem 
or  other  suitable  quarters,  to  move  up  to  that  house.  An  earnest 
appeal  for  support  in  this  undertaking  was  written  by  Sister  Wer- 
wing,  the  superintendent  of  the  widows,  and  was  communicated  at 
Bethlehem  on  June  19,  1766.  On  December  2,  the  site  was  selected 
in  the  garden  opposite  the  girls'  school ;  the  original  idea  of  build- 

"  The  building  in  which  the  present  water- works  of  Bethlehem  are  contained. 


WIDOWS'    HOUSE    VIEWS 


1762 I77I-  411 

ing  it  at  the  east  end  of  the  Sisters'  House  having  been  abandoned 
because  an  extension  of  that  establishment  was  now  had  in  view. 
On  January  8,  1767,  the  final  plans  were  adopted  and  the  work  was 
soon  commenced.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  /Vpril  27,  with  solemn 
and  impressive  services.  The  widows  had  all  come  from  Nazareth 
and  were  present,  together  with  three  who  lived  at  Bethlehem  on 
account  of  duties  in  which  they  were  engaged.  The  building  was 
not  entirely  finished  and  ready  to  be  dedicated  and  occupied  until 
October,  1768.  After  a  farewell  service  at  Nazareth  on  the  previous 
day,  the  whole  company  of  widows  who  had  been  living  there  came 
to  Bethlehem  on  the  morning  of  October  12.  A  ceremonious  recep- 
tion was  accorded  them  and  on  that  day  their  new  home,  with  its 
chapel,  was  solemnly  dedicated  in  the  manner  customary  in  those 
days.  An  addition,  commenced  in  1794  and  finished  the  next  year, 
was  built  at  the  east  end.^^ 

Another  project  for  the  benefit  of  widows  of  the  Church  began 
to  be  discussed  when  the  important  end  of  providing  them  a  suitable 
home  had  been  reached.  This  was  to  institute  a  fund  for  their 
benefit,  so  that  those  who  were  left  without  resources  would  by  this 
means  be  assured  of  something  towards  meeting  their  needs.  An 
association  for  this  purpose  had  been  in  existence  a  few  years  in 
England,  formed  by  men  who,  by  paying  a  certain  sum,  acquired 
membership  and  thereby  secured  for  their  wives,  if  they  survived 
them,  a  share  of  the  income  from  the  interest  of  the  capital  thus 
created.  The  matter  was  deliberated  upon  at  the  General  Synod  of 
the  Church  in  1769,  and  the  formation  of  such  associations  at  Beth- 
lehem and  elsewhere  was  encouraged.  A  modest  beginning  was 
made  in  1770.  It  is  referred  to  in  the  records  of  the  time  as  "the 
founding  of  a  society  for  the  sustentation  of  poor  widows."  At  a 
meeting  of  the  Elders  of  Bethlehem  on  September  3  of  that  year,  the 
constitution  of  the  English  society  and  a  draft  of  a  similar  one  for 
Bethlehem  were  considered  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  work 
out  this  draft  and  report.  On  September  15,  at  a  meeting  of  married 
men    of    Bethlehem  and  other  places  who  had  joined,  the  articles 

12  The  generous  provision  by  which  this  historic  building  was  devoted  to  its  present  laud- 
able use  is  a  matter  of  recent  history.  In  1871  the  late  John  Jordan,  Jr.,  of  Philadelphia, 
made  a  gift  of  ^10,000  to  maintain  it  as  a  home  for  widows  and  daughters  of  Moravian 
ministers,  and  other  women  who  have  been  engaged  in  church  service,  under  terms  and 
conditions  set  forth  in  an  agreement  between  him  and  the  executive  authorities  of  the 
Church,  made  in  due  form  of  law.  In  1889,  through  the  munificence  of  the  same  kind 
donor,  the  commodious  annex  to  the  rear  was  built. 


412  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

reported  were  adopted  and  six  trustees  were  elected  to  develop  the 
details  of  organization.  Before  the  close  of  the  year  there  were  more 
than  a  hundred  investors.  The  first  general  meeting  was  held,  Janu- 
ary 2,  1771.  The  number  had  then  reached  a  hundred  and  ten.  Six 
"stewards"  were  elected  to  take  care  of  and  administer  the  funds. 
This,  in  brief,  was  the  beginning  of  "The  Widows'  Society  of  Beth- 
lehem," probably  the  oldest  existing  beneficial  society  in  America, 
which  since  that  beginning  has  disbursed  more  than  $177,000  in 
small  annuities  to  the  widows  of  deceased  members,  and  is  yet  pros- 
pering in  its  unpretentious  work. 

During  the  year  1767,  when  the  building  of  the  Widows'  House 
was  in  progress,  the  dwelling  accommodations  for  families  in  the 
village  were  enlarged  by  the  erection  of  other  houses.  With  this 
gradual  increase  of  separate  households  and  development  of  a  more 
ordinary  village  life,  more  attention  had  to  be  given  to  perfecting  the 
system  of  ordinances  and  regulations  needed  to  meet  these  changing 
conditions.  Thus  on  the  last  two  days  of  June,  what  was  styled  a 
general  Polisei-Tag — a  kind  of  town  meeting,  was  held,  at  which  a 
revised  and  improved  code  of  rules  was  communicated,  with  various 
connected  matters,  duly  expounded  and  impressed.  On  the  first  of 
those  days  the  general  statutes  embodied  in  the  Brotherly  Agree- 
ment, which  all  male  residents  who  were  voting  members  had  to 
sign,  were  taken  up.  On  the  second  day  the  fire  regulations  par- 
ticularly engaged  attention.  Such  a  Polisei-Tag  was  periodically 
appointed  during  those  years,  and  in  subsequent  times,  to  refresh  the 
memories  of  the  people  and  to  bring  necessary  matters  to  their 
attention ;  for  there  were  some  in  those  days,  as  well  as  in  modern 
times,  who  forgot  the  ordinances  and  the  statutes,  and  even  some 
who  violated  the  rules  and  needed  to  be  admonished. 

During  this  year  some  reconstruction  of  local  school  arrange- 
ments again  took  place.  In  1764  a  separate  day-school  for  girls,  in 
addition  to  the  boarding-school,  and  a  day-school  for  boys  had  been 
established,  because  it  was  not  practicable  to  continue  the  complete 
consolidation  which  had  existed  for  a  while.  The  girls'  school 
became  unwieldy  and  the  boys  could  not  all  be  sent  to  Nazareth 
Hall  after  they  outgrew  the  nursery  or  infant  school,  which  was 
yet  maintained  at  Bethlehem,  like  that  for  girls,  both  on  a  small 
scale.  This  day-school  for  boys  was  now  moved  into  a  room  in  the 
finally  completed  addition  to  the  Brethren's  House  on  September 
25.     Thus  at  the  close  of  the  period  embraced  in  this  chapter,  the 


1762 I77I-  415 

The  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  and  his  suite  were  in  Bethlehem 
again  from  April  27  to  May  i,  1768.  He  examined  the  various 
industries  of  the  place  with  special  attention,  was  particularly 
impressed  by  the  singing  of  the  girls  in  the  boarding-school,  watched 
the  process  of  bush-net  fishing  in  the  Lehigh  with  much  interest, 
took  a  drive  to  "Allen's  Town" — so  called,  as  well  as  Northampton, 
at  this  time  in  the  diary — made  careful  inquiry  into  Moravian  doc- 
trines and  principles,  stating  afterwards  that  he  had  been  given 
erroneous  information  on  this  subject,  and  studied  a  copy  of  the 
printed  Acta  Fratrmn  Unitatis  in  Anglia  containing  the  various  points 
in  which  the  Church  had  given  an  account  of  itself  in  connection  with 
the  Act  of  Parliament  in  its  favor  in  1749.  On  June  16,  following. 
Lord  Montague,  Governor  of  South  Carolina,  and  his  lady,  with 
suite,  arrived  in  Bethlehem.  He,  in  like  manner,  made  a  careful 
study  of  everything  of  importance  and  interest,  and  expressed  the 
wish  that  a  Moravian  settlement  might  be  founded  in  his  colony 
also.  The  names  of  Justice  Lawrence,  Dr.  Shippen,  Jr.,  Dr.  Harris 
and  the  Rev.  Jacob  Duche,  of  Philadelphia,  are  mentioned  among  the 
visitors  during  that  summer. 

Another  Moravian  visitor  from  Europe,  whose  errand  was  of  inter- 
est, arrived  at  Bethlehem,  November  26,  1768.  This  was  the  Rev. 
Christian  George  Andrew  Oldendorp,  who  had  been  spending  the 
previous  part  of  the  year  and  much  of  the  preceding  year  in  the 
Danish  West  Indies,  studying  the  geography,  fauna  and  flora  of  the 
Islands,  the  history  and  language  of  the  negroes — in  which  latter 
task  he  was  greatly  aided  by  the  Rev.  John  Boehner,  one  of  the  Beth- 
lehem pioneers,  and  at  this  time  the  patriarch  among  the  West  India 
missionaries — and  particularly  the  history  of  the  mission  work,  and 
its  condition  at  the  time,  preparatory  to  writing  an  exhaustive  treatise. 
He  came  to  Bethlehem  principally  to  collect  further  material  from 
the  mass  of  West  India  diaries,  reports  and  correspondence  in  the 
archives.  The  results  of  his  labors  remained  in  more  than  three 
thousand  pages  of  manuscript,  from  which,  in  1777,  an  extract  was 
prepared  by  the  Rev.  John  Jacob  Bossart,  professor  in  the  Moravian 
Theological  Seminary  at  Barby  in  Saxony,  and  put  into  print  in  a 
volume  of  over  a  thousand  pages,  which  is  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing and  valuable  early  contributions  to  Moravian  missionary  litera- 
ture. Oldendorp  remained  in  Bethlehem  until  the  end  of  March, 
1769,  and  on  April  17  sailed  with  Bishop  Seidel  for  Europe.  He  had 
brought  with  him  to  Bethlehem  a  considerable  collection  of  natural 


4l6  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

curiosities  from  the  West  Indies  which  he  presented  to  the  Single 
Brethren's  House,  where  they  were  classified  and  arranged  for  exhi- 
bition. That  collection  of  Naturalia  brought  by  Oldendorp  from  the 
oldest  mission  field  of  the  Moravian  Church  constituted,  therefore,, 
the  nucleus  of  the  first  museum  at  Bethlehem,  adding  to  the  things 
to  be  seen  by  people  who  were  "shown  about."  There  were  again 
many  such  visitors  during  the  summer  of  1769,  and  old  Captain  Gar- 
rison, courteous,  widely-traveled,  well-informed  and  familiar  with 
four  languages,  was  now  doing  the  honors  as  cicerone  of  Bethle- 
hem. Among  the  visitors  of  that  season  was  again  the  Governor  of 
Pennsylvania,  from  April  24  to  29,  with  his  wife  and  others  from 
Philadelphia.  While  here  they  went  to  Allen's  Town  on  the  26th. 
Another,  the  first  week  in  June,  was  Governor  Franklin,  of  New 
Jersey,  with  his  wife  "and  a  certain  Mr.  O'Donnel." 

The  New  Jersey  Governor  "promised  all  favor  to  the  new  settle- 
ment" in  that  Province.  This  was  the  settlement  later  called  Hope, 
on  the  land  of  Samuel  Green,  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter.  The 
land  having  been  purchased  and  the  founding  of  a  settlement  having 
been  determined,  Peter  Worbas,  the  first  keeper  of  the  Sun  Inn, 
removed  to  the  place  in  April,  1769,  to  oversee  the  erection  of  a  first 
house,  which  was  finished  and  occupied  in  September.  On  October  i, 
the  first  sermon  was  preached  there  by  Ettwein,  who  was  most 
energetically  interested  in  fostering  the  enterprise,  which  stood  in 
such  intimate  connection  with  Bethlehem  while  it  existed.  Worbas 
was  accompanied,  on  April  3,  by  several  officials  of  Bethlehem  and  by 
Frederick  Leinbach,  who  soon  after  became  the  leading  man  of  the 
new  place  in  secular  affairs  and  keeper  of  the  store  opened  in  1771- 
Christiansen,  the  famous  Bethlehem  mill-wright,  also  went  along  to 
take  the  first  steps  in  his  important  part  of  the  founding.  The  Hope 
grist-mill  acquired  celebrity,  is  referred  to  with  interest  in  the  writ- 
ings of  various  notable  travelers,  such  as  the  Marquis  du  Chastellux, 
of  LaFayette's  staff  in  the  Revolution,  and  played  an  important  part 
as  an  institution  of  the  region  in  those  years.  A  number  of  persons 
who  had  figured  in  various  positions  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth 
became  identified  with  the  fortunes  of  Hope  at  one  time  or  another. 
The  place  was  first  given  the  name  Greenland,  when  the  deeds  were 
executed,  January  23,  1771,  after  that  of  the  former  owner  of  the 
land.  It  bore  this  name  until  after  the  resolution  of  the  General 
Directory  in  Europe  to  establish  a  regular  church  village  there,  Hke 
Lititz.     This  was  in  1774,  on  November  25  and  26  of  which  year,  the 


1762 I77I-  417 

village  was  laid  out  and  in  February,  1775,  received  the  name  Hope, 
which,  during  the  subsequent  decades,  appears  as  frequently  in  the 
diary  of  Bethlehem  as  the  name  of  Nazareth. 

In  June,  1770,  after  Bishop  Nathanael  Seidel  returned  from  the 
General  Synod  held  in  Europe  the  preceding  year,  a  process  of 
re-organization  began  at  Bethlehem  which  was  completed  in  Novem- 
ber, 1771,  and  marked  an  epoch  as  distinct  as  that  of  1762.  It  was 
so  intimately  related  to  the  constructive  work  of  that  period  in  the 
constitution  and  government  of  the  Moravian  Church  as  a  whole,  or 
the  Unity  of  the  Brethren  as  it  was  then  constitutionally  called,  that 
some  idea  of  this  broader  constructive  work  is  necessary  in  order  to 
understand  the  situation  that  was  produced  at  Bethlehem.  There 
were  several  distinct  stages.  The  first,  that  of  preHminary  and  pre- 
paratory measures,  opened  ten  years  before  the  death  of  Zinzendorf, 
when  the  beginning  of  the  financial  troubles  treated  of  in  a  former 
chapter,  occasioned  the  first  steps  towards  some  kind  of  economic 
administration  besides  the  primitive  personal  one  which  he  and  his 
wife  had  been  exercising  Hke  heads  of  a  large  family.  It  extended 
to  his  death,  when  some  form  of  government  quite  independent  of 
his  unique  personal  relation  to  affairs  was  first  possible  and  at  the 
same  time  became  necessary.  The  second  stage  was  the  ad  interim 
system,  already  referred  to,  which  was  then  introduced  until  a  Gen- 
eral Synod  could  be  held  to  proceed  with  the  establishment  of  con- 
stitution and  government  such  as  was  required.  It  was  during  this 
period,  1760  to  1764,  that  the  dissolution  of  the  General  Economy 
and  the  first  re-organization  at  Bethlehem  took  place,  and  therefore 
the  arrangements  then  instituted  were  regarded  as  also  ad  interim. 
Then  followed  the  formative  constitutional  stage,  from  1764  to  1775, 
embracing  the  work  of  three  General  Synods.  While  the  first  two, 
1764  and  1769,  are  considered  pre-eminently  the  Constitutional 
Synods,  the  formative  work,  affecting  not  only  the  whole  but  each 
church  settlement  in  all  the  particulars  of  its  organization  and 
various  activities  and  interests,  continued  until  1775.  The  synodical 
legislation  of  that  year  established  a  balance  between  opposite  ten- 
dencies in  some  points,  both  of  principle  and  method,  that  had  pre- 
vailed in  1764  and  1769;  correcting  what  the  test  of  experiment 
proved  to  be  defects  of  both  in  some  measures,  particularly  in 
economic  and  financial  policies.  It  also  brought  the  church  settle- 
ments   in    America  into  a  more  complete   incorporation,   with   the 

28 


41 8  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

European  settlements,  in  the  organic  Unity,  they  being  governed 
entirely  like  those  in  Europe  in  all  particulars. 

The  feature  of  all  this  which  chiefly  requires  attention  in  this  con- 
nection, is  that  the  Unity,  represented  by  the  General  Synod,  con- 
sisted of  a  group  of  European  and  American  church  settlements, 
along  with  a  few  other  associated  congregations  not  so  organized, 
and  that  the  whole  was  under  the  direction  of  a  board,  during  the 
intervals  between  meetings  of  this  Synod,  which  was  elected  by  and 
responsible  to  the  Synod.  The  legislation  of  that  Synod  and  the 
direction  exercised  by  that  board,  called,  after  1769,  the  Unity's 
Elders'  Conference,  are  not  to  be  had  in  mind  as  restricted  to  purely 
ecclesiastical  matters,  for  in  this  case  they  would  have  only  incident- 
ally had  a  bearing  upon  the  life  and  doings  of  Bethlehem.  Their 
enactments  and  administration  concerned  a  group  of  villages,  as 
such,  in  all  particulars ;  their  local  organization  and  government, 
their  property  and  finances,  their  trades  and  industries,  their  educa- 
tional institutions  and  all  the  features  of  their  communal  life,  as  well 
as  their  doctrine  and  cultus  and  the  missionary  activities  they  prose- 
cuted jointly.  Therefore,  as  regards  Bethlehem,  the  General  Synod 
and  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  had  to  do  not  only  with  what  are 
now  distinguished  as  its  church  matters,  but  with  its  land  and  build- 
ings, its  farms  and  mills  and  workshops,  its  schools  and  its  village 
government.  As  the  entire  Unity,  consisting  of  the  aggregate  of 
these  church  villages,  was  thus  directed  by  a  general  Elders'  Confer- 
ence, so  each  village  was  likewise  governed  by  a  local  Elders'  Confer- 
ence. This  body  consisted  entirely  of  ordained  men,  together  with 
their  wives,  who  also  occupied  a  defined  official  position,  and  the 
several  women  who  had  the  oversight  of  the  Sisters'  and  Widows' 
Houses  and  were  thus  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  pastoral  corps 
of  the  village.  The  share  taken  by  women  in  official  oversight  was 
a  feature  that  anticipated  the  most  advanced  and  liberal  modern 
ideas,  so  far  as  the  mere  matter  of  having  women  participating  in 
official  counsel  was  concerned,  but  it  was  far  from  being  the  result 
of  advanced  views  among  the  people  thus  asserting  themselves 
under  an  elective  system.  These  "Elders  of  the  City"  were  not 
chosen  by  the  people,  but  consisted  ex  officio  of  the  corps  of  min- 
isters who,  under  the  system  carefully  and  minutely  worked  out  by 
the  General  Synod,  were  placed  in  each  village  by  the  Elders' 
Conference  of  the  Unity  to  have  charge  of  the  dififerent  departments 
of  ministerial  work,  together  with  the  Warden  of  the  village,  who 
also  was  an  ordained  man. 


1762 ^77^-  4*9 

The  people  of  the  vihage  were  represented  by  the  Village  or  Con- 
gregation Council — Gcuicinrath — which,  at  different  times,  varied  in 
make-up  and  in  the  process  by  which  its  personnel  was  chosen. 
Under  all  the  varying  arrangements,  however,  this  was  the  body  that 
represented  the  people  over  against  the  Elders'  Conference  in  whose 
selection  they  had  no  voice.  They  had  an  opportunity  to  express 
their  choice  by  electing  persons  to  it  even  when  its  membership  was 
most  restricted  and  included  the  largest  number  of  ex  officio 
members,  although  the  persons  thus  elected  were  subject  to  con- 
firmation by  lot,  and  the  election  was  thus  only  a  nomination  of 
persons  from  among  whom  the  number  to  make  up  the  Council  was 
drawn.  According  to  a  very  carefully  adjusted  scheme,  all  the  divis- 
ions (choirs)  of  the  congregation  were  represented  in  the  personnel 
of  the  Congregation  Council,  but  in  such  a  way  that  the  requisite 
number  of  candidates  from  each  was  chosen  jointly  by  the  whole 
body.  In  the  course  of  the  varying  size  and  composition  of  the 
Council,  as  successive  Synods  revised  and  amended  the  regulations, 
there  was  one  period  when  it  became  most  democratic  and  consisted 
of  the  entire  body  of  adult  communicants,  thus  most  fully  covering 
the  principle  once  enunciated  by  Zinzendorf,  and  referred  to  in  the 
General  Synod  after  the  constitutional  foundations  had  been  laid, 
that  in  the  church  villages  there  must  always  be  a  Geincinrath  to 
represent  the  Vox  Popnli.  Just  at  the  time  now  under  review — after 
the  General  Synod  of  1769 — this  principle  came  into  fullest  force. 
The  Congregation  Council  consisted  of  all  adult  communicants,  and 
was  therefore  a  larger  and  less  restricted  body  than  it  had  been 
before  or  ever  was  after  1775. 

The  system  put  into  operation  for  the  whole  and  for  each  church 
village  by  the  Synod  of  1764  was  understood  to  be  only  tentative  in 
many  respects,  to  be  tried  for  five  years  and  then  subjected  to 
revision.  At  that  time  strong  emphasis  was  laid  upon  the  Unity 
conception  and  some  provisions  were  made,  with  the  common 
interests  of  the  whole  in  view,  which  encountered  disfavor  on  the 
part  of  many  who  thought  the  local  rights  and  interests  of  the  several 
church  villages  had  not  been  sufficiently  regarded.  Tn  1769,  a 
reaction  from  that  strong  centralizing  idea  made  itself  felt,  and 
this  tendencv  afifected  the  legislation  of  that  year.  One  of  the  effects 
was  apparent  in  the  size  and  make-up  of  the  Congregation  Council. 

The  measures  of  1769  being  found,  after  a  trial  of  six  years,  to 
be  also  defective  and  unsatisfactory  in  these  respects,  in  going  too 
far  in  the   direction   of  the   tendency   of    that   year,   they  produced 


420  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

another  reaction  towards  centralization.  This  made  itself  effective 
in  many  particulars  in  1775.  Central  control  in  the  Unity  and  com- 
munity of  interests  among  the  church  settlements  and  their  several 
choir  divisions  and  their  departments  of  service  and  industry,  based 
on  the  principle  "each  for  all  and  all  for  each,"  were  established  more 
firmly  than  at  first,  and  became  permanent.  While  subsequent  Synods 
made  alterations  here  and  there,  the  system  then  established  was 
practically  the  same  that  remained  until  the  modern  demands  at 
Bethlehem  and  the  other  American  church  settlements,  to  have  it 
modified,  began  in  the  second  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
led  eventually  to  the  total  abolition  of  the  exclusive  church-village 
plan  in  this  country.  The  further  principal  features  of  organization 
established  after  1769,  at  Bethlehem,  as  at  all  the  other  settlements, 
were  the  following:  With  the  Elders'  Conference  was  associated 
in  deliberations  on  some  classes  of  subjects  a  body  called  the 
Helpers'  Conference.  It  was  a  large  committee  culled  out  of  the 
whole  membership  of  the  Congregation  Council  which,  as  stated, 
then  consisted  of  all  adult  communicants.  For  a  time  there  was  a 
larger  and  a  smaller  Helpers'  Conference.  Secularly  viewed,  they 
may  be  regarded  as  a  Common  and  a  Select  Council  chosen  from 
the  whole  town  meeting. 

The  conspicuous  use  of  the  term  "Helper"  was  a  peculiarity  of  the 
revised  system  worked  out  in  1769.  The  minister  who  stood  at  the 
head  of  the  pastoral  corps  of  the  village  and  was  ex  officio  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Elders'  Conference,  was  called  the  Gemeinhelfer — the  local 
Helper  of  the  General  Elders'  Conference  of  the  Unity.  These 
ofificials  in  the  several  American  church  settlements,  with  certain 
other  general  functionaries,  made  up  a  Provincial  Helpers'  Confer- 
ence which  had  the  general  oversight  of  all  the  work  in  this  country, 
under  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  and  responsible  to  it ;  all  of 
its  members  being  appointees  of  that  board.  Its  President,  a  bishop 
particularly  appointed  by  the  Unity's  Elder's  Conference  to  that 
position,  and  in  some  cases  specially  sent  over  from  Europe  for 
that  purpose,  was  for  some  years  spoken  of  as  the  Provincial  Helper. 
Thus  the  U.  E.  C.  had  a  General  Provincial  Helper,  and  in  each 
church  village  a  special  Helper  at  the  head  of  the  congregation. 
The  Provincial  Helper  had  these  Congregation  Helpers  associated 
with  him  as  a  kind  of  cabinet.  Each  of  them  in  turn  had  the  Elders' 
Conference  of  the  Congregation  associated  with  him  as  a  cabinet, 
with  his  Helpers'  Conference  selected  from  the  membership  of  the 
Congregation  Council  as  an  additional  advisory  body.     In  consist- 


1762 I77I-  421 

ently  working  out  this  Helper  idea,  the  Synod  of  1769  decreed  that 
the  ordained  men  and  the  appointed  women  in  subordinate  pastoral 
charge  of  the  several  choir  divisions,  were  likewise  to  be  called 
Helpers  in  their  respective  departments — the  Choir  Helpers,  associ- 
ated with  the  Congregation  Helper  as  the  Elders'  Conference  of  the 
village.  These  spiritual  superintendents  of  the  choirs  had  before 
been  called  Pflcgcr — Fosterers  or  Curates.  Later  the  term  Helper 
was,  in  their  case,  dropped  and  they  were  again  called  PUegcr.  It 
was  retained,  however,  in  connection  with  the  Head  Pastor  and  the 
Provincial  Board  until  the  abolition  of  the  whole  system  at  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  When  the  Elders'  Conference  of 
a  church  village  was  completely  elaborated  there  were  associated 
with  the  Head  Pastor,  as  the  Helper  of  the  U.  E.  C.  in  the  Congre- 
gation, not  only  the  Helpers  or  PUeger,  men  and  women,  in  charge 
of  the  several  choir  divisions,  but  an  associate  minister  who  was 
called  simply  the  preacher,  because  the  particular  function  of  public 
preaching  more  largely  fell  to  his  share  of  duties.  He  was  usually 
also  the  Inspector  of  the  school  work  of  the  village.  That  very 
important  functionary,  the  Warden  of  the  Congregation,  was  also 
a  member  of  the  Elders'  Conference.  A  special  Warden  was  asso- 
ciated with  the  Helper  or  PUcger  of  the  single  men,  because  their 
choir  house  and  general  establishment  involved  considerable  business 
operations.    He  was  at  some  periods  called  merely  the  Steward. 

Finally,  in  the  general  organization  of  the  church  village,  another 
board  existed,  which  in  course  of  time  acquired  the  most  dominant 
importance  and,  in  the  later  days  of  the  system,  came  to  be  looked 
upon  as  the  laymen's  board  over  against  the  clergy  of  the  Elders' 
Conference.  This  was  the  Aufscher  Collegium  or  Board  of  Super- 
vision in  externals,  the  successor  of  the  Richtcr  Collegium,  as  explained 
in  a  previous  chapter.  This  body  elected  by  the  voting  membership 
was  associated  with  the  Warden  much  as  the  Elders'  Conference 
appointed  by  the  U.  E.  C.  and  the  Provincial  Board  was  associated 
with  the  Head  Pastor.  This  board  was  at  liberty,  however,  to  elect 
its  own  President.  Sometimes  this  was  the  Warden  who  as  well  as 
the  Choir  Wardens  and  Stewards  was,  ex  officio,  a  member  of  it. 
Sometimes,  however,  care  was  taken  to  not  choose  the  Warden  as 
President,  according  to  the  circumstances,  the  personality  of  the 
Warden  and  the  temper  of  the  board ;  for  under  that  old  system  the 
presidency  of  those  boards  meant  much  more  than  to  merely  occupy 
the  chair,  listen  to  the  discussions,  put  the  question  on  motions  and 
conduct  the  business  of  the  meeting.     The  fimction  of  this  board  was 


422  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

to  supervise  manufactures,  trades  and  business  generally.  It  was 
expected  to  prevent  irregularities,  impositions  and  all  doings  in 
business  that  were  inconsistent  with  the  established  principles  and 
discipline,  or  likely  to  give  offence,  sully  the  good  name  of  the  Breth- 
ren or  injure  any  person;  to  carefuly  regulate  the  sale  of  wine  and 
spirits  at  the  inn  and  prevent  excess  or  scandal  in  this  respect;  to 
prevent  the  manufacture  or  sale  of  all  articles  that  were  not  supposed 
to  be  tolerated  in  a  Moravian  village.  As  a  board  advisory  to  the 
Warden,  it  had  to  do,  after  the  Congregation  acquired  property  with 
which  it  could  deal  independently  of  the  Warden's  Department  of 
the  Unity,  with  matters  of  sale  and  purchase ;  investments,  loans  and 
deposits  of  money  and  the  general  care  of  property.  Eventually  its 
functions  lay  more  clear-cut  and  restricted  in  the  two  classes  of 
duties  which,  after  the  incorporation  of  the  Borough  in  1845  and  of 
the  Moravian  Congregation  in  1851,  were  performed  by  the  Town 
Council  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Trustees  of  the  Congregation  on  the 
other.  It  may  be  added  that  under  the  system  of  1769,  in  accordance 
with  which  Bethlehem  was  re-organized  in  1770  and  lyy  1 , the  Anfseher 
CoUcgitim  had  to  render  regular  reports  to  the  General  Wardens  of 
the  Unity,  organized  as  a  department  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Confer- 
ence, but  their  reports  had  to  pass  through  the  hands  of  the  Elders' 
Conference  of  Bethlehem.  This  was  one  of  the  many  features  that 
reveal  the  nice  adjustment  of  things  in  this  compact  organization. 
All  of  these  boards  worked  under  a  code  of  general  directions  formu- 
lated by  the  General  Synod  which  were  the  same  in  all  of  the  church 
villages.  The  Synod  of  1769  decreed  that  new  elections  to  these  var- 
ious conferences  and  boards,  in  so  far  as  their  personnel  was  elected 
by  the  Congregation  Council,  should  be  held  in  all  of  the  villages, 
in  carrying  out  its  new  system.  This  took  place  in  Bethlehem  in 
June,  1770.  Then,  little  by  little,  the  various  other  new  regulations 
were  introduced  in  all  the  details  which  were  under  the  control  of  the 
different  general  boards. 

The  reconstruction  did  not,  however,  consist  merely  in  these 
changes.  Other  new  measures,  fundamental  and  far-reaching,  fol- 
low^ed  in  the  matter  of  property,  productive  industries  and  general 
financial  arrangements.  The  enormous  burden  of  debt  under  which 
the  Unity  had  been  struggling  since  the  financial  crisis  of  1753.  and 
was  bravely  laboring  to  pay  off,  necessarily  brought  financial  legisla- 
tion into  prominence  in  its  Synods,  and  made  the  handling  of  its 
properties  in  Europe  and  America  and  the  management  of  its  sources 
of  revenue  of  very  great  importance.     One  step  after  another  was 


1762 I77I-  423 

taken  to  simplify  the  situation  and  to  devise  successful  ways  and 
means  to  bear  the  heavy  burden  and  at  the  same  time  meet  current 
expenses.  The  main  source  of  income  had  been  the  Zinzendorf 
properties.  After  Zinzendorf's  death,  a  settlement  was  made  with 
his  heirs  w^hereby,  at  a  great  sacrifice,  in  loyalty  to  the  interests  of 
the  Church  for  which  their  father  had  been  ready  to  surrender  every- 
thing he  had,  they  accepted  $90,000  for  their  interest  in  these  estates 
and  released  them  to  the  Unity,  which  became  their  owner.  The  real 
estate  at  Bethlehem  and  elsewhere  in  Pennsylvania  was  also  the 
property  of  the  Unity.  When  the  General  Synod  met  in  1764,  more 
than  $550,000  of  its  debt  had  been  extinguished,  but  more  than 
$770,000  remained.  This  load  pressed  so  heavily  and  the  involved 
condition  of  finances  in  many  places,  among  others  at  Bethlehem, 
caused  such  difficulties  in  the  effort  to  get  these  places  properly 
established  financially,  to  bring  clearness  into  matters  and  to  secure 
for  the  burdened  Unity  every  available  source  of  income  from  its 
estates  and  release  from  every  needless  drain,  that  it  was  decided,  in 
1769,  to  bring  about  a  division  of  estates  and  sources  of  revenue  be- 
tween the  Unity  and  the  Congregation.  This  was  in  a  line  with  the 
tendency  that  manifested  itself  at  the  Synod  of  that  year,  and  which, 
in  the  matter  of  finances,  even  went  so  far  as  to  agitate  the  idea  of 
dividing  the  debt  of  the  Unity  between  the  different  church  settle- 
ments in  Europe  and  America  and  letting  each  one  then  struggle 
with  its  portion  of  it  as  it  could. 

While  six  years  later,  when  the  Synod  met  again,  this  decentral- 
izing tendency,  thus  applied  also  to  finances,  gave  way,  as  already 
stated,  to  that  of  community  of  interests  more  strongly  enunciated 
than  ever  before,  it  meanwhile  gave  impetus  to  the  plan  of  division 
and  settlement  at  Bethlehem,  which  was  of  much  importance  at  that 
time.  Three  men  were  deputed  by  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference 
to  come  to  Pennsylvania  and  re-organize  the  finances  of  the  Church 
at  Bethlehem,  as  well  as  at  Nazareth  and  Lititz,  and  carry  out  their 
commissions.  They  were  the  Rev.  Christian  Gregor,  later  Bishop, 
the  w^ell-known  Moravian  musical  composer  and  hymn-writer,  and 
the  Rev.  John  Loretz,  both  members  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Confer- 
ence, and  the  Rev.  John  Christian  Alexander  de  Schweinitz,  who 
came  to  remain  at  Bethlehem  as  Administrator  of  the  property  of  the 
Unity,  of  which  Bishop  Nathanael  Seidel.  as  stated  in  a  previous 
chapter,  w^as  now  the  nominal  Proprietor ;  and  in  this  capacity  to  act 
as  an  ex  officio  member  of  the  Provincial  Helpers'  Conference.  They 
arrived  at  Bethlehem.  November  16,  1770,  and  set  about  their  task. 


424  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

A  great  mass  of  complicated  details  had  to  be  gone  through  and 
settled  with  the  boards  at  Bethlehem,  with  the  whole  body  of  adult 
members  in  council  assembled  and  with  the  Provincial  Board.  All 
was  finally  cleared  up  and  arranged  satisfactorily  before  the  end  of 
May,  1771.  The  finances  of  the  Unity  and  those  of  Bethlehem  were 
separated  and  Bethlehem  was  placed,  like  the  European  church 
villages,  on  its  own  financial  basis.  A  Bethlehem  "Congregation 
Diacony"  was  instituted  on  a  new  footing.  This  purchased  of  the 
Unity,  represented  by  the  "General  Diacony,"  to  which  reference 
has  been  made,  very  nearly  four  thousand  acres  of  land — not  exact 
figures,  but  round  numbers  are  given,  as  in  references  to  the  Unity's 
debt — at  £2  Pa.  per  acre,  besides  those  buildings  and  industrial 
establishments  of  the  place  which  were  owned  by  the  General 
Diacony.  The  value  of  the  whole  purchase  was  figured  at  £29,000 
Pa.  This  amount,  about  $87,000  of  the  debt  of  the  Unity,  was  then 
assumed  by  Bethlehem. 

It  was  arranged  that  a  "Sustentation  Diacony"  for  the  American 
branch  of  the  Church  should  be  established,  as  had  been  done  in 
Europe;  also  a  special  "School  Diacony;"  both  to  be  controlled  by 
the  Provincial  Helpers'  Conference  and  managed  by  the  Adminis- 
trator. The  purpose  of  the  first  was  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the 
Provincial  Board,  to  provide  help  for  ministers  at  needy  posts,  and 
especially  to  pension  superannuated  or  disabled  ministers  and  widows 
of  ministers  and  old  people  who  had  worked  for  the  Economy.  Later 
other  obligations  were  added.  The  object  of  the  School  Diacony  was 
to  provide  resources  for  the  education  of  ministers'  children. ^°  It 
was  agreed  that  Bethlehem  would  contribute  to  the  Sustentation 
Diacony  two-thirds  of  the  profits  of  the  industries  it  controlled  and 
that  any  surplus  accruing  at  any  time,  beyond  the  combined  needs 
of  the  Congregation  and  Sustentation  Diaconies,  should  be  applied 
to  the  work  of  Church  Extension,  or  Home  Missions  in  America. 

Many  details  were  also  arranged  in  connection  with  the  manage- 
ment of  the  various  industries  and  concerns,  the  finances  of  the 
"choir-houses"  and  the  support  of  the  day-schools  of  the  village. 
Tuition  fees  were  fixed  at  six  pence  per  week  for  each  child.     It  was 

16  The  term  Diacony  was  used  for  many  years  for  the  different  financial  systems  and  treas- 
uries. "The  Pennsylvania  Sustentation  Diacony,"  as  it  was  long  called,  was  what  is  now 
known  as  the  Sustentation  Fund  of  the  Moravian  Church,  with  which  the  former  School 
Diacony  was  consolidated  more  than  fifty  years  ago.  The  Sustentation  Diacony  had  no 
endowment,  and  a  Sustentation  Fund  could  not  be  spoken  of  until  such  an  endowment  was 
provided  by  the  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  congregations  about  fifty  years  ago. 


1762 I77I-  425 

stated  that  the  rate  was  put  within  the  reach  of  all  so  that  the 
question  whether  they  could  afford  to  pay  should  not  arise.  The 
trifling  income  from  tuition  was  to  be  supplemented  by  an  appro- 
priation made  by  the  Congregation  Diacony  to  provide  the  meagre 
salaries  paid  the  two  men  who  taught  the  boys  and  the  one  woman 
who  taught  the  girls  of  the  village  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  board- 
ing-school. There  was  a  re-organization  of  this  latter  institution, 
as  well  as  of  Nazareth  Hall,  which  restricted  their  scope  more 
than  previously,  as  a  matter  of  financial  retrenchment ;  because,  for 
the  most  part,  the  boarding  scholars  from  elsewhere  were  there  on 
a  basis  that  was  not  financially  profitable,  and  this  could  no  longer 
be  afforded.  All  of  the  accounts  of  the  previous  General  Diacony, 
as  well  as  the  special  accounts  of  the  choir  houses,  the  schools  and 
the  various  establishments  were  audited  and  closed  on  May  31,  1771? 
and  on  June  i,  the  new  books  of  the  Unity's  Administration,  the 
Sustentation  and  School  Diaconies,  the  Bethlehem  Congregation 
Diacony,  the  several  Choir  Diaconies,  and  of  all  the  concerns  doing 
business  were  opened.     Thus  the  new  period  began  financially. 

In  the  course  of  these  protracted  settlements  and  arrangements 
several  special  new  building  and  other  enterprises  were  decided  upon. 
The  most  conspicuous  was  the  erection  of  a  needed  addition  to  the 
Sisters'  House,  to  which  the  concurrence  of  the  several  boards 
concerned,  and  of  the  people  of  Bethlehem  in  Congregation  Council 
assembled,  was  asked  and  received  by  the  managers  of  the  Diacony 
of  that  choir.  This  was  the  large  eastern  section  of  that  mass  of 
buildings  which  completed  them  as  they  now  stand.  It  is  stated 
also  that  a  new^  farm  was  opened  and  a  dwelling  house  built  on  it 
in  the  course  of  the  year  "back  of  the  Burnside  land"  and  occupied 
by  a  tenant ;  and  that  the  site  of  Nain,  with  the  land  belonging  to  it, 
was  constituted  a  separate  farm  and  rented.  Thus  began  the  history, 
as  farms,  of  what  have  so  long  been  known  as  the  Geissinger  Farms. 

Finally  a  complete  new  code  of  statutes  and  ordinances  for  the 
village,  after  passing  the  approval  successively  of  the  Elders'  Con- 
ference, the  Board  of  Supervision — Aufsehcr  Collegium — and  the  large 
Helpers'  Conference,  were  adopted  and  signed  by  the  entire  adult 
male  membership,  November  21,  1771.  This  completed  the  re-organi- 
zation and  fully  opened  the  new  period  in  the  history  of  Bethlehem. 
Its  population  consisted  at  the  close  of  that  year  of  138  married 
people.  II  widow^ers,  32  widows,  115  single  men  and  older  boys,  169 
single  women  and  older  girls,  35  boys  and  60  girls  under  thirteen 
years  of  age — total  560  souls. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


Into  the  Depths  of  Revolutionary  Trouble. 
1772 — 1778. 

Several  peaceful  and  prosperous  years  followed  the  re-organization 
of  1 77 1.  Under  the  new  order,  arrangements  were  much  simplified, 
were  better  understood  by  the  common  people  of  Bethlehem  and 
therefore  very  generally  had  their  intelligent  and  cordial  concur- 
rence. The  new  basis  established  in  the  management  of  industries 
and  in  the  matter  of  property  and  finances,  awakened  a  feeling  of 
local  individuality — a  kind  of  town  spirit — that  was  needed  for  the 
best  interests  of  the  situation,  at  the  stage  which  had  been  reached. 
People  began  to  feel  less  like  a  camp  of  pilgrims  amid  foreign  sur- 
roundings and  more  like  a  body  of  citizens  with  common  local 
attachments,  duties  and  aspirations.  The  influx  of  large  colonies 
with  the  pilgrim  feeling  inculcated  and  sympathies  clinging  to  that 
which  had  been  left  behind,  or  at  least  not  located  at  Bethlehem,  had 
ceased.  There  was  also  less  shifting  of  persons  than  previously 
between  Bethlehem  and  the  places  on  the  Nazareth  domain.  The 
general  re-organization  had  laid  the  foundation  for  a  more  distinct 
local  development  there  also,  in  accordance  with  the  decision  of  the 
General  Synod  of  1769,  that  a  regular  church  village  on  the  Herrn- 
hut  plan,  like  Lititz,  Salem,  N.  C,  and  Hope,  N.  J.,  should  there  be 
laid  out,  as  had  been  had  in  mind  from  the  beginning.  This  village 
was  to  lie  spread  out  at  the  base  of  Nazareth  Hall ;  not  farther  up 
the  hill  to  the  west,  where  Gnadenhoeh  was  to  have  been  built,  with 
the  original  cemetery  crowning  the  highest  point  back  of  it,  nor 
where  Gnadenstadt  had  been  laid  out  to  the  north-east.  The  six 
hundred  acres  of  land  surveyed  for  the  new  village  of  Nazareth^ 
eml)raced  what  now  came  to  be  called  Old  Nazareth,  together  with 


I  January  19,  1771,  the  Provincial  Helpers'  Conference  resolved  to  proceed  with  laying 
out  New  Nazareth.  The  next  day,  the  sites  of  the  first  buildings  were  staked  off,  March 
7  its  first  code  of  statutes  and  ordinances  was  adopted.  The  first  dwelling  was  built  that 
summer  and  the  inn  was  finished,  January,  1772. 

426 


1772 17/8.  427 

the  Whitefield  house  premises,  to  which  later  generations  gave  their 
present  name  Ephrata.  This  was  without  adequate  historical  reason, 
and  it  gave  some  excuse  to  persons  with  nebulous  ideas  about  the 
Moravians  for  occasionally  confusing  them  with  the  Sabbatarian, 
Mystic  Tunker  fraternity  of  Lancaster  County,  whose  settlement  bore 
that  name  which  survives  in  the  flourishing  town  of  Ephrata.  There- 
fore, in  1772,  Nazareth  was  no  longer  an  affiliate  of  Bethlehem  in  an 
indefinite  stage  of  transition  from  the  old  General  Economy  relations 
to  autonomy — the  last  vestige  of  the  old  order,  the  common  house- 
keeping at  Old  Nazareth  was  not  abolished  until  1764 — but  was  now 
a  distinct  church  settlement,  with  Gnadenthal  and  Christiansbrunn 
as  its  affiliates. 

There  were,  furthermore,  far  fewer  at  Bethlehem  than  formerly 
who  engaged  by  turns  in  local  duties  and  in  missionary  work.  There 
was  less  continual  itineracy  among  the  country  congregations  and 
preaching-places  and  the  Indian  missions  were  now  established  at  a 
greater  distance,  with  less  traveling  to  and  fro.  Thus,  in  all  these 
respects,  there  had  been  a  gradual  formation  of  a  settled  citizenship 
at  Bethlehem,  identified  with  those  interests  which  were  local.  The 
end  of  Indian  complications  within  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware  caused 
the  most  conspicuous  feature  of  the  primitive  and  unsettled  condi- 
tions to  disappear  from  the  scene.  Those  elements  of  the  neighbor- 
ing population  which  had  caused  Bethlehem  so  much  tribulation  on 
this  account,  now  had  to  leave  the  Moravians  in  peace  until  some- 
thing else  that  did  not  meet  their  approval,  besides  missionary  work 
among  the  Indians,  or  some  new  pretext  for  manifesting  ill  will 
should  again  give  occasion  for  hostile  agitations.  They  did  not  have 
to  maintain  this  irksome  peace  and  quiet  long,  as  the  sequel  will 
show.  On  the  other  hand,  a  better  understanding,  a  more  friendly 
feeling,  greater  mutual  respect  and  the  recognition  of  more  interests 
in  common  had  issued  out  of  the  turmoil  of  the  preceding  years 
between  the  Bethlehem  people  and  the  more  orderly,  peaceable  and 
tolerant  part  of  the  population  of  Northampton  County.  There  was 
more  of  the  natural  and  ordinary  kind  of  intercourse  in  matters  of 
business  and  in  general  neighborly  relations.  People  who  had 
stood  far  apart  began  to  be  accustomed  to  each  other's  ways.  The 
Bethlehem  population,  consisting  now,  for  the  most  part,  of  persons 
who  had  lived  some  years  in  the  country,  felt  less  shyness  towards 
people  of  the  surrounding  region  than  formerly,  could  deal  with  them 
in  a  more  unconstrained  manner  and  were  better  able  to  recognize 


428  A    HISTOKV    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

personal  worth  and  even  sincere  piety  where  they  existed  under 
racial  characteristics,  ecclesiastical  traditions  and  social  customs  so 
different  from  their  own.  People  of  the  neighborhood  who  went  in 
and  out  at  Bethlehem  no  longer  looked  upon  its  institutions  and 
customs  as  oddities.  They  also  manifested  less  of  the  common  dis- 
position of  rough  back-woodsmen,  to  resent  what  they  regard  as 
pretentiousness  on  the  part  of  people  who  venture  to  introduce  any 
refinements  amid  prevailing  rudeness.  They  gradually  ceased  to 
regard  the  religion  taught  at  Bethlehem — without  knowing  anything 
about  it — as  something  subversive  of  Protestantism  and  the  State, 
for  the  blatant,  rabid  pulpit-controversialists  who  in  former  years 
stirred  up  ignorant  prejudice,  were  no  longer  such  influential  men 
up  and  down  the  country  as  they  once  were. 

If  the  political  situation  of  the  time  had  been  a  settled  one,  with 
peace  ahead,  instead  of  one  that  was  bringing  on  a  mighty  struggle, 
to  arouse — as  one  of  its  inevitable  concomitants — -such  intolerant 
passion  among  the  kind  of  men  whose  zeal  was  more  fierce  and 
riotous  than  heroic — for  Bethlehem  had  ample  opportunity  to  learn 
the  difference  between  the  high-minded,  chivalrous  patriot  and  the 
coarse,  blustering  zealot  reveling  in  havoc  for  its  own  sake — the  har- 
monious growing  together  of  the  missionary  town  and  its  surround- 
ings, which  was  arrested  and  retarded  by  the  Revolution,  would  have 
proceeded  with  smooth  rapidity  after  the  local  Indian  problem  was 
out  of  the  way.  It  had  even  come  so  far  that  there  was  discussion, 
on  common  ground,  of  proposed  public  improvements,  in  which  the 
people  of  Bethlehem,  Easton,  Allentown  and  the  surrounding  neigh- 
borhoods were  jointly  interested,  with  diverse  opinions,  as  on  all 
public  matters.  The  Government  of  Pennsylvania  had  commenced 
to  move  in  the  direction  of  making  inland  waterways  available  for 
the  development  of  traffic.  Thus,  on  March  9,  1771,  a  bill  had  been 
made  law  by  the  signature  of  the  Governor  and  the  seal  of  the  Prov- 
ince, entitled  "an  act  declaring  the  rivers  Delaware  and  Lehigh  and 
a  part  of  the  Neshaminy  Creek  as  far  as  Barnsley's  Ford,  and  of  the 
stream  called  the  Lechawaxin,  as  far  up  as  the  falls  thereof,  common 
highways,  and  for  improving  the  navigation  in  the  said  rivers.'^ 
Projects  for  realizing  results  in  the  line  of  this  move,  so  far  as  the 
Lehigh  was  concerned,  were  agitated  along  its  course  as  matters 
which  concerned  Bethlehem  and  other  places  alike.  It  is  true  that 
the  chief  attention  to  this  subject  was  awakened  during  that  summer 
by  events  which  were  not  peaceful,  when  the  sending  of  men  with 


1772 ^77^-  429 

provisions  from  Easton  up  to  Wyoming,  to  relieve  the  garrison  in 
the  "Block  House"  during  the  first  outbreak  of  violence  in  the 
boundary  disputes  between  the  Proprietaries  and  the  New  England 
colonists,  gave  special  cause  to  discuss  the  matter.  Then,  when  the 
boat-building  facilities  at  Bethlehem  were  called  into  requisition  to 
further  such  transportation,  this  remote  connection  between  the 
Moravian  town  and  a  scene  of  strife  was  turned  to  account  by  some 
veteran  fabricators  of  slanderous  fiction,  to  implicate  the  Moravians 
even  in  the  contention  of  the  New  Englanders  to  the  detriment  of 
Pennsylvania.  It  may  be  added  in  this  connection,  that  when  more 
serious  trouble  in  that  boundary  dispute  was  at  its  height,  in  1775, 
the  favorite  old  story  of  powder  and  lead  shipped  from  Bethlehem 
to  aid  the  enemy  was  carried  about  the  country  by  men  who  pro- 
fessed to  know  whereof  they  spoke,  for  did  they  not  live  along  the 
way  between,  where  they  could  watch  the  Aloravians?  Those  powder 
and  lead  stories,  as  ridiculous  as  they  were  rascally,  had  been  found 
by  their  inventors  formerly  to  take  so  well  among  the  credulous  and 
unreasoning,  that  they  brought  them  out  anew  with  no  fear  that  now 
they  would  fall  flat.  That  before,  it  was  to  the  French  army  and  then 
to  savage  Indians  and  now  to  British  subjects  of  another  colony 
that  this  imaginary  ammunition  from  Bethlehem  was  thus  secretly 
supplied,  did  not  disturb  the  faith  of  some  who  heard  the  tale.  It 
even  caused  dignified  official  inquiry,  and  it  does  not  seem  to  have 
occurred  to  any  one  to  raise  the  question  where  the  Moravians  could 
possibly  have  procured  all  those  quantities  of  powder  and  lead  which 
certain  men  in  the  Irish  Settlement  saw  them  conveying  through  the 
country  for  several  decades  to  so  many  different  kinds  of  enemies 
of  the  State,  in  one  war  after  another. 

As  to  improvements  in  the  Lehigh  River,  those  which  ruined  the 
fishing  were  at  that  time  yet  things  of  the  distant  future.  If  the 
modern  disposition  to  be  incredulous  about  "fish  stories"  had  then 
existed,  it  would  have  taxed  the  courage  of  the  Bethlehem  chronicler 
to  record  that  a  catch  of  shad  in  the  Lehigh  at  Bethlehem,  in  the 
spring  of  1772,  amounted  to  more  than  five  thousand.  These  large 
fishing  exploits  were  among  the  things  of  interest  that  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  numerous  visitors,  and  helped  to  supply  the  tables  of 
the  Sun  Inn  where  many  notables  of  the  time  dined  on  the  fat  of  the 
land.  Doubtless  many  of  these,  like  "summer  guests"  of  subsequent 
years,  who  found  Bethlehem  such  an  attractive  point  for  rural  jaunts, 
would  have  preferred  to  see  all  "improvements"  suppressed  perpet- 


430  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

ually,  which  woukl,  in  any  way,  interfere  with  either  fishing  or 
romantic  scenery  along  the  charming  Lehigh.  As  a  rule  they  had 
more  regard  for  enjoyment  at  the  place  than  for  the  prosperity  of 
business  enterprises  with  only  utilitarian  designs  in  connection  with 
its  waters  and  its  banks.  There  was  only  one  sentiment  among 
visitors  of  that  time  in  regard  to  the  general  appearance  of  Bethlehem 
and  its  environs,  so  far  as  their  testimony  has  been  preserved  in 
diaries  and  correspondence.  Remarks  about  the  people  of  the  place, 
its  institutions  and  social  arrangements  and  even  its  celebrated  inn, 
so  greatly  superior  to  any  then  to  be  found  about  the  country,  vary 
somewhat.  In  some  cases  this  difference  is  evidently  due  to  the 
variety  of  temperament  and  disposition  possessed  by  the  guests, 
although,  of  course,  things  were  not  seen  by  all  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances,  the  meals  at  the  inn  were  naturally  not 
always  up  to  its  best  standard,  and  not  every  one  who  visited  the 
place  happened  to  encounter  the  most  agreeable  and  intelligent  of  its 
people.  One  visitor,  probably  a  slightly  captious  bachelor  with  little 
angularities  and  a  contracted  city  horizon,  whose  observations  have 
been  published,-  refers  to  "Jost's" — Jost  Jansen,  inn-keeper  at  the 
Sun — as  the  only  inn  at  the  place,  as  if  many  were  to  be  expected  in 
a  village  of  that  size  in  those  days,  and  his  first  comment  was  that  the 
dinner  was  "bad."  The  supper,  however,  was  "pretty  good,"  the  wine 
and  the  punch  were  also  good,  but  the  beer  was  "indififerent." 

The  evening  service  which  he  attended  was  "solemn  and  devout." 
Captain  Garrison  and  his  wife,  who  escorted  the  company  about, 
"behaved  with  a  great  deal  of  politeness  and  were  very  obliging." 
On  August  17,  the  day  of  the  festival  of  the  little  girls,  he  saw  the 
"female  children  at  dinner"  (lovefeast)  and  remarked  the  neatness 
and  great  decorum.  He  visited  Christiansbrunn  and  Nazareth,  and 
found  Nazareth  Hall  "a  neat,  plain  building"  with  "some  tolerable 
paintings"  in  it,  but  did  not  consider  knitting  "fit  work  for  boys." 
At  Easton  the  dinner  was  indififerent,  the  wine  not  good,  the  supper 
"pretty  so  so,"  and  "a  neat  court  house  the  only  thing  worth 
remarking."  Hunting  and  fishing  excursions  about  Bethlehem  were 
indulged  in.  At  the  Sun  Inn  there  was  a  considerable  company  of 
people,  among  them  several  "sprightly  agreeable  Quaker  girls"  who 
evidently  found  him  a  good  subject  to  be  teased,  for  he  mentions 
some  tricks  served  him  bv  "the  merrv  little  rogues."     He  finds  the 


2  Anonymous  journal  of  a  tour  in  August,  1773,  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History  and 
Biography,  Vol.  X. 


BETHLEHEM 
1767 
1734 


1772 1778-  431 

Moravians  "an  industrious,  inoffensive  people,  much  addicted  to 
particular  forms  and  in  some  respects  resembling  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics." Animadverting  on  the  domestic  and  social  arrangements — 
the  single  men  and  women  living  in  separate  houses  and  having 
nothing  to  do  with  each  other — he  ventures  the  opinion  that  such  a 
plan  is  not  ni  accordance  with  the  "design  of  the  wise  Disposer  of 
all  things."  When  he  and  his  Qompany  left  for  Reading,  they  stopped 
on  the  way  at  Allentown,  "at  the  Sign  of  the  King  of  Prussia,"  where 
he  encountered  such  bad  odors  that  he  could  not  stay  in  the  house. 
He  says  "Allentown  is  a  pretty  situation  but  seems  to  be  a  poor 
place." 

During  the  summer  of  1772,  the  last  considerable  building  erected 
in  Bethlehem  for  the  space  of  nearly  twenty  years  was  commenced. 
This  was  the  large  eastern  section  of  the  Sisters'  House  which  it  had 
been  decided  the  previous  year  to  build,  but  which  was  not  completed 
and  formally  occupied  until  October,  1773.  The  corner-stone  was 
laid  on  May  4,  1772,  the  covenant  day  of  the  Single  Sisters.  Christian 
Gregor  who  with  his  fellow-deputy  of  the  Unity's  Elder's  Conference^ 
John  Loretz,  was  yet  in  Bethlehem,  officiated  on  this  occasion. 

Having  finished  their  labors,  they  left  on  May  6,  to  return  to 
Europe.  John  Christian  A.  de  Schweinitz  who  came  with  them  had 
entered  upon  his  duties  at  Bethlehem  as  Administrator  of  the  estates 
of  the  Unity,  and  as  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Helpers'  Confer- 
ence. He  was  also  chosen  Vice-President  of  the  village  Board  of 
Oversight — Aufschcr  Collegium — of  which  John  Ettwein  was  Presi- 
dent. Dettmers,  the  Warden,  was  transferred  to  Nazareth  to  assume 
the  difBcult  duties  of  that  office  in  connection  with  the  organization 
of  the  new  village.  His  place  as  Warden  at  Bethlehem  was  taken 
by  Jeremiah  Dencke  who  filled  this  office  during  the  Revolution. 
Another  new  official  of  importance  who  appeared  upon  the  scene 
after  New  Year,  1773,  was  John  Herman  Bonn,  the  Warden  of  the 
Brethren's  House  during  the  Revolution.  He  was  the  successor  of 
the  eminently  capable  John  Arbo  who  died,  Deceml)er  11,  1772. 
Some  time  before  that,  the  most  historic  figure  had  disappeared  from 
among  the  old  men  of  Bethlehem.  This  was  Bishop  David  Nitsch- 
mann,  the  first  bishop  of  the  Renewed  Church,  one  of  its  first  two 
missionaries  to  the  heathen,  it  first  bishop  in  America  and  the 
founder  of  Bethlehem.  His  associations  in  the  service  of  the  Church 
had  ranged  from  the  presence  of  kings  and  queens,  the  palaces  of 
dukes  and  lords  and  the  council  chambers  of  great  ministers  of  state^ 


432  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

to  the  backwoods  cabin,  the  Indian's  wigwam,  the  hut  of  the  negro 
slave  and  the  companionship  in  toil  of  rustic  laborers,  clearing  the 
forest  and  tilling  the  soil,  and  of  mechanics  working  in  the  carpenters' 
shop  or  building  houses  at  the  new  settlements  of  the  Church.  His 
official  labors  had  extended  over  various  parts  of  Germany,  Denmark, 
Sweden  and  Norway,  into  Livonia,  through  England  and  Wales, 
besides  the  Danish  West  Indies  and.  the  short-lived  settlement  at 
Savannah,  Georgia ;  to  all  the  fields  of  Moravian  activity  in  Pennsyl- 
vania and  New  York  including  the  various  Indian  missions  prior  to 
1756,  and  the  settlement  in  North  Carolina;  and  his  travels  embraced 
at  least  fifty  sea-voyages.  After  1761,  when  he  returned  finally  to 
Bethlehem  from  Lititz,  he  had  been  living  in  retirement,  in  the  utmost 
simplicity  and  plainness,  and  out  of  protracted  sufiferings,  was  gath- 
ered to  his  fathers  on  October  8,  1772.  Early  in  1773,  another 
important  man  who  had  rendered  very  great  service  at  Bethlehem, 
especially  during  the  Indian  troubles,  departed  this  life.  This  was 
Justice  Timothy  Horsfield,  who  died,  March  9  of  that  year.  His 
successor  in  office,  the  third  magistrate  appointed  at  Bethlehem  and 
the  last  under  the  Colonial  Government,  was  John  Okely,  who 
received  his  commission,  March  21,  1774.  He  filled  this  trouble- 
some position  until  the  change  of  government  during  the  Revolu- 
tion. The  Horsfield  house,  treated  of  fully  in  a  previous  chapter, 
was  purchased  by  Henry  Van  Vleck,  merchant,  of  New  York,  who 
retired  to  Bethlehem  and,  in  February,  1774,  took  up  his  residence 
in  that  building. 

The  cemetery  near  by,  where  the  remains  of  these  men  were  laid 
to  rest  was,  with  each  passing  year,  becoming  a  place  of  more  rev- 
erent and  tender  interest  to  the  people  of  Bethlehem.  In  1773  special 
attention  was  bestowed  upon  it.  The  record  which  tells  of  the  neat 
new  fence  which  was  built  around  it  that  year,  and  of  its  enlarge- 
ment that  had  become  necessary,  states  that  at  that  time  the  bodies 
of  four  hundred  and  eleven  persons  reposed  there.  The  death-rate 
at  Bethlehem  was  not  as  high  at  this  period  as  it  had  prevailingly  been 
during  the  first  two  decades.  Less  hardship  and  exposure  had  to 
be  endured  and  the  enlargement  of  dwelling  accommodations,  with 
other  changes  in  the  mode  of  living,  were  conducive  to  better  health. 
Among  occasional  epidemics,  small-pox  among  the  children  had 
again  to  be  contended  with  in  1773.  In  connection  with  this  new 
spread  of  the  scourge,  inoculation  was  first  introduced  in  Bethlehem 
by  Dr.  John  Matthew  Otto.     He  proposed  in  an  official  conference 


1772 1778-  433 

on  September  13,  that  the  process  be  tried.  It  being  a  new  thing  at 
the  place,  it  was  deemed  better  not  to  proceed  with  the  experiment 
without  the  concurrence  of  the  wiiole  body  of  parents.  This  was 
given  at  a  consuUation  with  them  two  days  later,  and  on  September 
18,  it  was  first  tried  on  a  little  son  of  William  Boehler  and  his  wife, 
who  were  the  first  who  expressed  their  willingness  to  have  the  experi- 
ment made  in  their  family.  The  disease  was  soon  gotten  under  con- 
trol and  such  a  disastrous  spread  of  it  as  had  occurred  on  several 
previous  occasions  was  prevented. 

The  year  1774  was  a  flourishing  one  in  the  numerous  industries 
of  Bethlehem,  as  well  as  a  year  of  good  crops  and  of  general  good 
health,  so  that  the  records,  in  summing  up  its  local  events  and  experi- 
ences, express  acknowledgement  of  particular  blessings  to  call  forth 
the  gratitude  of  the  people.  It  was  also  a  year  notable  for  unusually 
many  visits  by  persons  of  distinction  from  many  and  distant  points. 
Among  them  was  Baron  von  Repsdorf,  the  Danish  Governor  General 
of  St.  Croix,  a  warm  friend  of  the  Moravian  missionaries  on  that 
Island.  John  Dickinson,  the  eminent  jurist,  and  "the  Swedish  Herr 
Probst"  are  referred  to  among  persons  from  Philadelphia  who  had 
not  before  been  visitors  to  Bethlehem.  In  May  the  Sun  Inn,  once 
more  before  the  Revolution,  entertained  a  Proprietary  Governor  of 
Pennsylvania,  who  was  destined  also  to  be  the  last  such  Governor. 
It  was  John  Penn,  now  serving  his  second  term  as  Governor — or, 
strictly  speaking,  Lieutenant  Governor — having  been  succeeded  in 
1771  by  his  brother  Richard,  who  was  also  in  Bethlehem  this  same 
month,  and,  according  to  current  statements,  was  a  more  popular 
man  than  John,  who  resumed  the  office  in  September,  1773,  when 
the  complications  that  brought  on  the  great  conflict  were  rapidly 
becoming  acute. 

A  little  more  than  a  month  after  their  visit,  the  diary  of  Bethlehem 
refers  to  a  conference  with  William  Edmonds,  the  former  Moravian 
Assemblyman  from  Northampton  County,  at  this  time  again  serving 
in  that  capacity,  who,  with  John  Okely,  the  other  Moravian  delegate, 
expected  to  attend  the  convention  called  for  July  15.  The  new  peril 
threatening  the  Indian  mission  which,  as  stated  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  had  been  removed  in  1772  from  Wyalusing  in  the 
Wyoming  Valley,  to  "the  Ohio  country,"  was  the  principal  sub- 
ject of  this  particular  conference  with  Edmonds;  for  the  spirit 
which  had  animated  the  attempts  against  Nain  and  Wechquetank 
was  relentlessly  pursuing  the  work  of  the  gospel  into  the  western 


434  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

wilds,  where  it  was  hoped  it  might  be  carried  on  in  peace,  at  least 
for  a  while.  At  the  same  time,  the  precarious  condition  of  affairs 
which  caused  that  famous  convention,  called  independently  of  the 
Governor,  was  referred  to,  and  the  advantage  that  was  being  taken 
of  the  issues  on  which  public  opinion  was  so  much  divided,  by  inimi- 
cal parties  in  the  county  to  embarrass  the  people  of  Bethlehem  in 
the  position  they  were  disposed  to  assume,  led  to  a  meeting  of  the 
smaller,  or  Select  Council  of  the  place,  on  July  7,  to  consider  what 
course  it  would  be  best  to  pursue.  The  terms  Whigs  and  Tories, 
in  use  in  England,  applied  respectively  to  those  who  opposed  and 
those  who  supported  the  position  of  Parliament,  were  beginning  to 
be  made  use  of  in  Pennsylvania  also,  and  to  be  carried  into  the 
interior  regions,  with  meaning  broadened  to  embrace,  respectively, 
all  who  were  either  for  or  against  violent  rupture  and  revolution. 
Thus,  before  long,  the  word  Tory  came  to  include,  in  the  language 
of  the  impetuous,  not  only  royalists,  but  also  patriots  who  urged 
further  struggle  against  oppression  by  constitutional  methods  in 
preference  to  precipitating  war.  Right  in  Pennsylvania  this  conser- 
vative element  of  the  first  Congress  of  Deputies  from  the  colonies, 
held  in  September,  1774,  in  response  to  the  proposition  of  the  July 
Convention,  and  of  subsequent  meetings,  was  strongest,  for  here 
there  were,  among  the  leaders,  more  men  than  elsewhere  of  English 
legal  training  and  conservative  habits  of  thought  who  deprecated  a 
hasty  breach.  They  had  back  of  them  in  the  Province  a  large  mass 
of  people  who,  from  various  standpoints,  were  loath  to  see  an  open 
rupture,  so  long  as  it  seemed  possible  to  reach  a  peaceable  solution 
of  the  momentous  questions,  and  who  shrank  from  the  thought  of 
rushing  into  the  hazards  of  violent  resistance.  Most  conspicuous 
and  numerous  among  these  conservative  masses  of  Pennsylvania 
were,  of  course,  the  Quakers.  With  them  were  also  the  adherents 
of  those  several  German  sects  which  were  opposed  to  war  on  general 
principles  and  were  disposed  also  to  accept  the  powers  that  be  as 
ordained  of  God,  and  even  if  these  powers  subjected  them  to  oppres- 
sion and  tyranny,  to  make  the  best  of  it ;  having  no  mind  for  the  idea 
that  the  people  might  take  the  law  and  the  government  into  their 
own  hands  and  thus  endeavor  to  right  their  wrongs.  As  to  the 
Moravians,  their  position  was  not  identical  with  that  of  the  Quakers 
nor  with  that  of  the  Mennonites,  the  Schwenkfelders,  and  other  such 
German  bodies.  Still  less  were  they  to  be  placed  in  a  mass  on  the 
same  footing  with  those  royalists  who  either  openly  or  secretlv  oper- 


1772 1778.  435 

ated  on  the  side  of  the  King  and  Parhament  against  the  aims  of  the 
colonists.  After  excitement  ran  so  high  that  the  term  Tory  became 
an  ofifensive  one,  equivalent  in  the  common  mind  to  traitor,  and  was 
applied  indiscriminately  to  all  who  did  not  see  their  way  clear  to 
favor  revolution  at  the  time  when  this  step  was  believed  by  others 
to  be  inevitable,  and  to  all  who  held  non-combatant  principles,  no 
matter  how  innocent  they  might  have  been  of  any  conspiracy  or 
even  sympathy  with  efforts  inimical  to  the  rights  of  the  colonists,  the 
Moravians,  of  course,  came  under  the  odium,  in  the  minds  of  the  hot- 
headed and  precipitate,  of  being,  in  a  body,  Tories.  That  class  of 
men  in  Northampton  County  who  cherished  the  old  prejudice  and 
grudge  against  them  belonged  to  the  sort  who  were  ever  ready  to 
rush  into  violent  collision  on  any  kind  of  a  question  and  now  eagerly 
seized  the  new  opportunity  to  proclaim  them  enemies  of  the  patriot 
cause  and  in  secret  conspiracy  with  the  English  Government,  just 
as  they  had  before  proclaimed  them  as  enemies  of  this  Government 
in  conspiracy  against  it  with  the  French.  It  is  not  surprising,  there- 
fore, that  so  soon  as  the  first  authorized  move  was  made  in  the 
county  to  associate,  arm  and  drill  for  the  coming  conflict,  every 
available  measure  was  advocated  by  such  to  coerce  them  into  partici- 
pation. That  this,  on  the  part  of  some  petty  officials,  was  not  so 
much  the  vehement  impulse  of  patriotism  as  a  mere  desire  to  harass 
the  Moravians,  soon  became  so  clear  that  it  did  not  admit  of  a  doubt. 
Reasonable  and  temperate  men  among  those  in  control  of  militia 
organization  who  were  disposed  to  show  such  regard  for  their  posi- 
tion and  principles  as  the  circumstances  permitted,  found  it  very  diffi- 
cult to  restrain  this  tendency.  It  is  not  surprising,  either,  that  when 
the  first  bodies  of  troops  from  distant  places  began  to  march  through 
Bethlehem,  many  of  these  men,  having  no  personal  acquaintance 
with  the  place,  its  people  and  their  traditions,  and  receiving  their 
information  about  them  entirely  from  bitterly  prejudiced  persons, 
should  have  been  possessed  of  the  idea  that  Bethlehem  was  a  place 
full  of  dangerous  Tories  that  deserved  no  kind  of  regard.  That 
under  these  circumstances,  amid  the  wild  excitement,  many  of  these 
men  being  undisciplined  and  impetuous,  the  Moravian  town  was, 
on  the  whole,  treated  with  so  much  respectful  consideration,  is  a  mat- 
ter of  astonishment.  More  than  one  such  body  of  recruits  approached 
the  neighborhood  with  loud  threats,  but  were  restrained  from  turbu- 
lent demonstrations  by  the  mere  force  of  the  impression  which  the 
appearance  and  general  atmosphere  of  the  place  made  upon  them. 


43^  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

The  common  modern  supposition  that  the  Moravians  at  Bethle- 
hem, Nazareth  and  elsewhere  all  stood  together  as  a  unit  in  their 
views  and  sentiments  either  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  or 
later,  is  quite  erroneous.  There  were  decided  differences  of  opinion 
among  them  on  the  main  question  of  seeking  independence,  on  the 
various  involved  questions  and  on  the  successive  measures  adopted 
by  the  Congress  of  the  colonies,  just  as  there  were  among  people  else- 
where. They  were,  as  a  rule,  men  of  too  much  intelligence  to  all  hold 
certain  ideas  or  prejudices  as  one  man,  on  such  questions.  There 
were,  moreover,  not  only  Germans  and  Englishmen  and  natives  of 
other  European  countries,  but  also  native-born  Americans  among 
them,  and  there  was  to  some  extent  a  corresponding  variety  of  sym- 
pathy, sentiment  and  traditional  habit  of  thought  on  political  subjects. 
These  subjects  did  not  enter  into  the  platform  on  which  they  had 
been  culled  out  and  brought  together  into  a  fraternity.  Therefore, 
unanimity  in  this  respect  did  not  exist  either  by  virtue  of  selection 
or  of  indoctrination.  That  there  were  Tories  among  them,  in  opinion 
and  sentiment,  just  as  there  were  in  other  communities,  cannot  be 
denied.  That  there  were  those  who  sympathized  with  the  struggle 
of  the  colonies  is  certain.  There  were  also,  as  in  every  other  commu- 
nity, many  who  at  first  did  not  appreciate  the  righteousness  of  the 
struggle ;  many  who  failed  to  rightly  apprehend  the  issue ;  many  who 
had  no  conception  of  its  magnitude  and  did  not  dream  of  its  far- 
reaching  results,  who  later  saw  into  things  better  and  whose  views 
underwent  a»complete  change.  Not  every  man  elsewhere  who  at  the 
first  signal  was  ready  to  shoulder  his  gun  and  march,  clearly  dis- 
cerned the  real  problems  of  the  hour,  and  as  few  of  the  boisterous 
zealots  who  thought  the  Moravians  should  all  be  compelled  to  join 
the  militia  as  of  these  Moravians  looked  out  through  the  mazy  future 
with  the  eye  of  a  seer  and  foresaw  all  that  a  few  years  later  became 
so  plain. 

There  was  also  wide  difference  of  opinion  among  the  people  of 
Bethlehem  on  the  question  of  adhering  to  the  old  principle  in  the 
matter  of  bearing  arms  in  active  warfare  and  engaging  in  military 
drill.  Some  made  this  an  essential  as  much  as  did  the  Quakers. 
Others  merely  took  the  ground  of  consistency  with  the  original  mis- 
sionary purpose  of  the  settlement,  in  pursuance  of  which  the  Church 
had  sought  and  obtained  exemption  from  such  duty  for  its  member- 
ship, with  the  vmderstanding  that  they  would  do  their  duty  for  the 
maintenance  and  protection  of  the  State  by  paying  such  sums  as 


1772 1778.  437 

might  be  required  of  them  in  Heu  of  bodily  service  of  that  kind. 
Such  were  more  ready  to  recognize  emergencies  in  which  it  might 
become  their  duty  to  also  shoulder  a  musket.  Yet  others,  especially 
among  the  younger  men,  if  they  had  been  left  to  act  individually, 
would  have  followed  the  call  to  arms — some  because  they  believed 
this  to  be  a  patriotic  duty,  some  to  escape  the  odium  and  petty  per- 
secution to  which  they  were  subjected,  some  also  because  their 
scruples  on  this  point  were  not  as  strong  as  their  objection  to  pay- 
ing the  exorbitant  fines  imposed  upon  them,  one  time  after  the  other, 
when  this  process  had  been  gotten  into  systematic  operation  in  the 
county.^  When  it  was  finally  concluded  to  all  stand  together  in  this 
matter,  to  all  decline  to  engage  in  active  military  service  and  all  pay 
the  fines,  however  unreasonable  the  amounts  demanded,  and  all  help 
each  other  to  bear  the  burden,  this  conclusion   simply  meant  that 


3  Bishop  Nathanael  Seidel.  in  May,  wrote  a  letter  to  Dr.  Franklin,  congratulating  him  on 
his  safe  return  from  England,  and  setting  forth  the  straits  they  were  in  at  Bethlehem  in  con- 
nection with  military  drill.     In  reply  he  received  the  following  letter  from  Franklin  : 

Philada.  June  2nd  1775. 
Reverend  &  Dear  Sir, 

I  am  much  obliged  by  your  kind  congratulations  on  my  Return ;  and  I  rejoice  to  hear 
that  the  Brethren  are  well  and  prosper.  I  am  persuaded  that  the  Congress  will  give  no 
encouragement  to  any  to  molest  your  people  on  account  of  their  Religious  Principles ;  and 
tho'  much  is  not  in  my  Power,  I  shall  on  every  Occasion  exert  myself  to  discountenance 
such  infamous  Practices.  Permit  me  however  to  give  a  little  hint  in  point  of  Prudence.  I 
remember  that  you  put  yourselves  in  a  good  Posture  of  Defence  at  the  Beginning  of  the  last 
War  when  I  was  in  Bethlehem ;  and  I  then  understood  from  my  very  much  Respected 
Friend  Bp.  Spangenberg,  that  there  were  those  among  the  Brethren  who  did  not  hold  it  unlaw- 
ful to  arm  in  defensive  Warfare.  If  there  be  still  any  such  among  your  young  Men.  perhaps 
it  would  not  be  amiss  to  permit  them  to  learn  the  Military  Discipline  among  their  Neighbors, 
as  this  might  conciliate  those  who  at  present  express  some  resentment ;  and  having  Arms  in 
Readiness  for  all  who  may  be  able  and  willing  to  use  them,  will  be  a  general  Means  of 
Protection  against  enemies  of  all  kinds.  But  a  Declaration  of  your  Society,  that  tho'  they 
cannot  in  conscience  compell  their  young  Men  to  learn  the  Use  of  Arms,  yet  they  do  not 
restrain  such  as  are  disposed,  will  operate  in  the  Minds  of  People  very  greatly  in  your 
Favour. 

Excuse  my  Presumption  in  oft'ering  Advice,  which  indeed   may  be  of  little  Value,   but 
proceeds  from  a  Heart  filled  with  Affection  and   Respect  for  a  Society  I  have   long  highly 
esteemed,  and  among  whom  I  have  many  valuable  Friends. 
I  am  with  great  Regard 

&  Veneration, 

Rev'd  Sir, 

Your  most  obedient 

humble  servant, 

B.  FRANKLIN. 


438  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

whatever  the  personal  opinions  and  sentiments  of  one  and  another 
might  be,  all  would  cling  together  consistently  on  the  ground  form- 
erly taken.  Those  who  had  no  such  scruples  engaged  to  stand  by 
those  who  had,  and,  as  for  differing  views  on  the  great  struggle, 
these  did  not  then  assert  themselves  to  the  extent  of  causing  an  open 
breach  in  the  bond  of  brotherhood  which  held  them  together.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  resolution  to  thus  make  common  cause 
and  stand  together  was,  under  Divine  Providence,  what  saved  Beth- 
lehem through  all  the  critical  ordeals  that  came ;  for  there  were  times 
when,  if  it  had  been  a  house  divided  against  itself,  it  would  not  have 
stood.  The  higher  and  better  class  of  minds  among  both  the  civil 
and  military  authorities  became  convinced  that  no  danger  to  the 
patriot  cause  was  to  be  feared  from  the  Moravians.  In  the  dire  dis- 
tress of  the  most  critical  times  the  resources  derived  from  the  place 
were  no  mean  consideration,  and  were  perhaps  of  more  real  value 
than  the  full  quota  of  armed  men  from  Bethlehem  would  have  been. 
The  men  who  insisted  that  the  Moravians  should  be  compelled  to 
do  mihtary  duty  were  not  those  upon  whom  the  responsibility  for 
finding  ways  and  means  rested,  and  they  were  not  inclined,  therefore, 
to  appreciate  the  value  of  what  was  derived  from  them,  as  from  other 
non-combatants  and  "Tories,"  in  other  ways.*  Even  a  little  act  like 
the  contribution  of  a  quantity  of  linen  rags  by  the  women  of  Beth- 
lehem for  dressing  the  wounds  of  soldiers  was  considered  deserving 
of  formal  record  and  thanks,  as  early  as  May  i,  1776,  by  the  Com- 
mittee of  Safety  at  Philadelphia.  When,  furthermore,  the  value  of 
Bethlehem  as  a  place  of  refuge  for  so  many  sick  and  wounded  of  the 
patriot  army,  and  the  readiness  of  its  people  to  do  what  they  could 
for  the  sufferers  in  the  great  extremity  became  clear,  and  even  the 
Continental  Congress  found  a  retreat  there  and  discovered  it  to  be 
almost  the  only  spot  in  reach  that  was  not  utterly  demoralized,  and 
visions  came  to  Congressmen  and  Generals  of  further  possible  use  to 
which  the  fine  place,  with  its  commodious  buildings,  its  mills  and  work- 
shops and  its  sober,  steady-going  people  running  them  might  be  put 
if  preserved  intact,  the  highest  authorities  of  the  new-born  Nation 
became  its  champions  and  protectors  against  the  riotous  fanatics 
who  would  have  found  satisfaction  in  the  mere  spectacle  of  its 
destruction,  even  if  no  good  whatever,  but  rather  harm  to  the 
Nation's  cause,  had  been  the  result. 

4  Eminent  authority  of  the  time  (Dr.  Rush)  has  been  cited  in  support  of  the  estimate  that 
"  three-fourths  of  the  taxes  by  which  the  war  was  supported  in  Pennsylvania  were  paid  by 
non-combatants  or  Tories."     Pa.  Mag.,  XV,  p.  16. 


1772 1778-  439 

In  further  pursuing  these  preUminary  remarks  on  the  attitude  of 
the  Moravians  and  the  position  of  Bethlehem  during  the  Revolution, 
it  may  be  added  that  the  differences  of  opinion  which  prevailed 
among  the  people,  the  same  as  at  all  other  places,  did  not  run  with 
any  particular  differences  of  class  or  station.  Some  who  have  writ- 
ten on  the  subject  have  represented  that  the  clergy,  as  a  class,  were 
Tories  and  held  such  of  the  people  who  took  that  side  by  personal 
influence  or  under  the  threat  of  expulsion.^  Some  of  the  clergy  were 
decidedly  opposed  to  the  Revolution  in  the  beginning,  but  adopted 
quite  different  views  later.  The  most  striking  instance  is  that  of 
John  Ettwein,  who  became  the  most  conspicuous  and  important  man 
in  Bethlehem  long  before  he  was  made  a  bishop,  was  generally  the 
representative  of  the  place  and  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  dealings 
with  the  civil  and  military  authorities  during  the  war,  was  more 
widely  known  among  public  men  than  any  other  Moravian  and,  not- 
withstanding his  outspoken  disapproval  of  revolutionary  steps  beiore 
he  was  politically  converted,  commanded  the  general  respect  and 
confidence  of  high  officials  by  his  stalwart  honesty,  dauntless  courage 
and  unassuming  simplicity  of  deportment.  Among  the  Moravian 
ministers  generally,  the  most  decided  Tory  of  whose  utterances  the 
records  of  the  time  preserve  specimens,  was  the  Rev.  Gustavus 
Shewkirk,  pastor  of  the  New  York  Church  and  later  a  missionary 
bishop  in  the  West  Indies,  whose  diar}^  is  probably  one  of  the  most 
complete  chronicles  of  conditions  and  events  in  that  city  during  the 
period  it  covers,  to  be  found  in  any  one  source.  Other  ministers  at 
Bethlehem  and  elsewhere,  while  preserving  their  characteristic  quiet 
caution  in  reference  to  public  questions,  and  endeavoring  to  hold  the 
people,  so  far  as  possible,  to  the  old  position  of  orderly  subjection 
to  the  authorities  of  the  time  and  non-participation  in  political  agita- 
tions, and  then,  when  war  actually  came,  to  consistency  with  the 
avowed  principles  of  the  Church  in  the  matter  of  bearing  arms,  by 
no  means  spoke  against  the  struggle  undertaken  by  the  colonies. 
Some  were  disposed  to  recognize  the  hand  of  God  stretched  forth  in 
the  clouds  to  overrule  and  direct  events  for  the  higher  good  of  the 
country,  and  to  believe,  from  the  beginning,  that  He  was  on  the 
side  of  those  who  were  struggling  against  oppression.     As  a  rule 


5  So  Matthew  S.  Henry  in  his  History  of  the  Lehigh  Valley.  Mr.  Henry  could  not  have 
found  any  contemporaneous  documentary  evidence  in  support  of  this  version  which  reflects 
sentiments  towards  the  Moravian  clergy,  as  a  class,  which  were  not  uncommon  among  some, 
at  the  time  when  his  history  was  written,  and  which  the  author  seems  to  have  shared,  as 
appears  in  other  parts  of  his  work. 


440  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

they  considered  it  incumbent  upon  them,  as  representatives  of  a 
Church  which  formed  one  Unity  compactly  bound  together,  with  its 
congregations  and  missions  in  many  places  under  British  dominion, 
and  enjoying  peculiar  guaranteed  privileges  under  that  govern- 
ment, not,  in  any  hour  of  revolt  in  one  of  these  countries,  when 
the  issue  was  very  uncertain,  to  suddenly  renounce  that  allegiance  to 
it  which  their  brethren  in  other  lands  faithfully  maintained.  It  was 
not  possible  for  them  to  view  the  situation  as  men  viewed  it  who  did 
not  consider,  and  were  not  supposed  to  consider,  any  kind  of  con- 
nections or  obligations  outside  of  those  which  presented  themselves 
to  their  minds  as  citizens  of  their  respective  colonies.  This,  their 
peculiar  position,  brought  on  the  most  serious  tribulation  of  all  that 
fell  to  the  lot  of  the  Moravians,  when  the  ordeal  of  the  several  test 
acts  came  to  be  applied.  Men  found  it  hard  to  understand  the  refusal 
of  so  many  of  them  to  "take  the  test,"  coming  after  their  insistence 
upon  their  scruples  against  bearing  arms,  to  mean  anything  else 
than  a  compact  in  Toryism,  pure  and  simple. 

In  the  first  stage  of  the  conflict  there  were  some  among  the  busi- 
ness men  of  Bethlehem  who  gave  unguarded  expression  to  adverse 
sentiments  and  opinions  which  were  remembered  against  them. 
Sometimes  the  unfortunate  remark  of  one  man,  heard  at  the  tavern, 
shop  or  mill,  was  carried  about  the  country  as  the  talk  of  all  the 
Moravians.  Few  of  them,  however,  were  such  rabid  and  indiscreet 
Tories  as  John  Francis  Oberlin,  the  store-keeper,  a  valuable  but 
crochety  and  often  troublesome  man,  with  whom  the  authorities  of 
the  place  more  than  once  came  into  unpleasant  conflict  about  various 
matters,  and  who  is  credited  with  saying  that  he  had  rope  enough 
in  his  store  to  hang  the  entire  Congress.  A  speech  like  that  repeated 
about  the  neighborhood  could  do  not  a  little  harm,  for  much  more 
attention  was  paid  to  it,  as  coming  from  a  Moravian,  than  was  given 
to  similar  and  even  harsher  utterances  by  hundreds  of  other  men. 
When  the  first  agitation  in  the  direction  of  raising  a  company  of 
troops  in  Northampton  County  commenced,  soon  after  the  news  of 
the  battle  of  Lexington,  in  April,  1775,  the  Brethren  appealed  to  the 
exemption  from  bearing  arms  granted  them  by  the  act  of  Parliament 
in  1749.  Matters  had  not  yet  progressed  far  enough  for  them  to 
realize  that  this  would  be  treated  with  contempt  and  could  not  be 
expected  to  avail  them  in  any  wise  under  circumstances  of  revolt 
against  that  Government.  It  soon  became  clear  to  them,  however, 
that  this  was  of  no  use  and  that  they  had  to  meet  the  question  on  a 


1772 1778.  441 

new  basis  on  which  there  was  as  yet  no  authoritative  declaration  or 
provision  to  meet  their  case.  It  is  stated  that  on  May  22,  a  meeting 
of  the  County  Committee  was  held  at  Easton,  at  which  it  was  vehem- 
ently insisted  upon  that  they  must  either  turn  out  and  drill  or  appease 
the  people  by  a  public  declaration  of  their  principles. 

A  week  later  a  deputation  waited  upon  Justice  Jacob  Arndt  with 
the  statement,  to  be  made  a  matter  of  official  record,  that  while  they 
desired  the  good  of  the  country  and  had  no  intention  to  place  them- 
selves in  opposition  to  the  course  of  events,  they  claimed  the  liberty 
given  them  in  all  countries  of  exemption  from  miHtary  service,  but 
would  willingly  bear  their  part  of  the  public  burden  otherwise.  On 
June  16,  a  declaration  of  principles,  such  as  had  been  demanded,  was 
adopted  by  a  committee  of  the  Common  Council  of  the  village,  signed 
in  behalf  of  that  body  and  put  in  the  hands  of  John  Okely  to  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  County  Committee.  This  Committee  resolved,  on 
June  22,  that,  while  they  did  not  propose  to  force  any  one  to  drill, 
those  who  had  scruples  about  it  must  nevertheless  appear  at  the 
drill-ground  or  each  time  pay  a  fine  in  cash.  An  act  of  Assembly, 
providing  for  fines  in  lieu  of  military  duty,  had,  meanwhile,  been 
passed,  and  therefore  those  members  of  the  Committee  who  had 
favored  coercion  were,  in  so  far,  thwarted,  and  more  than  that  reso- 
lution set  forth  could  not  be  demanded.  Thus  the  first  perplexity 
was  met  and  the  ground  established  on  which  the  matter  of  militia 
duty  was  adjusted,  if  all  should  conclude  to  regularly  pay  the  fines 
rather  than  drill. 

The  excitement  of  the  people  in  the  neighborhood  was  intensified 
by  the  sight  of  numerous  troops  marching  through  towards  Boston, 
during  July  and  August,  1775.  With  few  exceptions  they  touched 
Bethlehem,  for  it  lay  right  in  the  line  of  march,  on  the  highway  of 
travel  from  the  lower  parts  of  Pennsylvania  and  from  regions  to  the 
south  of  this  Province  up  into  New  York.  The  first  such  company,  one 
from  York,  Pa.,  came  on  July  8.  Three  companies  of  mounted  rifle- 
men arrived  on  the  21st  and  halted  several  hours.  Several  of  their 
officers  remained  over  night  and  attended  the  evening  service.  On 
the  24th  came  two  more  such  companies.  The  diarist  of  Bethlehem 
notes  that  one  of  the  privates  was  expelled  in  disgrace  for  gross  mis- 
behavior. In  the  evening  a  company  arrived  from  Virginia,  in  com- 
mand of  Captain  Morgan.  They  remained  over  night  and,  by 
request,  Ettwein  preached  a  sermon  to  them  in  the  evening.  The 
chronicle  states  that  they  were  so  quiet  and    orderly    that    it    was 


442  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM.   PENNSVLVANIA. 

hardly  perceptible  that  there  were  soldiers  at  Bethlehem.  The  next 
day,  soon  after  they  left,  a  company  arrived  from  Alaryland  under 
Captain  Thomas  Price,  a  cousin — says  the  diarist — of  Mary  Tiersch, 
wife  of  the  Rev.  Paul  Tiersch,  a  former  Assistant  Principal  of  Naza- 
reth Hall  and,  in  1771,  the  first  minister  at  Salem,  North  Carolina. 
They  also  attended  service  in  a  body  in  the  evening  and  listened  to 
an  English  sermon.  On  the  28th,  another  company  of  mounted  men 
arrived  from  Virginia  and  proceeded  on  their  way,  after  a  rest  of 
several  hours.  xA.n  August  10,  a  body  of  riflemen  passed  through, 
followed,  on  the  13th,  by  a  company  from  Bedford  County, 
all  bound  for  the  center  of  disturbance,  about  Boston.  Then  there 
was  a  lull  in  these  first  manifestations  of  incipient  war,  breaking  in 
upon  the  peace  of  Bethlehem,  until  December  i,  when  several  of  the 
British  officers  captured  by  General  Montgomery's  little  army  at  St. 
Johns,  Canada,  arrived  on  their  way  to  Philadelphia.  They  were  fol- 
lowed on  the  5th  by  two  hundred  soldiers  of  their  command.  These 
prisoners  of  war  were  quartered  partly  at  the  Sun  and  Crown  Inns 
and  partly  in  the  large  stone  house  of  many  names  and  uses,  on 
Main  Street — site  of  the  Publication  Ofiice — which  has  been  fre- 
quently referred  to,  spoken  of  at  this  time  as  "the  former  Institute." 
The  next  day  another  body  of  prisoners  followed,  so  that  about  four 
hundred  in  all  passed  through.  They  only  remained  several  days, 
and  the  record  states  that  there  was  no  cause  for  complaint  about 
their  conduct  while  they  sojourned  at  Bethlehem.  They  were  fol- 
lowed, January  30,  1776,  by  many  of  their  wives  and  children,  under 
guard,  in  four  sleighs.  Their  distress  awakened  much  compassion, 
as  the  cold  was  severe  and  their  clothing  insufficient.  Extra  cloth- 
ing, blankets  and  other  necessities  were  furnished  them  for  the 
remaining  journey.  The  next  day  came  upwards  of  twenty  wagons, 
loaded  with  prisoners  and  luggage.  They  proceeded  on  their  way, 
the  day  following,  after  John  Okely,  as  Justice,  had,  in  accordance 
with  official  instructions,  pressed  every  available  wagon  into  service 
for  their  further  transportation.  It  seemed  as  if  there  would  be  no 
end  to  this  caravan,  for  on  February  3,  upwards  of  fifty  more  parsed 
through,  followed  the  next  day  by  several  officers.  Again  on  Feb- 
ruary 14,  another  company  of  prisoners,  this  time  mostly  French 
troops,  arrived,  and  the  next  day  went  on  to  their  quarters  at  Bristol. 
These  men  attended  a  service  held  for  the  children  and  purchased  a 
considerable  lot  of  needle-work  and  other  goods  in  the  Sisters 
House.     After  that  there  were  no  further  visits  of  a  militarv  char- 


^77^ 1778 


443 


444  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

actcr  until  in  July,  excepting  the  passing  through  to  New  York  of 
one  company  of  riflemen,  the  first  week  in  April.  The  conditions 
that  existed  at  Bethlehem  led  the  authorities  of  the  place  to  increase 
the  dwelling  accommodations  in  every  possible  way.  Some  apart- 
ments were  fitted  up  temporaril}-  in  various  buildings,  and  several 
structures  were  converted  from  their  former  uses  into  permanent 
dwelling-houses.  One  of  these  was  "the  old  stone  stable  on  the 
former  farm"  of  Bethlehem.  This  was  the  stone  cottage  yet  stand- 
ing near  the  site  of  the  first  house,  on  Rubel's  Alley,  of  various  sub- 
sequent associations.  It  seemed  as  if  this  move  to  increase  dwell- 
ings had  resulted  from  a  premonition  that  ere  long  emergencies 
would  come  upon  Bethlehem-  when  every  habitable  spot  in  the  place 
would  be  called  into  requisition.  Among  the  incidents  of  those  months 
were  two  deaths  that  have  interesting  associations  in  different 
ways.  The  first,  on  ]\Iarch  7,  1776,  was  that  of  Christian  Froehlich, 
the  last  of  the  Bethlehem  pioneers  living  at  the  place.  He  had  been 
engaged  in  his  former  occupation,  as  a  sugar  refiner,  in  New  York, 
for  twenty-four  years,  and  had,  shortly  before  his  decease,  come  to 
Bethlehem  to  spend  his  declining  days.  The  other,  which  caused 
much  sorrow,  was  that,  on  April  19,  of  the  Rev.  Amadeus  Paulinus 
Thrane,  the  gifted,  eloquent  and  greatly  beloved  preacher  and  asso- 
ciate pastor  (Ordinariiis)  since  1761.  This  position  was  now  assumed 
by  Ettwein,  in  connection  with  his  other  duties  as  assistant  to  Bishop 
Seidel,  President  of  the  Provincial  Helpers'  Conference.  The  latter 
also  filled  the  position  of  Head  Pastor  {Gcmcinhclfcr)  at  Bethlehem, 
assisted  by  the  Rev.  Paul  Muenster  as  subordinate  pastor  of  the 
married  portion  of  the  Congregation.  The  Rev.  Andrew  Busse,  an 
unmarried  man,  and  chaplain  of  the  Brethren's  House,  had  the  partic- 
ular pastoral  charge  of  the  single  men,  assisted  by  John  Frederick 
Peter  and  Immanuel  Nitschmann.  Ettwein,  at  the  same  time,  was 
yet  filling  another  important  ofifice.  as  President  of  the  village  Board 
of  Supervision  in  externals,  assisted  by  de  Schweinitz  the  Adminis- 
trator of  the  American  property  of  the  Unity  or  Church  General. 
These,  with  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Dencke,  the  Warden  of  the  Congre- 
gation, and  the  Rev.  John  Herman  Bonn,  the  Warden  of  the 
Brethren's  House,  as  previously  stated,  together  with  the  Eldresses 
and  Deaconesses  of  the  Sisters'  House  and  the  Widows'  House,  made 
up.  principally,  the  official  personnel  of  Bethlehem  in  that  historic 
year. 

The  course  of  local  affairs,  on  to  May,  1776,  suffered  no  disturb- 
ance traceable  to  the  effects  of  the  Revolution  that  had  commenced. 


1772 1778.  445 

excepting  some  unsettling  of  prices  which  the  doughty  store-keeper, 
Oberhn,  was  taking  advantage  of,  contrary  to  regulations,  to  make 
more  profit  than  the  village  fathers  thought  was  proper.  A  "painful 
deliberation"  on  the  subject  took  place  in  the  Elders'  Conference  in 
]\Iay.  It  was  clear  that  he  was  overcharging  the  people  of  the  place, 
as  well  as  outside  customers  who  would  blame  the  village  authorities. 
It  was  decided  that  Bishop  Seidel  should  speak  to  Oberlin  about  this. 
The  store-keeper  had  trouble  enough  later,  on  account  of  the  scarcity 
of  many  commodities  and  the  enormous  prices  that  had  to  be  paid, but 
at  this  time  the  advance  was  only  speculative,  as  yet,  and  the  business 
principles  which  then  prevailed  in  Bethlehem  did  not  permit  specu- 
lation on  prospective  stringency,  even  in  dealing  with  customers  who 
came  from  the  country  to  hear  Tory  talk  and  perhaps  to  get  a  glimpse 
of  the  alleged  British  powder  and  lead  stored  in  the  cellar  of  the 
village  store,  w^here  the  imaginary  French  ammunition  was  supposed 
to  have  been  kept  formerly.  Many  people  from  near  and  distant 
places  were  in  Bethlehem  during  those  weeks  and  the  store,  as  well 
as  the  inn,  undoubtedly  did  a  thriving  business. 

On  May  6,  John  Penn  again  came  to  Bethlehem  from  Allentown, 
where  he  had  probably  been  in  consultation  with  Andrew  Allen,  and 
remained  until  the  next  day.  He  was  perhaps  contemplating  the 
prospect  of  soon  having  to  write  Ichabod  under  the  Penns'  Arms  that 
crowned  the  back  of  the  Governor's  chair.  In  January  of  the  pre- 
vious year,  the  Pennsylvania  Convention  had  approved  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  first  Continental  Congress  held  in  September  before 
that.  This  had  proven  the  entering  wedge  towards  shattering  the 
old  Pennsylvania  government.  At  the  meeting  of  the  decrepit 
Assembly  in  June,  following  that  Convention,  when  the  "Committee 
of  Safety"  was  appointed,  the  temper  of  the  subsequent  "Associators" 
made  itself  felt  in  a  fashion  that  boded  little  good  for  the  old  pro- 
vincial machinery ;  for  this  Committee,  which  represented  the  senti- 
ment at  variance  with  the  conservative  party  that  was  now  the  only 
strength  of  the  old  government,  took  matters  largely  into  its  own 
hands  for  the  next  twelve  months,  and,  in  May,  1776,  the  time  now 
under  review,  the  further  existence  even  of  the  Assembly  of  Pennsyl- 
vania was  rendered  precarious  by  the  resolution  of  the  Congress, 
recommending  to  the  colonies  to  institute  a  government  adapted  to 
the  needs  of  the  hour.  This  action  was  communicated  by  Assembly- 
man Edmonds,  in  a  letter  to  Bethlehem,  and  on  May  28,  a  meeting 
of  voting  citizens  was  held  to  consider  what,  if  anything,  they,  as 


446 


A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 


part  of  the  people  of  one  of  the  counties,  should  do  in  view  of  the 
"repudiation  of  the  Assembly"  by  those  in  control,  and  the  proposi- 
tion "to  abolish  the  existing  government"  of  the  Province.  It  was 
observed  at  the  meeting  that  everything  was  then  turning  on  the 
question  of  declaring  independence  of  England  or  not,  and  that  those 
in  Pennsylvania  who  were  in  favor  of  so  doing  would  needs  have  the 
old  Assembly  out  of  the  way.  It  was  finally  decided  not  to  take 
any  action  in  a  distinct  capacity  as  Moravians,  but  unite  with  other 
conservative  inhabitants  of  the  county  in  signing  a  proposed  petition 
to  retain  the  old  government,  provided  such  petition  contained 
nothing  contrary  to  their  conscientious  scruples.  Nothing  came  of 
the  petition.  The  futile  effort  was  made  by  those  who  tried  to 
preserve  wdiat  they  believed  to  be  the  proper  legal  method  of  pro- 
cedure, to  have  the  proposed  Convention  called  through  the  old 
Assembly,  as  then  yet  constituted.  This  action,  though  initiated,  was 
not  consummated.  The  Committee  of  Correspondence  which  had 
called  the  conference  of  the  County  Committees  in  Carpenters'  Hall, 
in  July,  1774,  summoned  them  to  another  such  conference  which  met 
on  June  18,  1776,  and  took  the  initial  steps  to  bring  about  a  Con- 
vention for  the  formation  of  a  new  Provincial  Government.  The 
Assembly  subsequently  had  several  sessions,  and  a  last  meeting, 
feebly  protested  and  then  died. 

The  current  of  events  was  irresistible.  Before  this  Pennsylvania 
Convention  assembled,  the  supreme  hour  had  come  when  the  new 
Continental  Congress,  convened  on  May  10,  took  the  decisive  step 
that  necessarily  ended  Pennsylvania's  Proprietary  Government 
without  further  formalities,  when  the  delegates  of  all  the  colonies 
signed  the  immortal  document  that  introduced  a  new  Nation  to  an 
astonished  world,  and  made  the  Fourth  of  July,  1776,  forever  historic. 

On  that  very  day  the  diarist  of  Bethlehem  recorded  how,  when 
they  had  seen  in  the  newspapers  that  the  Congress  had  resolved  to 
declare  the  Colonies  free  and  independent  States,  their  hearts  were 
melted  and  they  were  exhorted  by  "Brother  Nathanael" — Bishop 
Seidel — to  remember  the  situation  of  things  before  the  Lord.  They 
then  knew  of  the  memorable  resolution  introduced  by  Richard  Henry 
Lee  on  June  7,  and,  after  protracted  debate,  voted  on,  July  2 — all 
approving  excepting  Delaware  and  four  of  Pennsylvania's  seven 
delegates — that  the  "United  Colonies  are  and  of  right  ought  to  be 
free  and  independent  States ;  and  that  all  pohtical  connection  between 
them  and  the   State  of  Great   Britain  is   and  ought  to  be   totally 


1/72- 


17/8. 


447 


dissolved.'"  Then  again,  on  the  8th  of  July,  when  the  public  reading 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  signed  in  final  form  with  the 
statement  of  reasons  on  the  4th,  took  place  in  Philadelphia,  and  the 
election  of  delegates  to  the  Pennsylvania  Constitutional  Convention 
of  the  20th  was  held  in  all  the  counties,  the  diary  of  Bethlehem  refers 
to  both  things ;  but  without  comment,  beyond  the  remark  that,  in 
the  Northampton  County  election,  the  Brethren  remained  away,  that 
the  Associators  carried  everything,  and  that  five  German  and  three 
Irish  farmers  were  elected.  In  the  excitement  of  the  hour,  the  Morav- 
ian leaders,  like  so  many  others  in  Pennsylvania  who  thought  the 
steps  taken  premature  and  precipitate,  came  under  the  odium  of 
being  enemies  of  the  Country  because  they  favored  upholding  the 
Proprietary  Government,  against  which,  not  many  years  before,  the 
same  class  of  men  in  the  county  who  now  denounced  them  for  this 
reason,  had  persistently  tried  to  prove  them  the  secret  conspirators. 
That  they,  as  well  as  the  few  eminent  public  men  who  held  and 
advocated  this  view  and  the  large  body  of  citizens  who  stood  with 
them  in  it,  were  in  error,  as  to  the  best  policy  of  the  hour  and  as  to 
the  Divine  Providence  in  the  events  that  were  to  work  out  the  grand 
destinies  of  the  Nation,  of  course,  became  clear  before  many  years, 
and  in  due  time  was  recognized  by  them.  Meanwhile,  however,  every 
hasty  and  vehement  man  who  happened  to  have  placed  himself  on 
the  right  side  of  the  question,  considered  it  his  privilege  to  decry 
them  all  in  a  body  as  the  foes  of  the  Country ;  for  it  is  always  difificult, 
when  feeling  runs  high  and  controversy  is  rife,  for  advocates  of 
radical  measures  for  reaching  a  desirable  end  to  refrain  from 
regarding  every  one  who  differs  from  their  ideas  about  the  methods 
and  policies  as,  ipso  facto,  an  opponent  of  the  ultimate  end  sought. 
The  lower  down  in  combined  intelligence  and  character  men  stand, 
the  more  violent  and  intolerant  they  naturally  are  in  such  issues ;  and 
so  those  on  the  popular  side  who  belonged  to  the  rabble  were  the 
surest  that  it  was  their  duty,  as  patriots,  to  despoil  all  who  had  indis- 
criminately been  made  odious  as  anti-revolutionists,  no  matter  how 
innocent  of  any  act  or  intrigue  to  the  detriment  of  the  cause,  or 
even  if  they  were  more  highly  patriotic  than  themselves,  but  unfor- 
tunately thought  the  rights  of  their  Country  ought  to  have  been 
longer  struggled  for  in  other  ways. 

So  it  came  to  pass  that  while  some  troops  who  passed  through 
Bethlehem,  as  already  remarked,  behaved  respectfully,  were  willing 
to  believe  that  the  Moravians  were  not  dangerous  people,  and  in 


446  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

part  of  the  people  of  one  of  the  counties,  should  do  in  view  of  the 
"repudiation  of  the  Assembly"  by  those  in  control,  and  the  proposi- 
tion "to  abolish  the  existing  government"  of  the  Province.  It  was 
observed  at  the  meeting  that  everything  was  then  turning  on  the 
question  of  declaring  independence  of  England  or  not,  and  that  those 
in  Pennsylvania  who  were  in  favor  of  so  doing  would  needs  have  the 
old  Assembly  out  of  the  way.  It  was  finally  decided  not  to  take 
any  action  in  a  distinct  capacity  as  Moravians,  but  unite  with  other 
conservative  inhabitants  of  the  county  in  signing  a  proposed  petition 
to  retain  the  old  government,  provided  such  petition  contained 
nothing  contrary  to  their  conscientious  scruples.  Nothing  came  of 
the  petition.  The  futile  effort  was  made  by  those  who  tried  to 
preserve  what  they  believed  to  be  the  proper  legal  method  of  pro- 
cedure, to  have  the  proposed  Convention  called  through  the  old 
Assembly,  as  then  yet  constituted.  This  action,  though  initiated,  was 
not  consummated.  The  Committee  of  Correspondence  which  had 
called  the  conference  of  the  County  Committees  in  Carpenters'  Hall, 
in  July,  1774,  summoned  them  to  another  such  conference  which  met 
on  June  18,  1776,  and  took  the  initial  steps  to  bring  about  a  Con- 
vention for  the  formation  of  a  new  Provincial  Government.  The 
Assembly  subsequently  had  several  sessions,  and  a  last  meeting, 
feebly  protested  and  then  died. 

The  current  of  events  was  irresistible.  Before  this  Pennsylvania 
Convention  assembled,  the  supreme  hour  had  come  when  the  new 
Continental  Congress,  convened  on  May  10,  took  the  decisive  step 
that  necessarily  ended  Pennsylvania's  Proprietary  Government 
without  further  formalities,  when  the  delegates  of  all  the  colonies 
signed  the  immortal  document  that  introduced  a  new  Nation  to  an 
astonished  world,  and  made  the  Fourth  of  July,  1776,  forever  historic. 

On  that  very  day  the  diarist  of  Bethlehem  recorded  how,  when 
they  had  seen  in  the  newspapers  that  the  Congress  had  resolved  to 
declare  the  Colonies  free  and  independent  States,  their  hearts  were 
melted  and  they  were  exhorted  by  "Brother  Nathanael" — Bishop 
Seidel — to  remember  the  situation  of  things  before  the  Lord.  They 
then  knew  of  the  memorable  resolution  introduced  by  Richard  Henry 
Lee  on  June  7,  and,  after  protracted  debate,  voted  on,  July  2 — all 
approving  excepting  Delaware  and  four  of  Pennsylvania's  seven 
delegates — that  the  "United  Colonies  are  and  of  right  ought  to  be 
free  and  independent  States ;  and  that  all  political  connection  between 
them  and  the  State  of  Great   Britain   is   and  ought  to  be  totally 


J/^- 


■1778.  447 


dissolved.''  Then  again,  on  the  8th  of  July,  when  the  public  reading 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  signed  in  final  form  with  the 
statement  of  reasons  on  the  4th,  took  place  in  Philadelphia,  and  the 
election  of  delegates  to  the  Pennsylvania  Constitutional  Convention 
of  the  20th  was  held  in  all  the  counties,  the  diary  of  Bethlehem  refers 
to  both  things ;  but  without  comment,  beyond  the  remark  that,  in 
the  Northampton  County  election,  the  Brethren  remained  away,  that 
the  Associators  carried  everything,  and  that  five  German  and  three 
Irish  farmers  were  elected.  In  the  excitement  of  the  hour,  the  Morav- 
ian leaders,  like  so  many  others  in  Pennsylvania  who  thought  the 
steps  taken  premature  and  precipitate,  came  under  the  odium  of 
being  enemies  of  the  Country  because  they  favored  upholding  the 
Proprietary  Government,  against  which,  not  many  years  before,  the 
same  class  of  men  in  the  county  who  now  denounced  them  for  this 
reason,  had  persistently  tried  to  prove  them  the  secret  conspirators. 
That  they,  as  well  as  the  few  eminent  public  men  who  held  and 
advocated  this  view  and  the  large  body  of  citizens  who  stood  with 
them  in  it,  w^ere  in  error,  as  to  the  best  policy  of  the  hour  and  as  to 
the  Divine  Providence  in  the  events  that  were  to  work  out  the  grand 
destinies  of  the  Nation,  of  course,  became  clear  before  many  years, 
and  in  due  time  was  recognized  by  them.  Meanwhile,  however,  every 
hasty  and  vehement  man  who  happened  to  have  placed  himself  on 
the  right  side  of  the  question,  considered  it  his  privilege  to  decry 
them  all  in  a  body  as  the  foes  of  the  Country ;  for  it  is  always  difficult, 
when  feeUng  runs  high  and  controversy  is  rife,  for  advocates  of 
radical  measures  for  reaching  a  desirable  end  to  refrain  from 
regarding  every  one  who  differs  from  their  ideas  about  the  methods 
and  policies  as,  ipso  facto,  an  opponent  of  the  ultimate  end  sought. 
The  lower  down  in  combined  intelligence  and  character  men  stand, 
the  more  violent  and  intolerant  they  naturally  are  in  such  issues ;  and 
so  those  on  the  popular  side  who  belonged  to  the  rabble  were  the 
surest  that  it  was  their  duty,  as  patriots,  to  despoil  all  who  had  indis- 
criminately been  made  odious  as  anti-revolutionists,  no  matter  how 
innocent  of  any  act  or  intrigue  to  the  detriment  of  the  cause,  or 
even  if  they  were  more  highly  patriotic  than  themselves,  but  unfor- 
tunately thought  the  rights  of  their  Country  ought  to  have  been 
longer  struggled  for  in  other  ways. 

So  it  came  to  pass  that  while  some  troops  who  passed  through 
Bethlehem,  as  already  remarked,  behaved  respectfully,  were  willing 
to  believe  that  the  Moravians  were  not  dangerous  people,  and  in 


450  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Sturgis  and  Guenther,  are  mentioned  as  among  the  five  companies 
from  Lebanon  who  arrived  on  August  17,  and  as  having  been  shown 
special  fraternal  hospitality  at  Bethlehem. 

On  Sunday,  September  i,  Col.  Balthaser  Geehr,  with  his  com- 
mand, the  Fourth  Battalion,  from  Berks  County — about  400  men — 
suddenly  arrived  and  the  morning  service  was  interrupted.  At  four 
o'clock  they  filed  into  the  church — the  present  old  chapel — filling 
the  place,  and  Ettwein  preached  a  sermon.  It  is  stated  that  they 
all  listened  attentivel}'  and  that  the  occasion  was  a  very  impressive 
one.  Then,  as  the  month  of  September  advanced,  some  militia 
several  times  passed  through  in  the  other  direction,  having  served 
their  time  and  preferring  to  return  home.  An  occasional  straggling 
deserter  put  in  an  appearance. 

From  such  the  first  news  of  the  disastrous  battle  of  Long  Island 
was  received  at  Bethlehem,  and  on  September  18,  the  word  came 
that  the  British  had  occupied  New  York  City  and  that  the  American 
forces  had  been  defeated  at  Ticonderoga.  Families  connected  with  the 
Moravian  Church  in  New  York  began  to  arrive  and  on  the  same  day 
Col.  Gruenewald  with  the  Lebanon  battalion  again  passed  through 
the  place  on  their  return  from  Jersey.  At  the  end  of  September,  the 
diary  refers  to  the  completed  work  of  the  Pennsylvania  Constitutional 
Convention,  to  the  last  sessions  of  the  old  Assembly  and  to  its 
vain  resolutions  in  protest  against  the  acts  of  the  Convention  which 
had  legislated  it  out  of  existence.  A  new  General  Assembly  was 
provided  for,  as  the  legislative  body,  and  a  Council  of  twelve  as  exec- 
utive, with  a  President  chosen  each  year  by  joint  ballot  of  the 
Assembly  and  the  Council ;  while  a  Council  of  Censors,  consisting 
■of  two  from  each  city  and  county,  was  also  provided  for,  as  part  of 
the  proposed  future  governmental  machinery  of  the  State. 

The  diary  of  1776,  in  briefly  noting  the  end  of  the  Convention  and 
the  last  acts  of  the  Assembly,  refers  to  the  vain  resolutions  of  the 
latter  to  ease  the  situation  of  non-Associators,  and,  on  October  i, 
observes  that  the  annual  election  of  Assemblymen  went  by  default. 
On  October  19,  there  was  a  consultation  of  those  men  in  Bethlehem 
who  according  to  an  act  of  the  old  Assembly  would  now  have  to  pay 
£3,  10  each,  and  it  was  decided  to  address  the  new  authorities  in  the 
hope  that  relief  might  be  secured  from  the  new  Legislature.  None 
from  Bethlehem  attended  the  election  of  Inspectors  and  Committee- 
men on  November  2,  because  they  understood  that  the  Associators 
would  hold  the  election  "according  to  battalions,"  and  no  non-x'Vsso- 


17/2 1778-  451 

ciators  would  be  permitted  to  vote  without  first  taking  the  oath 
prescribed  by  the  Convention.  In  November  there  were  again 
deUberations  on  the  subject  of  prices.  On  the  4th,  a  consulation  was 
held  with  the  masters  of  trades  and  the  workmen,  on  the  mooted 
question  of  raising  both  the  price  of  wares  and  the  wages.  It  was 
decided  to  do  nothing  in  the  matter  before  New  Year,  and  the 
workmen  agreed  to  this.  On  the  19th,  the  price  of  fuel  was  under 
discussion,  people  of  the  neighborhood  having  greatly  increased  this. 
It  was  resolved  to  fix  the  price  of  hickory  wood  at  twelve  shillings 
and  that  of  oak  wood  at  nine  shilHngs  per  cord,  and  an  understanding 
to  this  effect  was  had  with  all  concerned. 

Now  the  sky  began  to  grow  darker  and  storms  filled  the  air.  On 
November  20,  1776,  the  news  of  the  capture  of  Fort  Washington 
reached  Bethlehem  through  Col.  Taylor,  who  came  from  Easton  to 
get  certain  fire-arms  yet  deposited  in  the  office  of  John  Okely,  the 
Justice.  A  week  later,  Lieutenant  Cleveland  and  Col.  Preston  are 
mentioned  in  the  records  as  in  Bethlehem,  followed  by  many  other 
officers,  and  a  report  came  that  British  prisoners  from  Reading  and 
Lancaster  were  to  be  brought  through  Bethlehem.  "From  Phila- 
delphia we  heard  nothing  but  dread  and  fear,"  says  the  diary.  New 
excitement  was  occasioned  in  the  neighborhood  by  an  emergency  call 
for  the  militia  of  the  county  yet  awaiting  orders.  As  a  soft  note,  char- 
acteristic of  normal  Bethlehem,  in  the  midst  of  the  discordant  sounds 
of  those  days,  drops  in  the  record,  on  November  30,  that  David 
Tanneberger  had  set  up  the  new  organ  in  the  Brethren's  House. 
Then,  like  a  sudden  clap  of  thunder  from  a  bolt  sent  down  by  the 
gathering  storm  upon  that  very  house,  came  in  the  afternoon  of 
December  3,  the  announcement  that  the  General  Hospital  of  the  Con- 
tinental Army  was  to  be  at  once  moved  to  Bethlehem  and  was  on  the 
way.  In  the  evening  Director  General  of  the  hospitals,  Dr.  Wil- 
liam Shippen,  and  Surgeon  General  John  Warren  arrived,  after  Dr. 
Cornelius  Baldwin,  who  had  preiceded  them,  had  announced  his 
instructions  to  make  preparations.'^  Ettwein  and  the  Warden  Dencke 
assured  them  of  the  readiness  of  the  Brethren  to  put  all  the  avail- 

7  Two  official  missives  were  received  at  Bethlehem  that  afternoon ;  one  from  Dr.  John 
Warren,  Surgeon  General  and  Acting  Director,  and  the  other,  supplementary  to  it,  brought 
by  Dr.  Baldwin  from  the  Committee  of  Northampton  County.     They  were  the  following: 

Easton,  Decem'r  3d  1776. 
Gent'n. 

You  will  see  by  the  Letter  herewith  sent,  that  the  General  Hospital  of  the  Army  is 

ordered  to  be  at  Bethlehem.     We  therefore  request  you  that  you  would  be  aiding  and  assist- 


452  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

able  room  at  their  disposal,  but  begged  for  such  arrangements  as 
would  not,  if  possible,  demorahze  the  accustomed  routine.  This 
was  promised.  It  is  observed  in  the  record  that  this  move  was  evi- 
dently pre-arranged,  for  it  was  known  at  large,  in  Philadelphia  before 
it  was  announced  at  Bethlehem,  "whether  with  good  or  evil  intent 
God  knows."  It  is  furthermore  remarked  that  the  prevailing  feeling 
at  once  was  to  submissively  acquiesce;  if  there  was  evil  intent  on 
the  part  of  those  who  first  planned  the  arrangement,  to  overcome  it 
with  good,  and  to  take  encouragement  in  this  good  from  the  daily 
text  of  the  Church,  which  very  significantly  was  the  passage  in  the 
Saviour's  parable  relating  to  bringing  in  the  poor,  the  maimed,  the 
halt  and  the  blind. 

As  to  the  plan,  whatever  part  any  county  olificials  may  have  had 
in  first  drawing  attention  to  Bethlehem,  as  a  desirable  point  for  a 
hospital,  and  whatever  thought  they  may  have  entertained  of  thus 
giving  the  Moravians  something  to  bear  in  addition  to  paying  fines 
in  lieu  of  military  service,  it  was  not  unnatural  that  the  Medical  Com- 
mittee, or  whoever,  primarily,  had  the  responsible  selection  of  such 
sites  in  charge,  should  have  had  an  eye  upon  this  place,  with  its  large 
buildings  located  outside  the  zone  of  disturbance.  It  was  not 
unreasonable,  either,  to  expect  the  Bethlehem  people  to  bear  this 
kind  of  a  burden  in  the  extremity,  for  this  did  not  call  for  any  viola- 


ing  to  Doct'r  Baldwin  who  waits  upon  you  with  this,  and  who  is  come  for  the  purpose  of 
procuring  suitable  accommodations  for  the  sick,  to  furnish  him  with  such  proper  accommo- 
dations as  Bethlehem  can  afford. 

By  order  of  the  Committee, 

Abraham  Berlin, 
To  the  Rev.  Nath.  Seidel,  Chairman. 

Bethlehem. 
To  the  Commiltec  of  the  Town  of  Bethlehem.^  or  others  whom,  it  may  Conicrn  : 
Gentlemen  : 

According  to  his  Excellency  General  Washington's  Orders,  the  General  Hospital 
of  the  Army  is  removed  to  Bethlehem,  and  you  will  do  the  greatest  act  of  humanity  by 
immediately  providing  proper  buildings  for  their  reception,  the  largest  and  most  capacious 
will  be  the  most  convenient.  I  doubt  not,  Gentlemen,  but  you  will  act  upon  this  occasion 
as  becomes  Men  and  Christians ;  Doct'r  Baldwin,  the  Gentleman  who  waits  upon  you  with 
this,  is  sent  upon  the  Business  of  Providing  proper  Accommodations  for  the  sick;  begging 
therefore  that  you  will  afford  him  all  possible  Assistance, 
I  am  Gentlemen, 

Your  most  obedient  humble  servant, 

Hanover  Gen'l  Hospit'I.  John  Warren, 

December  I,  1776.  GenU  HospiCl  Surg''n  and  P.  T.  Direct. 


17/2 1778.  453 

tion  of  scruples  about  bearing  arms  or  taking  oath,  and  appealed  to 
the  sentiments  of  humanity  in  a  way  regarded  as  quite  in  accordance 
with  their  professed  character  and  mission.  They  at  once  so  viewed 
it,  and  the  readiness  with  which  the  preparations  were  commenced 
for  receiving  the  hospital  in  the  Brethren's  House — in  every  way  the 
most  suitable  of  the  large  buildings — manifestly  gratified,  and  pos- 
sibly surprised  the  hospital  authorities.  Whereas,  at  first  the  intention 
had  been  to  bring  right  to  Bethlehem  the  entire  number  of  patients 
destined  for  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware — half  of  the  thousand  then 
in  the  Morristown  hospital — it  was  now  concluded  not  to  unduly 
burden  the  village  and  leave  the  neighboring  places,  which  had  also 
been  had  in  view  as  possible  sites,  undisturbed.  Therefore,  it  was 
decided  to  assign  to  Bethlehem,  for  the  time  being,  a  quota  of  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  and  to  quarter  the  rest  of  the  five  hundred,  to 
be  conveyed  across  the  Delaware,  at  Easton  and  x\llentown.  It 
appears  that  eventually  the  whole  number  brought  to  the  three 
places  was  less  than  five  hundred.  Doubtless  some  were  found  to 
be  beyond  the  possibility  of  removal  from  Morristown  and  others 
probably  succumbed  on  the  way,  for  two  died  in  the  wagons  after 
they  reached  Bethlehem,  before  they  could  be  carried  into  the  house. 
Several  dwelling-rooms  and  other  apartments  in  the  Brethren's 
House  had  been  vacated  and  gotten  into  readiness,  the  next  day, 
and  on  December  5,  the  wagons  began  to  arrive  with  their  freight  of 
poor,  suffering  men.  Yet  more  came  the  following  day.  Their  pitiable 
condition,  aggravated  by  the  cold  weather  and  the  hardships  of  the 
journey,  awakened  the  deepest  commiseration  at  Bethlehem,  and  all 
possible  effort  was  made  to  provide  them  with  the  first  necessary 
comforts.  The  stores  for  the  hospital  did  not  arrive  until  three  days 
after  the  first  patients  reached  the  place. 

While  the  hospital  was  being  established,  a  number  of  offtcers  and 
straggling  squads  of  militia  passed  through,  who  had  come  from 
Ticonderoga.  On  this  occasion  the  village  had  its  first  slight  exper- 
ience of  disorderly  conduct,  for  they  were  of  the  rougher  element, 
were  in  a  demoralized  and  reckless  mood  and  ready,  upon  the  slightest 
pretext,  to  create  tumult.  Ettwein  observes  that,  in  connection  with 
this  episode,  the  presence  of  the  army  hospital  with  the  body  of 
officers  and  escorts  attached,  proved,  at  the  very  beginning,  to  be  a 
safe-guard  for  Bethlehem,  making  amends  for  the  burden  its  presence 
occasioned. 

The  single  men  were  not  compelled  to  vacate  the  entire  building. 
Some  apartments  in  several  other  houses  had  to  be  fitted  up  for  the 


454  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,   PENNSYLVANIA. 

reception  of  special  cases ;  there  being  several  minor  officers  and  at 
least  one  commissioned  officer  among  the  suffering  caravan.  This 
was  Col.  Isaac  Reed,  of  the  Fourth  Virginia  Regiment,  who  had  sent 
a  surgeon  in  advance  of  his  arrival  to  secure  him  private  quarters, 
which  were  furnished  him  over  the  store  in  the  Horsfield  house. 
Word  was,  furthermore,  received  that  many  additional  sick  were  to 
be  brought  from  Trenton.  Some  of  these  arrived  on  the  afternoon 
of  December  8,  but  remained  on  the  south  side  of  the  river.  They 
were  temporarily  quartered  at  the  Crown  Inn,  or  one  of  the  near-by 
structures.  The  inn,  which,  in  the  financial  settlements  of  1771,  had 
become  the  property  of  the  Bethlehem  Diacony,  had  been  leased  to 
August  Henry  Francke,  a  member  of  the  Pezold  colony  of  1754,  who 
at  this  time  had  charge  of  it.  Two  of  these  unfortunate  men  died 
while  lying  there.  There  is  no  reference  to  their  interment,  and 
their  names  are  not  known.  Perhaps  they  were  added  to  those  whose 
remains  reposed  in  the  little  cemetery  of  the  south  side,  on  the  hill. 
The  previous  day,  December  7,  the  first  two  men  died  in  the  hospital. 
A  spot  was  selected  for  their  interment  on  the  bluff  across  the 
Monocacy,  back  of  the  Indian  House.  There,  subsequently,  hundreds 
of  graves  were  filled  by  the  bodies  of  unnumbered  and  unregistered 
patriot  dead. 

On  December  10,  Ettwein  commenced  the  duties  of  a  chaplain  in 
the  hospital,  by  official  arrangement,  in  addition  to  all  the  other  cares 
and  responsibilities  he  had  to  bear  which  were  onerous ;  Bishop  Seidel 
being  in  faiUng  health  and  incapable  of  vigorous  leadership,  and  the 
other  men  associated  with  him  in  the  pastorate  not  being  adapted 
to  the  extraordinary  duties  of  such  a  situation,  or  not  sufficiently 
conversant  with  English.  As  regularly  as  possible  he  made  semi- 
weekly  visits  to  all  the  wards,  praying  beside  the  rude  pallets  of 
suffering  and  dying  men,  comforting  the  hearts  of  those  who  were 
professors  of  Christian  faith,  pointing  those  who  were  not  to  the 
Friend  of  sinners,  and  statedly  preaching  sermons,  as  the  circum- 
stances permitted.  Now,  in  addition  to  the  turmoil  already  prevailing, 
the  panic  in  Philadelphia  was  causing  many  of  the  persons  who  had 
fled  from  the  city  to  make  their  way  to  Bethlehem,  as  others  from 
New  York  and  the  adjacent  parts  had  been  doing;  while  various 
officers  and  the  wives  and  children  of  others  arrived.  Among  these 
was  the  family  of  Dr.  Shippen,  whose  little  son,  William  Lee,  died  at 
Bethlehem  and  was  buried  in  the  cemetery  of  the  place.  Among 
those  who  arrived  on  December  15,  was  General  Horatio  Gates,  then 


1772 1778-  455 

the  ranking  Division  Commander  under  Washington.  His  presence 
was  of  value  to  Bethlehem  during  the  following  days  of  great 
confusion  and  even  of  peril  at  one  time,  from  the  danger  of  a  stampede 
upon  the  place  by  a  great  horde  of  impetuous  and  crude  soldiery. 
About  noon,  on  December  17,  word  came  that  General  John  Sullivan 
with  several  thousand  troops  was  on  the  march  towards  Bethlehem 
and  desired  to  have  a  supply  of  bread  baked  for  his  men.  With  the 
resources  of  the  place  already  taxed  as  they  were,  this  was  not 
possible.  General  Gates  sent  an  Adjutant  to  meet  them  and  tell  them 
to  cross  the  river  and  camp  in  the  Saucon  Valley.  This  was  not 
heeded,  perhaps  by  reason  of  conflict  of  authority  and  some  official 
jealousy  between  Gates  and  Sullivan  at  that  time.  In  the  evening 
three  or  four  thousand  of  these  troops  camped  near  Bethlehem,  but 
beyond  burning  up  nearly  all  the  fencing  on  both  sides  of  the  river 
to  keep  warm  on  that  cold  night,  and  foraging  for  hay,  they  made  no 
inroads  upon  the  property  of  the  place,  and  the  next  day  they 
marched  on.  General  Gates  took  various  precautions  to  obviate  dis- 
turbances that  night.  Among  other  things,  he  posted  guards  at  all 
the  doors  of  the  Sisters'  House.  There  were  reasons  for  such  meas- 
ures. The  main  body  of  these  men  were  those  who  had  before  been 
under  command  of  that  unprincipled  military  rufifian.  General  Charles 
Lee,  of  questionable  fame,  who  had  lately  had  himself  captured  by 
the  British,  and  whose  command  had  been  turned  over  to  a  more 
worthy  successor  in  General  Sullivan.  Lee  had  made  rough  boasts 
of  what  he  wovtld  have  his  men  do  to  the  Tory  town  of  Bethlehem, 
and  had  even  made  a  wicked  allusion  to  the  Sisters'  House  as  a 
special  attraction,  thus  fostering  among  the  troops  not  only  entirely 
erroneous  ideas  about  the  place,  but  even  base  designs  upon  it. 
Instead  of  all  this,  the  men,  under  another  General,  left  everything 
untouched,  beyond — as  stated — burning  the  fences  around  them 
while  in  camp,  with  no  kind  of  shelter,  and  appropriating  some  food 
for  the  horses,  neither  of  which  things  were  censurable  under  the 
circumstances  of  war.  Their  commander,  accompanied  by  thirty 
other  ofificers,  instead  of  rioting  at  the  place,  spent  part  of  the  even- 
ing sitting  quietly  in  the  church,  listening  to  sacred  music. 

Among  men  of  high  rank  in  Bethlehem  at  this  time  the  records 
mention,  besides  the  names  of  Gates  and  Sullivan,  those  of  Arnold, 
Glover  and  Sterling.  The  Sun  Inn  was  crowded  with  ofificers  that 
night,  December  17,  1776.  Twelve  were  lodged  in  the  old  Community 
House,  which  had  become  the  Clergy  House  of  the  place,  for.  with 


456  A    HISTORY    OF   BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

the  exception  of  several  rooms,  all  of  its  apartments  were  now  occu- 
pied by  the  families  of  ministers  employed  in  various  capacities. 
Ettv/ein  records  that  between  five  and  six  hundred  men  of  the  army 
and  connected  with  the  hospital  were  under  roof  in  Bethlehem  that 
night,  besides  the  thousands  of  troops  bivouacking"  in  the  near-by 
fields.  General  Gates  left  with  the  troops  he  had  under  command 
on  December  19,  but  the  next  evening  a  company  of  about  a  hundred 
and  fifty  arrived  from  Albany  and  spent  the  night.  They  left  the 
next  da}-. 

Gradually  the  condition  of  Bethlehem  became  more  quiet  again 
lor  a  season.  Christmas  Eve  services  were  held  as  usual  and  nearly 
the  entire  hospital  staff  was  present.  Dr.  Shippen  and  most  of  the 
surgeons  left  for  the  army  on  Christmas  Day,  in  response  to  a  sum- 
mons from  headquarters.  Dr.  John  Morgan,  another  prominent 
hospital  physician,  with  several  others,  went  away  to  New  England 
soon  after  New  Year.  Dr.  James  Houston,  whom  Ettwein  praises 
as  the  most  skillful  and  attentive  of  the  whole  staff,  remained,  with 
several  assistants,  until  the  middle  of  March.  During  those  weeks 
the  regular  round  of  services  was  maintained  through  all  the  turmoil 
with  but  few  interruptions,  showing  the  determination  of  the  people 
not  to  give  way  to  demoralizing  influences  if  possible.  On  New 
Year  Eve  they  gathered  c^uietly  at  ten  o'clock  to  hear  the  memora- 
bilia of  the  year,  according  to  custom,  and  even  held  the  usual  vigils 
at  midnight  without  any  unseemly  interruption. 

During  those  exciting  weeks,  carpenters  and  laborers  of  the  place 
were  busily  employed  in  making  coffins  and  digging  graves  on  the 
hill  across  the  Monocacy ;  for  disease,  with  the  effects  of  exposure 
and  hardship,  was  working  sad  havoc  among  the  sufferers  in  the  hos- 
pital. According  to  the  cotmt  kept  by  Ettwein,  sixty-two  died  dur- 
ing December,  and  when  the  last  inmates  were  removed  on  March 
27>  ^777^  ^nd  the  hospital  was  closed,  the  number  had  reached  a  hun- 
dred and  ten.  They  were  all  buried  at  that  place.  Besides  this  work 
that  was  done  gratuitously  by  the  workmen  of  Bethlehem,  certain  of 
the  single  men  who  continued  to  occupy  quarters  in  a  part  of  their 
house  voluntarily  lent  much  assistance  to  the  hospital  stewards,  in 
their  unpleasant  and  trying  duties,  with  the  desire  to  help  alleviate 
the  misery  of  the  patients  as  much  as  possible.  On  one  day,  Sunday, 
December  22,  five  deaths  occurred.  Among  the  men  in  that  long 
list  of  the  Nation's  unnamed  martyrs,  three  are  referred  to  by  Ettwein 
as  special  objects  of  his  solicitous  attention  near  the  close  of  Decem- 


1772 1778-  457 

ber.  Their  names  were  Preuss,  a  Tyrolese ;  Nathaniel  McNee  and 
Thomas  Powell. 

During  the  first  three  months  of  1777,  Bethlehem  was  several 
times  in  quite  serious  danger  from  undisciplined  and  lawless  militia 
who  had  been  stirred  up  against  the  place  by  the  agitation  of  embit- 
tered men  and  the  wild  stories  set  afloat,  which  in  such  times  found 
ready  credence  among  excited  people  who  were  not  in  a  position  to 
know"  the  facts  of  the  case.  During  those  months,  the  guard  of 
upwards  of  a  hundred  men  left  at  the  place  while  it  was  occupied  by 
the  Continental  Hospital,  having  their  barracks  near  the  saw-mill, 
on  the  Sand  Island,  were  of  great  value  as  its  protectors  against 
depredation  and  its  defenders  against  calumny.  They  were  disci- 
plined and  trustworthy  men  and  had  learned  to  know  the  principles, 
motives  and  character  of  the  Bethlehem  people.  Grateful  acknowl- 
edgement of  their  services  in  this  respect  is  made  in  the  records.  It 
is  not  much  to  the  credit  of  some  of  the  people  who,  during  the 
Indian  war,  had  made  Bethlehem  their  place  of  refuge,  when  they 
were  panic-stricken,  and  had  experienced  treatment  as  kind  as  if  they 
had  never  been  anything  but  friends,  that  instead  of  remembering 
that  and  having  better  feelings  towards  the  Moravians  than  they  had 
been  cherishing  before  that,  they  were  now,  with  their  boys,  who 
had  grown  up  to  be  men.  principally  the  people  who  fostered  this 
vindictive  spirit  wherever  their  influence  extended.  From  the  town- 
ships to  the  west  of  Bethlehem  the  militia  who  planned  those  preda- 
tory sallies  upon  Bethlehem  mainly  hailed. 

The  latter  part  of  February,  1777.  a  new  experience  came,  when  a 
large  quantity  of  continental  stores  were  brought  to  Bethlehem  for 
temporary  deposit  under  guard.  This  was  thought  by  some,  at  first, 
to  increase  the  danger  of  the  place ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  it  enhanced 
its  importance  as  a  point  to  be  protected  by  both  civil  and  military 
authorities.  At  the  same  time,  however,  small-pox  broke  out  among 
the  soldiers,  and  a  general  inoculation  took  place  among  them  and 
among  the  children  of  Bethlehem.  During  April  and  j\Iay,  various 
prominent  officers  again  visited  the  town,  and  on  May  9,  Lady  Wash- 
ington was  expected  at  the  place  by  a  mounted  guard  sent  to  escort 
her  to  Philadelphia,  but  she  had  pursued  her  journey  down  the  coun- 
try from  the  Delaware  by  another  road  and  did  not,  on  this  occasion, 
pass  Bethlehem.  During  the  spring,  the  names  of  Generals  John 
Armstrong.  Philip  Schuyler  and  Joseph  Reed  appear  in  the  records, 
as  visitors  who  had  not  before  been  at  the  place,  and  on  June  25, 


45  B  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

General  Thomas  Mifflin,  who  in  1790  became  the  first  Governor  of 
Pennsylvania  under  the  constitution,  arrived  to  make  better  provi- 
sion for  guarding  the  continental  stores,  and  to  establish  arrange- 
ments for  the  arrest  of  deserters  from  the  army  who  ventured  into 
the  neighborhood.  Quartermaster  Robert  Lettis  Hooper,  now  on 
duty  in  Northampton  County,  received  these  orders  at  Bethlehem. 
The  latter  had  caused  a  slight  panic  on  May  12,  by  the  statement  that 
Bethlehem  was  listed  as  one  of  the  interior  points  of  rendezvous  for 
the  Continental  Army,  in  the  event  of  repulse  and  retreat.  On 
July  25,  consternation  was  produced  by  the  announcement  that  the 
army  was  really  in  motion  towards  the  neighborhood,  and  a  demand 
for  all  available  boats  and  wagons  at  Easton  was  sent  through  the 
country.  But  three  days  later  it  was  learned  that  its  crossing-place 
was  farther  down  the  Delaware.  Before  this  call  for  boats  and 
wagons,  already  the  middle  of  May,  there  had  been  a  collection  of 
blankets  for  the  army.  The  quota  to  be  furnished  by  Northampton 
Cotmty  was  167.  Bethlehem  supplied  27  of  these,  a  number  declared 
satisfactory  by  the  Commissioners ;  and  they  were  gotten  without 
the  necessity  of  any  search  or  compulsion,  such  as  was  required  in 
some  other  parts  of  the  county. 

During  the  summer  of  1777,  members  of  Congress  from  the 
New  England  States,  on  their  way  to  Philadelphia,  visited  Bethlehem 
and  looked  about  the  place  with  much  interest,  for  it  had  acquired 
associations  in  connection  with  the  experiences  of  the  preceding  year 
that  made  it  an  object  of  curiosity  to  many  public  men  who  before 
had  given  it  no  thought.  One  interesting  person  who  appears  upon 
the  scene  at  this  time  is  the  loyalist  soldier-preacher.  Captain  Thomas 
Webb,  often  styled  "the  Father  of  Methodism  in  America."  He 
came  to  Bethlehem  from  Philadelphia  on  May  31,  1777.  as  a  pris- 
oner of  war  on  parole,  with  his  family  of  seven  persons.  His  per- 
mit restricted  him  to  a  radius  of  six  miles  about  Bethlehem.  He 
remained  until  February  22  and  his  wife  until  August  12,  1778.  They 
were  given  quarters  in  "Lindemeyer's  rooms"  and  when  these  were 
demanded  in  September  for  quartering  officers  among  the  British 
prisoners  of  war,  they  moved  into  the  "William  Boehler  house. "^ 
During  the  months  of  his  sojourn  he  occasionally  preached  to  pris- 
oners and  every  Sunday  at  the  house  of  the  Widow  Cruickshank,  on 
the  south  side  of  the  river.  He  also  officiated  at  her  funeral  on 
November  26.  A  sojourner  to  whom  the  Bethlehem  people  had 
become  personally  attached  was  the  brave  and  patient  sufiferer  CoL 


1772 1778-  459 

Isaac  Reed,  of  Virginia,  who,  as  already  stated,  had  arrived  with  the 
hospital  caravan  in  December,  and  been  given  a  room  "over  the 
store."  On  June  22,  he  was  carried  by  some  Bethlehem  men  down 
to  the  ferry  and,  accompanied  by  two  of  them  and  his  physician.  Dr. 
Alexander  Skinner,  and  Mr.  Sutton,  paymaster,  was  conveyed  in  a 
sedan  chair  to  Philadelphia.  His  death  there,  on  August  21,  is 
referred  to  in  the  Bethlehem  diary.  He  was  of  much  service  at 
Bethlehem  through  his  counsel  and  influence  with  guards  and  offi- 
cers of  militia  companies,  in  preventing  both  inadvertent  disorder 
and  wilful  annoyance. 

During  the  summer  of  1777,  the  hardships  of  the  Test  Act  began 
again  to  press  heavily  upon  the  Moravians,  as  upon  so  many  others 
in  Pennsylvania  who  declined  to  take  the  oath.  The  Congress,  in 
June,  made  the  demand  more  stringent  than  before.  This  had 
become  a  stern  necessity,  for  the  obstacles  put  in  the  way  of  the 
patriot  cause  by  the  machinations  of  its  open  and  secret  enemies 
were  felt  keenly.  Many  members  of  Congress,  even  some  of  those 
who  favored  the  most  drastic  measures  with  such  persons,  would, 
as  they  repeatedly  declared,  have  gladly  so  discriminated  as  to  spare 
people  like  those  of  the  Moravian  settlements — from  whom  they 
were  convinced  no  danger  was  to  be  feared — from  feeling  its  rigors. 
But  it  was  not  possible  to  pass  different  acts  for  different  classes  of 
people  who  had  not  abjured  the  King  and  taken  the  oath  of  allegi- 
ance to  the  United  States ;  and  even  if  this  had  been  possible,  it 
would  not  have  been  feasible,  as  was  pointed  out,  on  account  of  the 
fierce  resentment  it  would  have  aroused  in  some  quarters,  as  among 
those  in  Northampton  County  who  really  wished  to  see  the  Mora- 
vians at  Bethlehem,  more  than  any  other  class  or  kind  of  non-Asso- 
ciators,  feel  its  weight,  and  who  now  took  advantage  of  the  new  Act 
to  institute  a  process  of  petty  hounding  and  harrying,  more  relent- 
less than  before.  It  far  exceeded  anything  such  persons  had  engaged 
in  during  the  crusade  against  the  Indian  missions,  for  more  was  now 
possible  and  more  would  be  publicly  condoned.  The  Act,  as  it  now 
stood,  left  them  with  practically  no  protection  or  redress  at  law,  and 
with  nothing  to  fall  back  upon  but  such  measure  of  good  will  as  they 
might  enjoy  and  the  overruling  Providence  of  God.  Under  these 
circumstances,  when  the  darkest  time  of  the  Revolution  drew  on, 
towards  the  close  of  1777,  the  presence  of  disciplined  and  trustworthy 
soldiers  on  duty  at  the  place  became,  instead  of  a  hardship,  their  best 
human  safeguard. 


460  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Whether  the  Brethren  were  justified  in  thus  standing  so  stoutly 
by  their  principles  and  scruples  in  this  matter  and  endeavoring  to 
hold  all  who  might  have  yielded,  together  on  this  ground,  may  well 
be  questioned ;  for  the  time  was  past  when  further  loyalty  to  the  King 
could  fairly  have  been  regarded  as  a  religious  duty,  and  the  provision 
that  affirmation  might  take  the  place  of  an  oath,  in  formally  trans- 
ferring allegiance,  removed  the  scruple  about  taking  oath.  That 
under  the  increasing  tension  and  the  exasperating  struggle  against 
Tory  intrigues,  becoming  almost  desperate,  so  many  who  were  in 
the  thick  of  the  fight  or  laboring  under  the  tremendous  responsibili- 
ties of  the  time  continued  to  have  unshaken  confidence  in  them  and 
to  view  their  attitude  leniently,  is  remarkable.  That  some  leading 
men  in  the  coimty  who  respected  them  and  had  been  personally  their 
friends,  began  to  lose  patience  and  make  less  effort  to  restrain  the 
hot-headed  zealots  and  the  rabble,  is  not  surprising.  Many  Mora- 
vians at  other  places  took  the  test  and  remained  just  as  good  people 
as  they  were  before.  In  view  of  all  this,  it  is  a  matter  of  astonish- 
ment that  they  passed  through  the  ordeal  unscathed,  beyond  the 
frightful  bleeding  to  which  they  were  unmercifully  subjected  in  the 
matter  of  militia  fines.  It  stands  as  a  notable  instance  of  how  inno- 
cence of  evil  intent  and  sincerity  of  motive  are  often  taken  care  of 
by  the  unseen  hand. 

As  the  autumn  of  1777  drew  on,  Bethlehem  again  began  to  feel 
the  effects  of  a  new  excitement  and  apprehension.  Early  in  August, 
Philadelphia  was  in  a  panic  in  consequence  of  the  movements  of  the 
British  fleet,  off  the  Capes  of  the  Delaware.  On  August  4,  came  an 
impressment  of  wagons — two  hundred  from  the  county,  of  which 
number  four  were  taken  from  Bethlehem — to  convey  women  and 
children  from  the  city.  A  week  later  it  is  noted  that  a1)out  three 
thousand  wagons  had  been  collected  there.  Those  from  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Bethlehem  were  returned,  August  12.  As  an  instance  of 
the  price  to  which  some  indispensable  commodities  had  risen,  with 
the  continental  currency  steadily  depreciating,  it  is  noted  that  a 
bushel  of  salt  cost  at  this  time  $22.  One  of  the  Bethlehem  wagons 
brought  along  a  supply  purchased  at  this  price.  Frederick  Beitel, 
the  wagon-master  at  Bethlehem,  was,  at  this  time,  continually  on 
the  road  in  the  continental  service  and  participating  in  the  turmoil 
of  travel  and  transportation.  Now  it  was  to  transport  sick  officers, 
then  official  baggage  or  continental  stores,  and  again  British  pris- 
oners of  rank,  that  he  was  called  out  for. 


1772 ^77^-  4^1 

On  August  23,  General  Nathaniel  Green  and  General  Henry 
Knox,  who  with  some  other  officers  had  ridden  into  Bethlehem  to 
enjoy  a  few  hours  of  quiet,  were  hastily  summoned  by  an  express 
to  return  to  camp,  for  the  British  were  landing  south  of  Philadel- 
phia. Two  days  after  this  sensation,  twenty  British  officers  passed 
through  from  Reading  as  prisoners  of  war,  and  on  September  2, 
before  daylight,  a  messenger  brought  the  announcement  from  there 
that,  by  order  of  the  Board  of  War,  260  British  prisoners  were  to 
be  brought  to  Bethlehem  to  be  kept  here  under  a  strong  guard. 
Late  in  the  afternoon  came  Quartermaster  Hooper,  Sheriff  Jennings 
and  County  Lieutenants  Wetzel  and  Deshler  to  select  quarters  for 
them.  These  County  Lieutenants  were  supposed  to  have  been 
instrumental  in  bringing  this  upon  the  place,  as  a  kind  of  grim  irony, 
giving  the  Moravians  some  of  the  King's  troops  as  guests.  Wetzel 
in  particular — himself  once  a  member  of  the  Moravian  Church,  grad- 
uated from  that  early  school  for  naughty  boys  in  the  Long  Swamp 
and  then  on  the  south  side  at  Bethlehem — was  the  most  relentless  in 
harassing  the  Moravians.  He  was  a  man  of  surly  and  dogged  dispo- 
sition and,  moreover,  like  several  of  the  neighboring  squires 
appointed  by  the  new  Assembly,  such  as  Morey  and  Hartman,  who 
were  also  particularly  diligent  in  over-officiously  worrying  Bethlehem 
about  the  test  oath,  was  greatly  exalted  by  a  sense  of  the  authority 
with  which  he  was  dressed.  The  next  day,  the  oft-mentioned  large 
stone  house — former  "Ansfalt,"  now  "Family  House" — was  selected. 
Protests  availing  nothing,  an  appeal  was  sent  by  express  to  the 
Board  of  W^ar  at  Philadelphia.  The  answer  received  three  days  later 
left  nothing  to  do  but  to  make  the  best  of  it.^  The  water  works 
became  barracks  for  the  guard.  Three  families  had  to  vacate  their 
apartments  in  the  large  house ;  the  Administrator,  deSchweinitz,  who 
moved  into  the  old  Community  House  with  the  other  clergy ;  Cap- 
tain Webb,  who  was  occupying  the  Rev.  Henry  Lindemeyer's  rooms. 

War  Office,  September  5,  1777. 
8  Gentlemen  : 

The  Board  have  received  a  representation  from  you  in  behalf  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Bethlehem.  They  are  extremely  sorry  that  any  inconvenience  should  arise  from  the  execu- 
tion of  an  order  of  theirs  relative  to  the  prisoners  to  be  stationed  al  Bethlehem.  But  the 
necessity  of  the  case  requires  the  measure,  and  the  good  people  of  your  town  must  endeavor 
to  reconcile  the  matter  as  well  as  they  can.  If  the  guards  or  persons  employed  deport  them- 
selves improperly,  any  grievance  the  inhabitants  comjilain  of  on  this  account  will  be  im- 
mediately redressed  ;  and  as  soon  as  circumstances  will  admit,  the  prisoners  will  be  removed. 

Richard  Peters, 

Secf-efar}'. 


462  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

into  William  Boehler's  house,  as  already  stated,  on  the  present  Mar- 
ket Street,  between  the  store  and  the  present  Main  Street,  and  old 
Thomas  Bartow,  who,  like  many  others,  had  moved  to  Bethlehem 
for  rest  some  time  before,  took  the  room  over  the  store,  lately 
vacated  by  Col.  Reed.  On  Sunday,  September  7,  at  noon,  218  of 
these  prisoners,  consisting  largely  of  Highlanders,  arrived.  The 
scene  betw^een  the  Brethren's  House  and  the  Sun  Inn  was  one  of 
turmoil,  with  a  constant  din  on  that  Sunday  afternoon,  as  the  records 
state,  while  much  apprehension  was  caused  by  the  sound  of  distant 
cannonading  at  the  same  time. 

Four  days  later,  came  the  collision  on  the  Brandywine  Creek, 
which  resulted  adversely  to  the  patriot  forces.  On  the  evening  of 
the  13th,  the  report  came  to  Bethlehem  that  General  Washington 
had  to  fall  back  upon  Philadelphia.  On  the  i6th.  Major  General 
Baron  John  de  Kalb,  while  considering  the  flattering  proposition  of 
the  Congress,  in  reference  to  which  he  had  misgivings  on  the  ground 
of  possible  slight  to  his  chivalrous  and  brilliant  friend,  the  young 
Marquis  de  La  Fayette,  with  whom  he  had  come  over  to  aid  the 
American  cause,  visited  Bethlehem.  While  here,  examining  the 
institutions  of  the  place,  he  wrote  a  letter  on  September  18,  in  refer- 
ence to  his  position,  to  Richard  Henry  Lee,  which  reveals  his  high- 
minded  and  honorable  sentiments.^  He  was  accompanied  to  Beth- 
lehem by  three  French  officers.  On  the  same  day  John  Okely,  who 
served  for  a  while  as  an  Assistant  Commissary  in  Northampton 
County,  received  an  official  letter  from  David  Rittenhouse,  member 
of  the  Board  of  War  and  State  Treasurer,  communicating  the  instruc- 
tions of  General  Washington  to  transfer  the  military  stores  to  Beth- 
lehem. With  this  message,  thirty-six  wagons  arrived  from  French 
Creek,  laden  with  such  stores.  They  were  followed  the  next  day  by 
thirty-eight  wagons.  These  supplies  were  deposited  at  the  lime 
kilns  near  the  Monocacy,  a  little  to  the  north  of  the  town,  under  a 
guard  of  forty  troops.  September  i8th,  a  continual  train  of  army 
wagons  came  into  the  place.  A  troop  of  raw  and  unruly  militia  came 
from  Easton.  bringing  some  Tories  who  had  been  arrested.  Their 
character,  the  nature  of  their  errand  and  the  general  confusion  led 

9  This  letter  from  Bethlehem,  preserved  in  the  Dreer  collection,  was  first  published  in 
1890,  by  Dr.  J.  G.  Rosengarten  in  The  German  Soldier  in  the  Wars  of  the  United  States. 
Baron  de  Kalb  fell  in  battle  for  the  American  cause  in  August,  1780.  His  presence,  as  an 
aid  to  the  Revolutionary  movement,  seems  to  have  particularly  attracted  the  thoughtful 
attention  of  Ettwein.  He,  like  von  Steuben,  Pulaski,  and  others  of  that  notable  group  of 
foreign  officers,  manifested  special  interest  in  Bethlehem. 


1772 1778.  463 

them    to    indulge    in    unrestrained    boisterousness,    shooting    in    all 
directions,  and  causing  general  uneasiness. 

On  the  19th,  other  wagons  arrived,  bringing  more  dangerous 
freight — quantities  of  ammunition  and  material  for  the  preparation 
of  more — which  was  temporarily  unloaded  near  the  oil-mill.  In  the 
great  variety  of  things  transported  from  Philadelphia  dviring  those 
days  were  the  bells  of  Christ  Church,  other  church  bells,  and 
especially  the  now  so  sacredly  historic  State  House  bell  that  had 
pealed  forth  the  announcement  of  independence.  These — at  least 
some  of  them — were  conveyed,  September  24,  to  Allentown  and 
secreted  in  the  cellar  of  Zion's  Church.  Somewhere,  towards  the 
descent  to  the  mill,  in  the  large  open  space  in  front  of  the  Brethren's 
House,  then  spoken  of  as  "der  Plats"  or  the  Square,^*'  the  wagon 
conveying  the  "Independence  Bell"  broke  down  and  this  piece  of 
freight,  then  already  considered  precious  on  account  of  its  associa- 
tions, had  to  be  unloaded  for  a  while.^^ 

10  Its  boundaries  were  the  house  of  the  Single  Brethren,  now  the  middle  building  of 
the  Young  Ladies'  Seminary,  the  line  of  the  water-tower  house,  where  the  Moravian 
Church  now  stands,  the  apothecary's  house  and  shop,  now  Simon  Rau  &  Co.,  and  the  large 
stone  Family  House  above  it ;  the  line  of  the  stabling  to  the  north,  where  now  the  Eagle 
Hotel  stands,  and  to  the  west  the  row  of  industrial  establishments,  where  the  present  row 
of  buildings  on  Main  Street,  west  side,  extends  from  the  hotel  down  to  the  Seminary  corner. 

"  The  "Liberty  Bell,"  visited  Allentown  November  3,  1893,  on  its  return  from  the  World's 
Columbian  Exposition  at  Chicago,  was  honored  by  a  patriotic  demonstration  and  permitted 
to  remain  over  night  in  remembrance  of  its  sojourn  there,  as  commonly  supposed,  during 
the  darkest  days  of  the  Revolution.  The  next  day  it  was  viewed  and  cheered  by  a  throng 
in  the  rain  at  the  railway  station  at  Bethlehem,  whence  it  was  taken  back  to  Philadelphia. 
The  fortunes  of  war,  which  in  September,  1777,  brought  these  Philadelphia  bells  to  the 
square  in  front  of  the  Brethren's  House  of  Bethlehem,  at  the  same  time  terminated  the 
history  of  a  bell-foundery  in  the  cellar  of  that  house,  when  they  converted  it,  the  second 
time,  into  a  military  hospital.  Matthias  Tommerup,  brazier  and  bell-founder,  mentioned  in 
a  previous  chapter,  a  native  of  Holstebroe  in  Jutland,  Denmark,  who  came  to  Bethlehem  in 
1761,  established  his  handicraft  in  the  basement  of  the  house  in  which  he  and  his  fellow 
bachelors  lived  and  wrought.  His  first  product  was  probably  the  small  prayer  and  refectory 
bell  of  the  house,  with,  perhaps  soon  after  that,  April  5,  1762,  a  heavier  cast,  a  bell  for 
Bethabara,  the  first  Moravian  settlement  in  North  Carolina.  The  Widows'  House  was 
furnished  with  a  small  bell  similar  to  the  first.  July  29,  1768,  he  cast  a  more  pretentious 
bell  of  236  pounds  for  the  Easton  Court  House.  Then,  in  1769,  he  turned  out  another, 
which,  for  many  years,  was  the  Allentown  Academy  bell.  It  bore  the  legend  :  "  MaU. 
Tommerup,  Bethlehem,  fuer  Leon.  Harbatel  n.  Salo?ne  Berlin,  176^.''^  It  seems  to  have 
been  first  used  on  Zion's  Church.  Perhaps  those  persons  were  the  donors.  The  bell  is  now 
in  possession  of  Mr.  Joseph  Ruhe,  of  Allentown,  who  purchased  the  old  Academy  property, 
and  whose  residence,  north-west  corner  of  Eighth  and  Walnut  Streets,  occupies  its  site. 
Tommerup's  last  bell,  doubtless — he  moved  to  Christiansbrunn,  September,  1777,  and  died 


464  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

But  more  important  and  productive  of  more  consequences  than 
any  of  these  arrivals  was  a  letter^-  from  the  Director  General  of  the 
Continental  Hospitals  brought  to  Ettwein  by  Dr.  Hall  Jackson  on 
the  evening  of  September  19,  1777.  A  second  time  Bethlehem  had  to 
furnish  hospital  accommodations,  and  for  a  much  longer  period,  with 
far  more  of  misery  and  havoc  than  the  first  time.  Steps  were  imme- 
diately taken  to  put  the  Brethren's  House,  and  this  time  the  whole 
of  it,  at  the  disposal  of  the  hospital  authorities.  The  awful  situation 
of  the  time  was  recognized  as  one  that  called  for  unhesitating 
co-operation  in  every  effort  to  mitigate  the  distress  of  the  suffering. 
The  next  day,  September  20,  the  single  men  vacated  their  house. 
Some  of  them  were  given  quarters  in  various  dwelling  houses  of  the 
village,  others  removed  to  the  Brethren's  House  at  Christiansbrunn 
and  to  Nazareth.  Meanwhile,  one  caravan  after  another  of  soldiers 
came  streaming  into  the  place,  in  consequence  of  the  exodus  from 
Philadelphia,  when  it  was  clear  that  it  would  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
British,  and  Bethlehem  became  a  scene  of  wild  confusion,  as  never 
before.  Dr.  William  Brown,  of  the  hospital  stafif,  arrived  on  that 
day  and  inspected  the  building  turned  over  for  their  use. 

there,  February  22,  1778 — was  a  recast,  July  26,  1776,  a  little  more  than  a  month  before  the 
first  hospital  invasion — after  two  unsuccessful  attempts,  and  after  overcoming  the  difficulty 
with  the  old  and  added  new  metal  by  throwing  in  some  silver — of  the  largest  of  the  three 
bells  cast  in  1746  by  Samuel  Powell  and  hung  in  the  little  bell  turret  of  the,  at  present,  so- 
called  Bell  House  on  Church  Street.  In  the  recasting,  its  weight  was  increased  from  116 
to  228  pounds.  That  historic  bell,  distinguished  through  all  the  years  by  having  a  succession 
of  women  as  its  ringers,  hangs  there  yet,  its  tones,  so  familiar  to  six  generations  of  Bethle- 
hemites,  yet  calling  children  to  school  and  telling  the  organist  when  to  begin  playing  at  the 
evening  services  in  the  adjoining  Old  Chapel.  Its  long  service  as  "quarter  bell,"  11.45 
a.m.,  to  cheer  the  laborer  by  daily  announcing  "  dinner  soon,"  ceased  in  March,  187 1. 

12  My  D'r  Sir  : 

It  gives  me  pain  to  be  obliged  by  order  of  Congress  to  send  my  sick  and  wounded 
Soldiers  to  your  peaceable  village — but  so  it  is.  Your  large  buildings  must  be  appropriated 
to  their  use.  We  will  want  room  for  2000  at  Bethlehem,  Easton,  Northampton  (AUentown), 
etc.,  and  you  may  expect  them  on  Saturday  or  Sunday.  I  send  Dr.  Jackson  before  them 
that  you  may  have  time  to  order  your  affairs  in  the  best  manner.  These  are  dreadful  times, 
consequences  of  unnatural  wars.  I  am  truly  concerned  for  your  Society  and  wish  sincerely 
this  stroke  could  be  averted,  but  'tis  impossible.  I  beg  Mr.  Hasse's  assistance  —  love  and 
compliments  to  all  friends  from,  my  d'r  Sir, 

Your  affectionate 

humble  Serv't 
Trenton  Sep.  18,  1777.  W.  Shippen, 

D.  G. 
John  Christian  Hasse  referred  to  in  the   letter  was  accountant,  scrivener  and  Notary 
Public  at  Bethlehem. 


1772 1778-  465 

Four  members  of  Congress  came  in  the  evening,  Richard  Henry 
Lee,  Benjamin  Harrison,  Cornehus  Harnett  and  WilHam  Duer.  The 
next  day,  Sunday,  the  21st,  Henry  Laurens  arrived,  who  in  Novem- 
ber following  became  President  of  Congress.  His  favorable  dispo- 
sition towards  the  Moravian  settlements  and  his  relations  of  intimate 
personal  friendship  with  Ettwein,  proved  of  inestimable  value  to 
Bethlehem  and  to  the  interests  of  the  Brethren  generally.  On  that 
day  and  the  next  came  other  Congressmen,  John  Hancock,  Samuel 
and  John  Adams,  Nathan  Brownson,  James  Duane,  Eliphalet  Dyer, 
Nathaniel  Folsom,  Joseph  Jones,  Richard  Law,  Henry  Marchant 
and  William  Williams.  General  William  Woodford,  who  became  a 
particular  friend  of  the  Moravians,  and  General  John  Armstrong  are 
also  mentioned  as  arriving  on  that  day.  Another  came,  to  whose 
personality  and  sojourn  at  Bethlehem  a  special  interest  and  some- 
what of  romance  attached.  This  was  the  brave  and  gallant  young 
French  nobleman,  the  Marquis  de  La  Fayette,  whose  devotion  of 
himself  and  his  fortune  to  the  cause  of  American  freedom  remains 
one  of  the  finest  features  of  the  sublime  struggle.  Wounded  in  the 
bloody  conflict  at  Brandywine,  which  sent  such  a  ghastly  train  to 
Bethlehem,  he  came  with  a  suite  of  French  ofBcers  to  seek  medical 
care  at  this  place.  From  the  Sun  Inn  he  was  taken  to  the  neighbor- 
ing house  of  George  Frederick  Boeckel,^''  superintendent  of  the 
Bethlehem  farm.  There  he  was  attentively  nursed  by  Boeckel's 
wife  Barbara  and  daughter  Liesel,  and  pretty  little  stories  with  varia- 
tions, connected  with  his  sojourn  under  that  roof,  were  current 
among  the  local  traditions  many  years  afterward.  While  at  Beth- 
lehem, he  occupied  some  of  the  tedious  hours  in  reading  Cranz's  His- 
tory of  Greenland  and  the  Moravian  missions  in  that  country,  in 
which  he  became  much  interested.     He  remained  until  October  18. 

The  wounded  soldiers  began  to  arrive  on  September  21,  and,  day 
after  day,  they  came,  besides  many  sick,  until  when,  on  October  22, 
a  final  train  of  wagons  arrived  with  their  loads  of  groaning  sufferers, 
they  had  to  be  sent  to  Easton.  The  surgeons  refused  to  receive  any 
more.  There  were  then  over  four  hundred  in  the  Brethren's  House 
and  fifty  in  tents  in  the  rear  of  it,  besides  numerous  sick  officers  in 
other  buildings.  At  first  it  was  proposed  by  the  surgeons  to  have 
the  Widows'  House  or  a  part  of  the  Sisters'  House  also  devoted  to 
hospital  uses  when  the  building  they  were  occupying  became 
crowded.     Then  the  presence  of  the  members  of  Congress  proved 


13  The  site  of  the  present  confectionery  of  John  F.  Rauch,  on  Main  Street. 
31 


466 


A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 


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1772 ^77'^-  467 

to  be  the  means  of  averting  what  would  have  been  a  far  greater  hard- 
ship than  the  vacating  of  the  Brethren's  House.  After  inspecting 
these  buildings,  examining  into  their  arrangements  and  getting  an 
insight  into  all  that  would  be  involved  in  appropriating  them  to 
such  use,  as  this  was  earnestly  represented  to  them  by  Ettwein,  they 
consulted  together  when  they  returned  to  the  inn,  and  issued  an 
order^*  which  set  this  critical  question  at  rest  and  removed  all  danger 
of  such  seizure  from  those  buildings.  The  members  of  Congress 
were  so  much  pleased  with  Bethlehem  that  they  seriously  considered 
the  idea  of  establishing  their  quarters  at  the  place,  under  the  circum- 
stances that  had  arisen.  This  was  not  regarded  with  much  satisfac- 
tion by  the  village  fathers,  for  all  that  would  be  associated  with  such 
a  move  and  would  follow  upon  it,  would  inevitably  revolutionize  the 
character  of  the  place.  In  the  spring  of  1780  this  idea  was  broached 
again.  It  was  advocated  with  sufificient  zeal  that  it  caused  the 
authorities  at  Bethlehem  some  uneasiness  and  led  Ettwein,  upon  the 
information  given  him  by  Attorney  Lewis  Weiss,  of  Philadelphia, 
in  reference  to  the  agitation  of  the  project,  to  write  a  letter  strongly 
deprecating  it. 

Besides  issuing  that  important  order,  the  members  of  Congress 
interfered  in  other  ways  to  relieve  Bethlehem  in  the  turmoil  of  that 
trying  September,   1777.     The  throng  and  confusion  became  very 

14  This  order,  which  has  so  often  been  reproduced  in  print  and  in  fac-simile,  and  which  is 

preserved,  with  other  manuscript  relics  of  that  time,  in  the  Moravian  archives  at  Bethlehem, 

reads  as  follows : 

Bethlehem,  September  the  22d,  1777. 

Having  here  observed  a  diligent  attention  to  the  sick  and  wounded,  and  a  benevolent 
desire  to  make  the  necessary  provision  for  the  relief  of  the  distressed,  as  far  as  the  power 
of  the  Brethren  enable  them,  we  desire  that  all  Continental  Officers  may  refrain  from  dis- 
turbing the  persons  or  property  of  the  Moravians  in  Bethlehem,  and  particularly,  that  they 
do  not  disturb  or  molest  the  Houses  where  the  women  are  assembled. 
Given  under  our  hands  at  the  time  and  place  above  mentioned, 

Nathan  Brownson,  Richard  Henry  Lee, 

Nath'l  Folsom,  Wm.  Duer, 

Richard  Law,  Corn'l  Harnett, 

John  Hancock,  Henry  Laurens, 

Samuel  Adams,  Benj.  Harrison, 

Eliph't  Dyer,  Jos.  Jones, 

Jas.  Duane,  John  Adams, 

Henry  Marchant, 
Wm.  Williams, 

Delegates  to  Congress. 


468  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

great.  j\Iany  apartments  in  private  houses  were  invaded  to 
make  room  for  depositing  luggage  and  effects  which  had  to  be  put 
under  roof  and  watch.  Over  seven  hundred  wagons  with  munitions 
and  baggage  came  to  the  place  inside  of  twenty-four  hours,  with 
an  escort  of  about  two  hundred  men.  They  halted  at  first 
on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  where  all  the  remaining  fences,  the 
large  field  of  buckwheat  and  other  things  were  destroyed  over 
night.  Two  days  later,  September  26,  when  about  two  hundred 
more  wagons  arrived,  and  all  were  brought  across  the  river 
and  parked  in  the  fields  to  the  north-west  of  the  town,  the  quality  of 
this  added  throng  and  confusion  was  fully  realized.  The  troops 
assigned  to  this  kind  of  duty  were  naturally  not  the  pick  of  the  army. 
The  men  gathered  up  to  do  service  as  teamsters  were  not  likely  to 
be  of  the  more  orderly  class.  When  the  statement  is  added  in  the 
records  that  a  rabble  of  the  lowest  character,  male  and  female,  fol- 
lowed the  wagon  trains,  it  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  the  sights  and 
sounds  that  prevailed  by  day  and  night.  At  the  same  time,  amid 
wild  rumors  that  the  main  army  was  approaching.  General  de  Kalb, 
with  a  corps  of  engineers,  was  engaged  in  surveying  the  higher 
points  in  the  vicinity,  with  a  view  to  planning  defences  if  necessary. 
That,  in  the  midst  of  all  this,  the  many  British  prisoners  who  had 
been  quartered  upon  Bethlehem,  and  who  might  quite  as  well  have 
been  kept  at  another  place  not  so  sorely  taxed,  should  remain  to 
burden  the  town,  was  more  than  any  one  would  desire  unless  delib- 
erately seeking  to  oppress  the  people.  The  Congressmen  took  speedy 
steps  to  secure  their  removal,  which  occurred  on  September  25. 
Through  their  efforts  also,  the  dangerous  powder  magazine  was 
transferred  to  a  spot  at  some  distance  from  the  buildings  sooner  than 
would  otherwise  have  been  the  case.  Their  presence  and  represen- 
tations led  furthermore  to  all  possible  concentration  of  baggage  and 
stores  that  had  to  be  kept  under  roof,  by  direction  of  the  officers  now 
assuming  police  command,  thus  releasing  many  apartments  that  had 
been  invaded. 

Loud  cannonading  was  again  heard  on  October  4,  and  the  next 
day  came  the  account  of  the  battle  of  Germantown,  in  which  the 
movements  of  the  army,  at  first  thought  to  be  planned  towards  the 
back  country,  had  issued.  Ten  days  after  the  battle,  came  orders 
for  the  collection  of  clothing  and  blankets  for  the  destitute  and  suffer- 
ing troops,  issued  by  General  Washington  on  the  6th. 

Under  the  circumstances  then  existing,  the  methods  of  making 
these  collections  were  naturally  not  well  organized  and  disciplirted  in 


1772 1778-  469 

detail,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  people  of  Bethlehem  were  first 
addressed  by  the  persons  in  charge  in  the  county  again  showed  a  dis- 
position to  make  use  of  the  opportunity  in  as  oppressive  a  way  as 
possible,  with  very  rough  men  at  hand  to  help  execute  instructions 
in  their  style.  Here  the  good  offices  of  General  Woodford  prevented 
what  might  readily  have  descended  to  wholesale  loot  and  pillage.  The 
people  were  given  the  opportunity  to  first  produce  what  they  were 
willing  to  contribute,  before  any  search  was  made.  Enough  blankets, 
shoes,  stockings  and  other  wearing  apparel  were  voluntarily 
brought  together  to  at  once  satisfy  the  expectations  of  those  in 
charge.  This,  as  they  had  to  acknowledge,  was  more  than  could  be 
said  of  many  other  people  who  were  not  decried  as  Tories  but,  on 
the  contrary,  had  talked  vehement  patriotism.  An  evidence  of  what 
kind  of  men  some  were,  who  were  doing  guard  duty  in  connection 
with  the  baggage  at  Bethlehem,  and  what  might  have  been  expected 
if  the  execution  of  the  order  for  blankets  and  clothing  had  not  been 
thus  carefully  regulated,  was  furnished  on  the  evening  of  October  9, 
when  one  of  the  soldiers  entered  the  rooms  of  the  Community  House, 
although  a  guard  was  stationed  there,  broke  open  a  clothes-press  and 
appropriated  what  he  could  seize.  Being  evidently  not  very  valorous, 
he  fled  when  pursued  by  Ettwein  with  the  cry  "stop,  thief,"  and 
dropped  his  plunder  outside  the  house,  while  the  guard  remained  in 
hiding.  In  like  manner,  ten  days  later,  a  window  was  broken  open  in 
the  Sisters'  House,  but  the  miscreant  made  away  with  one  woman's 
effects  only,  being  frightened  ofif  before  he  could  proceed  further. 
Although  but  trifling  incidents,  amid  the  scenes  and  experiences  of 
those  times,  such  exploits,  and  other  similar  ones  mentioned,  reveal 
what  would  have  been  perpetrated  by  the  unruly  element  among  the 
soldiers  who  had  come  to  Bethlehem  with  the  wagon  trains,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  disreputable  herd  of  camp-followers,  if  they  had  been 
unrestrained.  As  to  the  collection  of  blankets,  clothing  and  other 
necessities,  it  may  be  added  that  instructions  from  headquarters 
required  the  commissary  officials  to  give  receipts,  so  that  ultimately 
equitable  settlement  might  be  made.  It  appears  that  this  was  not 
carefully  observed  about  the  country.  The  articles  gathered  up  in 
Bethlehem  on  this  occasion  were  regarded  by  the  people  as  dona- 
tions, like  quantities  of  things  furnished  for  the  use  of  the  hospital, and 
did  not  figure  in  the  bills  of  damages  later  presented.  In  November. 
1777,  an  appeal  was  sent  to  Washington's  headquarters  to  be  relieved 
of  the  baggage  and  stores   yet    remaining   at    Bethlehem,    and    not 


470  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

belonging  to  the  hospital  department,  so  that  the  more  undesirable 
class  of  soldiers  and  the  riff-raff  that  had  followed  the  wagon  trains 
might  be  gotten  rid  of.  It  was  felt  that  the  presence  of  the  hospital, 
with  all  that  this  brought  with  it,  was  a  sufficient  tax  upon  the  people. 
The  removal  of  these  things  took  place  gradually,  after  the  middle  of 
November.  General  Washington's  baggage  and  other  belongings  of 
his  headquarters  that  had  been  brought  to  Bethlehem  on  September 
24,  and  kept  under  a  guard  of  forty  men  at  the  tile  kiln  near  the 
Burnside  house,  up  the  Monocacy,  were  taken  away  on  Christmas 
Eve,  1777. 

Encouragement  to  send  such  a  petition  to  headquarters  was  appar- 
ently given  by  several  of  the  delegates  to  Congress  who  passed 
through  during  the  early  part  of  November.  On  the  day  on  which 
the  message  was  sent,  November  10,  two  Congressmen  from  New 
England,  who  left  a  diary  of  their  journey,  which  has  been  published, 
arrived.  They  were  William  Ellery,  of  Rhode  Island,  wdio  had  been 
in  Bethlehem  with  William  Whipple,  the  previous  June,  and  his  son- 
in-law,  Francis  Dana,  later  Chief  Justice  of  Massachusetts,  accom- 
panied by  the  French  General  Roche  de  Fermoy,  to  whom,  however, 
they  had  not  made  themselves  known.  Mr.  Ellery  records  that  on 
November  10,  they  rode  in  the  rain  from  Easton  to  Bethlehem  "for 
the  sake  of  good  accommodation."  They  remained  over  the  next 
day  on  account  of  the  rain  and  their  tired  horses.  He  says  that  at 
the  Sun  Inn  they  "fared  exceedingly  well,  drank  excellent  Madeira 
and  fine  green  tea,  and  ate  a  variety  of  well-cooked  food  of  a  good 
quaHty,  and  lodged  well."  He  refers  to  the  fact  that  the  Congress 
had  "ordered  that  the  house  of  the  single  women  should  not  be  occu- 
pied by  the  soldiery,  or  in  any  way  put  to  the  use  of  the  army."  One 
passage  in  his  diary  has  some  significance  when  taken  in  connection 
with  the  very  plain  intimation  given,  at  a  later  time,  by  various  Con- 
gressmen, that  the  petitions  of  the  Moravians  for  relief  from  the 
rigors  of  the  militia  and  test  laws  would  meet  with  more  favorable 
treatment  if  they  ceased  to  make  common  cause  with  other  non- 
Associators  en  masse,  and  were  to  present  their  case  on  their  own  dis- 
tinct ground.  He  says :  "A  number  of  light  horse  were  at  Nazareth 
feeding  on  the  hay  and  grain  of  the  Society,  which  I  found  was  dis- 
agreeable, but  at  the  same  time  perceived  that  they  did  not  choose 
to  complain  much,  lest  their  complaints  should  be  thought  to  proceed 
not  so  much  from  their  sufferings  as  from  a  dislike  to  the  American 
cause.    This  people,  like  the  Quakers,  are  principled  against  bearing 


1772 1778.  4/1 

arms,  but  are  unlike  them  in  this  respect,  they  are  not  against  paying 
such  taxes  as  government  may  order  them  to  pay  towards  carrying 
on  war,  and  do  not,  I  beheve,  in  a  sly,  underhand  way,  aid  and  assist 
the  enemy,  while  they  cry  peace,  peace,  as  the  manner  of  some 
Quakers  is,  not  to  impeach  the  whole  body  of  them."  His  desire 
to  find  good  accommodations  at  Bethlehem  can  be  appreciated  when 
he  describes  another  tavern,  towards  Reading,  as  "infamous"  and 
"a.  sink  of  filth  and  abomination,"  and  the  landlady  as  "a  mass  of 
filth,"  with  "avarice  as  great  as  her  sluttishness ;"  they  having  had  of 
her  "but  a  bit  of  a  hock  of  pork,  boiled  a  second  time  and  some  bread 
and  butter,"  for  they  found  their  own  tea,  coffee  and  horse-feed,  and 
slept  in  a  room  that  "admitted  the  cold  air  at  a  thousand  chinks," 
and  on  a  bed  that  had  "only  a  thin  rug  and  one  sheA."  For  this,  he 
says,  "this  daughter  of  Lycurgus  charged  Mr.  Dana,  myself  and 
servant,  thirty-eight  shillings,  lawful  money. "^^ 

During  the  closing  months  of  1777  and  the  early  part  of  1778,  the 
severity  of  the  militia  and  test  acts  was  felt  most  keenly  and  was 
pressed  most  ruthlessly  by  the  County  Lieutenants  and  Justices.  At 
that  time  all  appeal  was  fruitless,  for  the  exasperation  felt  at  the  fate 
of  Philadelphia ;  the  terrible  sufferings  of  Washington's  heroic  army 
at  Valley  Forge ;  the  heartless  indifference  and  base  treachery  mani- 
fested by  so  many  who  had  been  loyalists  or  became  such  when 
Howe  took  Philadelphia — courting  the  British  officers  when  the 
Revolution  seemed  almost  to  be  a  lost  cause — reduced  the  disposition 
to  make  concessions  on  the  ground  of  professed  conscientious 
scruples  to  a  minimum  in  almost  every  quarter.  At  the  same  time, 
as  a  careful  and  critical  examination  of  the  situation  by  writers, 
bringing  forth  not  only  some  but  all  classes  of  facts,  has  often  shown, 
not  every  Revolutionist  was  true  and  good  and  not  every  anti-Revol- 
utionist was  perfidious  and  base.  Not  all  who  were  ready,  in  the  time 
of  excitement  and  enthusiasm,  to  go  to  all  lengths ;  not  all  who 
without  hesitation  took  the  oath  and  turned  out  at  call  to  drill  or 
even  to  go  to  the  front  for  a  while ;  not  all  who  entered  the  service 
of  the  country  in  high  or  petty  positions,  were  noble-minded, 
unselfish,  heroic  patriots,  as  it  would  be  pleasant  to  believe.  Wash- 
ington and  his  most  valuable  officers,  as  well  as  the  best  men  in 
Congress  and  connected  with  the  government  of  Pennsylvania,  were 
constrained  to  strongly  set  forth  the  detriment  to  the  cause  resulting 


15  See  Penna.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  XI,   324-326,  and    Transac.  Morav.  Hist.  Sotr., 
IT,  127-128. 


472  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

from  personal  jealousies  and  bickerings,  the  pursuit  of  selfish  aims, 
and  even  the  basest  mercenary  speculation  on  the  distress  of  the 
country,  on  the  part  of  some  public  men.  There  were  among  osten- 
sible patriots  other  traitors  besides,  later,  Benedict  Arnold,  whose 
hearts  were  as  base  and  their  intrigues  as  perfidious,  even  if  their 
ofifences  were  not  of  a  nature  that  technically  criminated  them.  There 
were  also  many  who,  although  not  weakening  the  cause  by  self-seek- 
ing, but  goaded  and  exasperated  by  the  situation  of  things — being 
also  unreasonable,  over-zealous  and  violent — expended  energy  in 
ways  that  effected  nothing  for  the  country,  but  rather  created  greater 
confusion  and  variance.  Such  awakened  counter-resentment  by  indis- 
creet ardor,  decrying  every  man  as  a  Tory  deserving  extreme  punish- 
ment who  did  not  agree  with  their  every  wild  and  unjust  project. 

The  more  the  whole  truth  and  all  sides  of  it  become  known,  giving 
a  correct  view  of  the  situation,  the  less  does  a  position  like  that 
occupied  by  the  Moravians  seem  to  need  being  apologized  for,  and 
the  less  hesitancy  need  there  be  about  stating  facts  in  connection  with 
their  more  immediate  relations  to  those  who  were  in  a  position  to 
bring  the  militia  and  test  acts  to  bear  hard  upon  them,  even  if  the 
facts  are  not  to  the  credit  of  some  of  those,  in  their  county,  who 
flourished  as  the  foremost  agents  of  the  patriot  cause.  Not  all  of 
these  men  were  unselfish  and  unsullied  patriots,  with  an  eye  single  to 
the  country's  interests.  There  were  a  few  who  made  the  collection 
of  the  militia  fines  from  the  Moravians  and  the  procuring  of  substi- 
tutes for  those  of  them  who  were  called  out  and  failed  to  respond,  a 
profitable  traffic.  They  were  authorized  to  hire  such  substitutes  "as 
cheaply  as  they  could,"  and  this  left  them  discretion — at  the  expense 
of  the  delinquent — and  they  could,  of  course,  forcibly  recover  the 
amount,  if  necessary.  One  of  these  Lieutenants,  already  referred  to, 
unblushingly  drew  the  attention  of  men  available  as  substitutes  to  this 
opportunity  to  make  money.  "I  need  a  substitute  for  this  or  that  man. 
Demand  as  much  as  you  please  for  he  must  pay  it."  Then  there  was 
room  for  juggling  with  the  transaction,  between  the  actual  sums 
extorted  and  the  nominal  sums  that  ultimately  figured  in  the  reports ; 
and  for  a  deal  between  the  substitute  thus  employed  and  the  official 
who  put  him  in  the  way  of  earning  the  amount.  That  under  the 
circumstances  then  existing,  appeals  against  this  extortion  and  fraud 
availed  little,  and  investigation  of  corrupt  practices  could  not  be 
secured,  is  not  hard  to  understand. 

Among  the  bugaboos  that  now  and  then  served  to  keep  alive 
suspicion    and   bitterness   against    Bethlehem,    an   interesting   fiasco 


1772 1778-  473 

engaged  the  county  officials  at  Easton,  the  middle  of  November, 
1777)  ^"d  even  called  for  the  attention  of  the  Supreme  Executive 
Council  of  Pennsylvania,  in  considering  the  deposition  of  one  "Silas 
Burnet,  of  Hacketstown,  in  the  County  of  Sussex,  in  the  State  of  New 
Jersey,  Waggoner,"  made  "upon  the  Holy  Evangelists  of  Almighty 
God"  in  reference  to  a  mysterious  small  box  conveyed  by  the  deponent 
from  Morristown  to  Easton  in  the  autumn  of  1776,  and  destined  for 
Bethlehem,  addressed — thought  Col.  Sidman,  tavern-keeper  at 
Easton,  under  whose  counter  the  stage  driver  left  the  box,  together 
with  his  tar  bucket — to  H.  V.  "supposed  to  be  Mr.  Vanfleck,  of  Beth- 
lehem," in  care  of  Jost  Jansen,  tavern-keeper  at  the  same  place.  This 
suspicious  box,  Mr.  Sidman,  as  a  vigilant  patriot,  "had  the  curiosity" 
to  open  "in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Young,"  and  he  found  "two  bottles 
of  simple  water,  sealed  with  several  hundred  of  very  treasonable 
printed  papers,  and  signed  I  think" — writes  Col.  Robert  Levers  to 
Timothy  Matlack — "Emerick."  He  adds:  "I  wish  I  had  one  to  send 
you,"  but  "Col.  Sidman  and  Mr.  Young  burnt  them,  except  a  few, 
given  to  Col.  Clem't  Biddle,  who  happened  to  be  in  Easton  at  the 
time,  who  took  them  to  Head  Quarters,  together  with  two  written 
papers  that  were  also  in  the  box.  The  printed  papers  were  calculated 
to  excite  the  Germans  to  receive  General  Howe  with  open  arms,  and 
betray  their  Country.  The  written  papers  were  a  recommendation 
of  the  waters,  as  good  to  clear  and  open  the  eye-sight,  and  a  direction 
to  use  them  in  the  same  manner  that  the  former  before  sent  were." 
A  copy  of  Burnet's  affidavit  was  sent  for  the  perusal  of  the  Council 
and  to  be  laid  before  his  Excellency  General  Washington.  Col. 
Levers,  who  says  he  never  saw  the  written  papers,  suggests  in  his 
letter:  "It  may  lead  to  a  great  discovery,  and  unravel  the  cause  of 
the  Germans  generally,  at  this  time,  being  so  inactive,  rather 
unfriendly,  if  not  inimical."  Here  the  matter  rested  and  apparently 
ended.  The  whole  of  it  may  be  read  in  Volume  VI,  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Archives.  This  box  of  a  year  before  simply  contained  some 
eye-water  with  written  directions,  and  had  been  indiscreetly  wrapped 
in  some  German  copies  of  Lord  Howe's  propositions  of  September, 
1776,  which  were  circulated  broadcast  in  some  sections.  While  the 
sender  may  perhaps  have  wished  to  thus  help  circulate  them — they 
merely  related  to  the  efifort  to  yet  compromise  matters  without 
further  hostiUties — their  receipt  by  Henry  Van  Vleck,  of  Bethlehem, 
would  have  proven  him  a  traitorous  Tory  as  little  as  Franklin's 
consenting  to  the  conference  with  Howe  proved  him  to  be  one.     An 


474  A    HI5T0KY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

occasional  episode  like  this  helped  to  keep  the  excitement  against 
Bethlehem  alive,  when  there  was  danger  that  it  might  subside,  and 
furnished  those  who  were  keeping  up  the  agitation,  fresh  material 
with  which  to  incite  the  impetuous  to  menacing  demonstrations. 

In  the  midst  of  this  Bethlehem  was  not  only  suffering  an  almost 
complete  paralysis  of  all  its  productive  industries  and  the  depletion  of 
its  stores  of  grain — making  the  payment  of  the  oppressive  lines 
doubly  hard — but  was  gradually  reduced  to  the  most  meager  supplies 
of  bedding  and  raiment,  in  the  effort  to  do  everything  that  humanity 
dictated  for  the  suffering  multitude  of  the  country's  martyrs,  on  its 
hands.  Long  before  the  winter  passed,  the  chests  and  drawers  of  the 
houses  in  Bethlehem  were  emptied  of  all  the  material  that  could  be 
spared  for  lint  and  bandages,  in  the  preparation  of  which  women  in 
the  Sisters'  House  and  the  Widows'  House  contributed  their  share 
to  the  public  service.  "Three  or  four  times,"  says  Ettwein,  "we 
begged  blankets  from  our  people  for  the  soldiers  and  distributed 
them  to  the  needy ;  likewise  shoes  and  stockings  and  old  trousers 
for  the  convalescents  whose  clothing  had  been  stolen  in  the  hospital, 
or  who  had  come  into  it  with  nothing  but  a  pair  of  ragged  trousers 
full  of  vermin."  The  condition  of  things  in  the  hospital  became 
appalling  towards  the  close  of  the  year  1777.  As  already  stated,  the 
number  of  patients  had  increased  beyond  the  facilities  of  the  staff  of 
physicians  and  surgeons  to  properly  care  for  them,  when  additional 
wagons  loaded  with  suffering  men  began  to  arrive  after  the  battle 
of  Germantown.  How  many  of  these  had  to  continue  their  wretched 
journey  farther  to  Easton  at  that  time  does  not  appear.  Some  w^ere 
so  near  their  end  that  they  could  not  be  taken  any  farther.  In  the 
tents  behind  the  Brethren's  House,  where  many  had  been  placed  for 
whom  there  was  declared  to  be  no  room  in  the  house,  some  of  these 
newly-arrived  ones  were  laid  upon  the  ground  in  the  rain  to  die. 
Seventy  were  conveyed,  on  November  3,  to  the  Geissinger  farm,  up 
the  river.  And  yet,  owing  apparently  to  a  lack  of  proper  under- 
standing and  arrangement,  those  who  were  sending  the  sick  to 
interior  hospital  points  continued  to  pour  them  into  Bethlehem, 
where,  even  if  every  house  in  the  village  had  been  turned  into  a 
hospital,  the  lack  of  provision  for  their  care  and  treatment  in  other 
respects  would  have  subjected  them  to  almost  the  same  degree  of 
privation  as  right  on  the  field  of  battle. ^° 

16  November  i?,  1777,  Dr.  Shippen  wrote  to  Congress  :  "The  pressing  necessity  of  the 
Hospitals   which   begin  to  feel   the   effects  of  cold   and   dirt    (I   foretold   in  my  last  to  the 


1772 1778-  475 

When  the  rainy  weather  came  on,  which  continued  a  week,  at  the 
end  of  October,  a  hundred  who  had  been  lying  in  tents  were  crowded 
into  the  garret  of  the  house  in  order  to  leave  the  kitchen  available 
for  other  use.  A  frame  building  was  ordered  to  be  erected  in  the 
rear  garden,  to  relieve  the  congestion.  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  Surgeon 
and  Physician  General,  who  had  sent  instructions  to  provide  accom- 
modations for  an  additional  hundred,  after  the  battle  of  German- 
town,  arrived  in  Bethlehem  on  November  3,  and  it  was  at  his  sug- 
gestion apparently  that  the  seventy  were  conveyed  to  the  Geissinger 
farm.  And  still  they  came  during  December.  On  the  15th,  "many 
sick  from  Buckingham  meeting,"  says  the  Bethlehem  diarist,  were 
taken  through  the  place,  but  to  what  point  is  not  stated.  Again  on 
the  27th,  "came  fifty  wagons  with  sick  from  Princeton."  On  the 
28th,  seven  hundred  were  crowded  into  the  Brethren's  House  alone. 
Its  capacity  had  been  estimated,  on  the  basis  of  humane  and  orderly 
attention,  at  two  hundred,  by  the  physicians.  In  addition  to  this 
there  were  a  number  of  sick  officers  in  other  buildings  and  a  number 
of  cases  among  the  guards  stationed  yet  near  the  saw-mill  on  the 
Sand  Island.  There  were  more  sick  distributed  at  other  places  in 
Bethlehem  than  has  commonly  been  supposed  by  those  who  have 
studied  and  written  on  the  subject.  No  wonder  that  some  of  the 
physicians,  in  their  desperation,  urged  the  extension  of  the  hospital 
to  the  Widows'  House,  in  spite  of  the  Congressional  order  for  its 
protection,  for  they  thought  the  widows  could  crowd  into  the  Sisters' 
House. 

One  of  the  sick  officers  at  Bethlehem,  Col.  Joseph  Wood,  of 
Virginia,  who  at  the  end  of  November  had  succeeded  Col.  William 
Polk,  of  North  Carolina,  in  command  of  the  guard  at  the  place,  and 
who  when  taken  sick  was  quartered,  part  of  the  time,  in  the  room 
of  the  Boeckel  house  which  LaFayette  had  occupied,  left  on  January 
4,  1778.  He  had,  as  it  seems,  added  his  testimony  to  convince  those 
at  a  distance  who  were  responsible  for  this  over-crowding,  that,  on 
the  one  hand,  the  condition  of  things  in  the  hospital  was  frightful  and 
that,  on  the  other  hand,  to  compel  the  people  at  Bethlehem  to  vacate 
anv  more  buildings  would  be  ruthless  oppression,  when  there  were 
manv  other  places,  at  which  the  sick  could  be  distributed.     While 


Medical  Committee)  calls  on  me  to  address  you  in  a  serious  manner  and  urge  you  to  furnish 
us  with  immediate  supply  of  clothing  requisite  for  the  very  existence  of  the  sick  now  in  the 
greatest  distress  in  the  Hospitals,  and  indispensably  necessary  to  enable  many  who  are  now 
well,  and  detained  solely  for  want  of  clothing,  to  return  to  the  field." 


476  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM.    PENNSYLVANIA. 

this  officer,  who  is  referred  to  as  a  fine  man,  was  lying  sick  at  Beth- 
lehem, the  inevitable  consequence  of  the  state  of  things  came  in 
ghastly  shape.  The  Brethren's  House,  especially  the  crowded  and 
unventilated  attic-floor,  had  become  a  reeking  hole  of  indescribable 
filth.  The  intolerable  stench  polluted  the  air  to  some  distance 
around  it.  A  malignant  putrid  fever  broke  out  and  spread  its 
contagion  from  ward  to  ward.  The  physicians  were  helpless  and 
the  situation  became  demoralized.  Men  died  at  the  rate  of  five, 
six  and  even  a  dozen  during  one  day  or  night.  The  carpenters  and 
laborers  of  Bethlehem  were  not  asked  to  make  coffins  and  help  bury 
the  dead,  as  in  the  previous  winter.  This  was  now  done  by  the 
soldiers,  as  quickly  and  secretly  as  possible.  At  last  no  coffins  were 
made.  Now  and  then,  at  dawn  of  day,  a  cart  piled  full  of  dead  bodies 
would  be  seen  hurrying  away  from  the  door  of  the  hospital  to  the 
trenches  on  the  hill-side  across  the  Monocacy.  Statistics  of  the 
mortality  were  not  procurable.  Unnamed  and  unnumbered  they  were 
laid,  side  by  side,  in  those  trenches. 

The  plague  spread  out  of  the  building  into  the  town,  among 
the  single  men  first — some  of  whom  had  come  into  contact 
with  the  infected  building — and  then  among  some  others.  Even 
a  girl  in  the  boarding-school  who  had  been  sent  to  Bethlehem 
from  Philadelphia  for  safety,  Hannah  Dean,  was  taken  down  with  it 
and  died.  It  carried  off  seven  of  the  single  men  in  a  short  time.  One 
of  these  w^as  Ettwein's  estimable  son,  John,  nineteen  years  of  age, 
who  had  been  risking  his  life  in  helping  the  hospital  nurses  amid  the 
misery,  and  on  December  31,  passed  away  under  the  last  blessing  of 
his  grief-stricken  father.  The  latter  had  been  fearlessly  moving  about 
in  that  hot-bed  of  contagion,  penetrating  to  every  dark  and  suffo- 
cating corner  of  the  noisome  attic,  bravely  assisted  by  the  Rev.  Jacob 
Friis,  who  was  serving  as  one  of  the  chaplains  of  the  single  men. 
They  did  what  they  could  to  minister  the  consolations  of  religion 
under  the  awful  conditions.  Time  and  again,  at  all  hours  of  the  day 
and  night,  Ettwein  responded  to  a  sudden  summons  in  behalf  of 
some  poor  fellow  lying  gasping  on  his  bed  of  filthy  straw,  whose  soul 
yearned  for  a  word  of  comfort  or  peace  or  for  the  sound  of  prayer. 
In  his  records  of  those  awful  months,  Ettwein  mentions  five  particu- 
lar cases  of  death,  and  of  these  he  gives  the  names  of  only  four.  The 
first  was  Robert  Lepus,  who  he  says  was  a  member  of  the  Church  of 
England.  He  died,  November  4,  1777.  The  next  was  one  of  the 
hospital  physicians.  Dr.  Aquila  Wilmot,  from  Maryland.     He  died, 


1772 1778.  477 

November  ii.  At  his  earnest  wish  and  at  the  request  of  his  col- 
leagues, he  was  interred  in  the  Bethlehem  cemetery.  With  this  inter- 
ment, says  Ettwein,  the  row  for  strangers,  which  it  had  long  been 
had  in  mind  to  open  in  the  cemetery,  was  commenced.^'  The  third 
was  the  hospital  steward,  Robert  Gillespie,  a  Presbyterian  from 
County  Carlow,  Ireland,  a  widower  about  forty  years  old,  who  was 
much  affected  by  the  scene  at  the  death-bed  of  Lepus  and  then,  the 
same  day,  was  taken  down  with  the  fever  and  died,  November  14. 
He  was  also  buried  in  the  new  "strangers'  row."  The  next  was  a 
Narragansett  Indian  connected  with  the  Continental  service,  who 
died,  November  25,  a  baptized  man  and,  as  he  stated,  a  backsHdden 
believer.  He  had  called  for  Ettwein  in  much  distress  of  soul.  His 
name  is  not  given.  On  December  11,  Richard  Thompson,  a  Virginia 
soldier,  passed  away,  believing  and  in  peace.  The  sixth,  who  died 
January  3,  1778,  was  James  Chaffs,  of  Drumargan,  Ireland,  who,  as 
Ettwein  discovered,  had  once  served  as  cook  for  an  establishment 
of  single  men  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  Europe,  had  subsequently 
been  mentally  deranged,  had  then  wandered  about  as  a  straying 
sheep,  and  now,  under  such  strange  and  melancholy  circumstances, 
ended  his  days  in  a  Moravian  Single  Brethren's  House  in  America, 
after  all  his  aberrations.  One  more  mentioned  was  Lucas  Sherman, 
a  Virginian,  who  died,  January  4.  Only  these  are  mentioned  by 
name  among  all  the  victims  of  those  months ;  more  than  three  hun- 
dred, Ettwein  estimated — and  no  one  was  better  able  to  judge,  out- 
side of  those  who  buried  the  dead.  Only  these  and  three  of  the  pre- 
vious year  out  of  a  total  of  about  five  hundred !  Only  thirteen  pri- 
vates, a  corporal,  a  hospital  physician  and  a  hospital  steward  known 
bv  name  out  of  a  full  thousand  Continental  troops  who  were  patients 


17  From  this  time  dates  the  use  of  the  term  "Strangers'  Row" — Freinden  Keihe  —  as 
applied  to  the  row  of  graves  near  the  Market  Street  line  of  the  old  cemetery.  While  the 
term  suggests  a  harsh  discrimination,  its  real  intent  was  the  reverse.  It  originated  in  a 
relaxation  of  the  previous  more  rigid  regulation  which  permitted  only  members  to  he  interred 
there,  and  left  others  who  died  at  Bethlehem,  to  be  buried  in  the  grave-yard  on  the  south 
side,  or  quite  outside  of  consecrated  ground,  which  in  those  days  was  far  more  common 
about  the  country  than  is  probably  supposed  by  many.  It  is  erroneous  to  think  that  such  a 
special  strangers'  row  remained  to  the  end  a  feature  of  that  cemetery.  Persons  who  were 
not  Moravians  and  have  been  given  burial  there  by  special  arrangement,  have  been  interred 
among  the  other  graves  since  the  last  of  the  31  graves  was  made  in  that  row  about  fifty 
years  ago. 


4/8  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 


J  ■^a^'C        ^vcit^'t/'^:'^  y/reer-     *^^^,-    ^r/'i^^,     ^S^ 
tj      ^t^r-        ^'<^       ?t'/J/?/^   a/7/€      acf^j-t        //"u/      ^/C^    /i-u^^^, 

^^■iZz,      a^in^       ^^»^       f^iay    ^y:       ^<^<-'       r/t^rt^^       -t^, 

c^>-t  -t^  t,*^n^  c^  .(ir    ^c^      ^-^^"^  '*^«  '^  y^  ^-^    -^  '^'^ 


REDUCED    FAC-SIMILE  OF  LETTER  OF  GEN.  WASHINGTON    TO    BISHOP  ETTWEIN, 
MARCH  28,   1778,  WRITTEN  BY  JOS.  REED,  SEC,  SIGNED  BY  WASHINGTON. 


1772 1778-  479 

in  that  hospital  during  the  two  periods  !^^  In  the  unmarked  rows 
on  that  hillside  the  dust  of  those  hundreds  who  sacrificed  their  lives 
on  the  altar  of  the  young  Nation  mouldered  forgotten,  until  a  town 
began  to  occupy  the  fields  in  which  the  plow-share  had  long  turned 
the  soil  over  their  graves,  and  men,  in  digging  deeper  to  build  houses, 
came  upon  the  residue  of  their  bones.  A  modest  stone  inscribed 
with  a  brief  story  of  the  historic  spot  reminds  the  passer-by,  since  the 
year  of  Bethlehem's  sesqui-centennial,  that  it  should  be  set  apart  as 
holy  ground.  Perhaps,  before  a  full  hundred  and  fifty  years  will  have 
passed  since  those  graves  were  dug,  a  sightly  monument  to  the  mem- 
ory of  those  unnamed  dead  will  have  taken  the  place  of  the  little 
marker,  with  the  space  about  it  that  has  not  yet  been  invaded  by  the 
pick  and  mattock,  left  sacred  for  the  grass  to  grow  and  the  flowers 
to  bloom  over  their  resting-places,  no  more  to  be  disturbed. 

As  the  first  dreary  months  of  1778  wore  on,  the  appalling  mor- 
tality decreased.  The  epidemic  spent  itself  and  men  began  to 
recover.  On  March  22,  definite  information  was  received  that  the 
hospital  was  to  be  removed.  While  this  naturally  caused  much  satis- 
faction, the  report  that  Lititz  was  to  be  taken  possession  of,  caused, 
on  the  other  hand,  grave  anxiety  and  led  to  an  attempt  to  prevent 
this ;  but  circumstances  were  thought  by  those  in  authority  to  make 
it  imperative,  and  it  had  to  be  submitted  to.  As  for  Bethlehem,  the 
prospect  of  the  removal  of  the  hospital  included  the  removal  of  all 
soldiers  and  of  various  trying  things  that  had  to  be  experienced  while 
they  were  at  the  place.  Disorders  and  petty  depredations  could  not 
be  entirely  restrained.  Thus,  on  March  6,  it  is  recorded  that  some 
of  the  guard  even  broke  into  the  hospital  stores,  and  on  March  17, 
some,  in  celebrating  St.  Patrick's  Day,  in  a  manner  not  much  to  the 
honor  of  the  Apostle  of  Ireland,  occasioned  a  riot  that  at  first  threat- 
ened to  have  very  bad  consequences,  but  the  worst  damage  wrought 
was  that  which  the  revelers  finally  inflicted  upon  each  other.  Another 
kind  of  an  incident  reveals  also  that  occasionally  unwarrantable 
authoritv  was  assumed  bv  some  officers,  and    shows    the    spirit    of 


18  In  aa  article  on  "  the  Hospitals  at  Bethlehem  and  Lititz  during  the  Revolution,"  com- 
piled by  John  W.  Jordan,  from  the  Moravian  records  and  all  other  accessible  sources  of 
possible  information,  including  the  archives  of  the  United  States  Government,  and  published, 
in  1896,  in  the  Pa.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  Vol.  XX,  a  list  of  thirteen  names  is  given  as 
the  result  of  all  search.  To  this  list  one,  Nathaniel  McNee,  is  to  be  added.  Of  these 
fourteen  soldiers  the  names  of  six  vk^ho  died  are  known  only  from  the  Moravian  records. 
Perhaps  official  lists  were  preserved  by  the  Government  and  were  destroyed  at  Washington 
by  fire  in  1S14. 


1772 1778.  4^1 

Ettwein,  who  did  not  fear  to  resist  what  was  clearly  an  assumption 
that  could  not  be  sustained.  Some  of  the  hospital  physicians  had 
their  mess-room,  during  the  winter,  in  the  residence  part  of  the  full- 
ing-mill, leaving  very  contracted  quarters  for  the  master-fuller, 
James  Hall,  and  his  wife.  In  that  part  of  the  building  Dr.  Moses 
Scott,  of  the  hospital  staff,  with  the  aid  of  John  Okely,  had  secured 
lodging  also  for  a  certain  invalid  civilian,  William  Carr,  and  his  wife, 
of  Philadelphia.  Carr  eventually  died  and  was  buried  in  the  "stran- 
ger's row."  The  reason  for  the  interest  taken  in  them  by  the  mili- 
tary officers  at  Bethlehem  does  not  appear.  The  wife  of  Hall,  the 
fuller,  was  taken  seriously  ill ;  the  room  occupied  by  the  Carrs  was 
sorely  needed,  and  they  were  asked  to  vacate.  Carr  appealed  to  Dr. 
Samuel  Finley  and  he  to  Col.  John  Cropper,  who  had  succeeded  Col. 
Wood  in  command  at  Bethlehem.  Col.  Cropper  issued  instructions 
that  Carr  was  not  to  be  removed  until  he  gave  orders.  Ettwein's  spirit 
was  stirred  within  him  by  this  arbitrary  attempt  to  exercise  jurisdic- 
tion over  Bethlehem  property,  not  under  military  control,  and  denied 
the  Colonel's  right  to  issue  such  orders,  declaring  that  the  room  was 
needed  and  Carr — for  he  did  not  belong  to  the  army — must  move  at 
once.  The  result  was  that  he  was  taken  into  the  hospital  by  the  doc- 
tors.^^      Perhaps,  in  taking  this  peremptory  stand  and  manifesting 


19  An  interesting  souvenir  of  the  case  has  survived  among  documents  of  that  time  in  the 
Bethlehem  archives,  in  the  actual  written  communications  that  passed,  all  on  one  small  sheet 
of  paper  thai  did  service  for  the  three  parties  to  the  correspondence.  The  notes  —  original 
autograph — on  this  sheet  are  as  follows : 

(1)  Sir  :  The  bearer,  Mr.  Carr,  is  in  possession  of  a  Part  of  a  House  near  the  Fulling 
Mill,  the  owner  of  which  wants  him  put  out.  He  has  applied  to  me  for  leave  to  stay  until 
he  is  sufficiently  well  to  shift  for  himself,  as  he  is  to  all  Intents  and  purposes  an  invalid.  I 
have  told  him  it  was  not  in  my  power  to  do  anything  in  his  favour.  He  then  desired  me  to 
write  to  you  for  advice  and  assistance,  for  if  he  is  turned  out  he  has  no  chance  for  having 
his  cure  completed. 

I  am  with  respect 

your  very  humble  serv't, 
Bethlehem,  Jan.  6,  1778.  Samuel  Finley. 

Col.  Cropper. 

(2)  "  In  complyance  with  the  request  af's'd,  these  do  certify  that  Mr.  Carr  is  not  to  be 
moved  until  my  orders.     Given  under  my  hand  at  Bethlehem  6th  Janu. 

John  Cropper 

Lieut.  Col." 

(3)  "  Col.  Cropper  has  none  to  command  in  Bethlehem  but  his  soldiers.  Therefore  we 
cannot  receive  his  orders  Mr.  Carr  does  not  belong  to  the  Hospital :  we  want  the  place 
where  he  is,  and  he  must  move  without  delay.  John  Ettwein." 

(4)  At  the  bottom  of  the  sheet  in  Ettwein's  handwriting:  "N.B.  Was  directly  fetched 
away  by  Mr.  Finley  into  the  Hospital.' 

32 


482  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSVLVANIA. 

little  sympathy  for  the  Carrs,  Ettwein  acted  on  knowledge  of  circttm- 
stances  connected  with  their  being  there  which  caused  the  Colonel 
and  the  doctors  to  recede,  and  that  are  not  alluded  to  in  the 
reference  to  the  incident,  in  the  records,  for  all  kinds  of  people  were 
then  in  Bethlehem. 

The  preparations  for  the  removal  of  the  hospital  advanced  slowly, 
but,  at  last,  early  in  April,  1778,  the  welcome  word  came  that  now  it 
would  take  place  without  further  delay.  General  Lachlin  Mcintosh,  a 
Georgia  officer,  was  commissioned  to  superintend  the  transfer.  He 
arrived  in  Bethlehem  just  before  Palm  Sunday,  xApril  12,  for  this  pur- 
pose. It  is  recorded  that  he  and  sundry  other  officers  attended  the 
services  on  that  day.  The  removal  of  the  remaining  sick  began  at 
once,  and  on  Tuesday  of  the  Passion  Week.  April  14,  the  last  of  the 
invalids  was  taken  away.  The  building  which  had  harbored  so  mucb 
suffering,  wretchedness  and  squalor  was  closed  and  left  standing, 
gloomy  and  silent,  in  battered,  feculent  desolation,  until  Jtme  i.  when 
the  army  authorities  released  it  back  to  its  owners.  Then  much  time 
and  labor,  and  considerable  money  were  expended,  to  make  the 
premises  habitable  again.  The  actual  expenses  thus  incurred  made 
up  the  bill  of  damages  presented  to  the  Government  and  paid.-"    The 


20  The  memorial  presented  to  the  Continental  Congress  in  behalf  of  John  Bonn,  Warden, 
by  his  attorney,  Lewis  Weiss,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  October  23,  1779,  with  the  vouchers 
showing  the  items  of  expense,  is  yet  in  existence.  The  petition  was  read  in  Congress» 
October  26,  and  referred  to  the  Board  of  Treasury  and,  November  6,  it  was  passed  over  to 
the  Chamber  of  Accounts,  with  directions  to  adjust  the  accounts  and  report.  The  petition 
draws  attention  to  the  fact  that  no  claim  for  rent  and  n:>  damages  incurred  by  the  115  single 
men  through  the  long  stoppage  of  the  various  trades  carried  on  in  their  house,  was  included 
in  the  accounts.     These,  as  summarized,  were  the  following  : 

£     s.    d. 

J.  C.  I'yrlaeus,  painting  and  glazing 188     15     6 

H.  Gerstberger,  mason  work  and  whitewashing.  .  .  76       5 

J.  Y.  Gebes,  scraping  and  scavenging 45 

John  Thomas,  joiner  work       21 

George  Schindler,  carpenter  work 6       7     6 

Anton  Schmidt,  locksmith  work 9 

Ludwig  Huebeiier,  potter,  8  new  tile  stoves 12 

Total  in  Penna.  currency,  358       8     o 

The  entire  amount  of  war-claims  known  to  have  been  presented  by  Bethlehem  amounted 
to  about  ;^l75o  Pa.  The  main  items  of  other  accounts  were  17000  fence  rails,  200  posts, 
594^  cords  of  fire-wood,  22  acres  of  buckwheat,  some  corn,  hay,  flax  and  other  farm  pro- 
ducts used  by  the  army  or  destroyed.  It  would  be  interesting  if  the  large  sums  paid  out  in 
militia  fines  and  for  substitutes  could  be  definitely  ascertained.  They  would  be  so  much 
that  these  damages  would  seem  a  trifle  by  comparison. 


1772 1778-  483 

final  cleansing  of  the  house,  after  the  repairs  were  finished,  took  place 
June  16  and  17.  On  June  27.  the  single  men  moved  back  into  their 
house  and,  the  next  day,  a  service  of  thanksgiving  and  re-dedication 
was  held.  Then,  gradually,  the  various  trades  were  resumed  and 
the  building  was  restored  to  its  former  character,  as  nearly  as  the 
circumstances  of  the  time  permitted. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


Through  the  Revolution  to  Another  Re-organization. 

1778-1785. 

The  removal  of  the  Continental  Hospital  in  April,  1778,  ended  the 
period  of  greatest  turmoil  at  Bethlehem.  After  that  the  village  wit- 
nessed less  of  the  parade  as  well  as  of  the  misery  of  war  than  during 
the  preceding  two  years.  Troops  continued  to  pass  through,  from 
time  to  time,  for  several  more  years,  but  not  in  such  large  numbers, 
as  before,  and  the  danger  of  being  overwhelmed  by  a  turbulent 
in-rush  gradually  diminished.  Once  more  a  sensation  was  caused  by 
rumors  of  an  intended  winter  cantonment  of  troops  in  the  vicinity 
and  of  another  quartering  of  British  prisoners  of  war  upon  the  place, 
but  neither  of  these  things  came  to  pass ;  and  the  theater  of  opera- 
tions did  not  again  shift  in  such  directions  that  there  ever  appeared 
any  likelihood  that  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware  might  become  a  battle- 
field or  be  laid  waste  by  the  enemy  in  either  a  general  advance  or 
retreat. 

Throughout  the  entire  year  1778,  however,  Bethlehem  continued  to 
be  frequently  visited  by  persons  conspicuous  in  the  scenes  of  the 
time,  both  in  military  and  civil  office,  and  by  distinguished  foreigners, 
in  official  position  as  well  as  tourists  and  adventurers.  Thus  in  Jan- 
uary, and  again  in  May,  General  Gates  and  his  wife  spent  a  few  days 
at  the  place,  accompanied  the  second  time  by  the  famous  Col.  Ethan 
Allen,  who  had  just  returned  from  his  English  captivity  and  whose 
niece,  Anna  Allen,  was  subsequently  a  pupil  in  the  boarding-school 
and  died  at  Bethlehem  in  1795.  In  January  one  of  the  visitors  was 
the  amiable  and  much-admired  wife  of  General  Green,  whose  two 
daughters  were  also  placed  in  the  Bethlehem  school,  in  1789.  In 
February  mention  is  made  of  the  presence  of  General  Thomas  Con- 
way, notorious  as  the  leader  of  the  plot,  with  Gates  and  others,  to 
displace  General  Washington  at  a  time  when  the  Congress  was  most 
discordant,  demoralized  and  weak.  General  Edward  Hand  was  also 
a  visitor  in  that  month  and  received  the  thanks    of    the    Moravian 

484 


1778 1785-  485 

authorities  for  kind  assistance  given  the  missionaries  in  connection 
with  their  work  in  Ohio.  Another  guest  at  that  time  was  the  Ger- 
man General  Frederick  von  Steuben,  whose  services  were  of  much 
value  to  Washington.  Besides  these  miHtary  officers,  various  promi- 
nent members  of  Congress  and  other  men  of  importance  enjoyed  a 
sojourn  of  a  few  days  at  Bethlehem,  from  April  to  July.  One  of 
these  was  Chancellor  Robert  Livingstone,  who  on  that  occasion 
offered  the  Executive  Board  at  Bethlehem  five  thousand  acres  of 
land  to  open  a  Moravian  settlement  on  the  Upper  Delaware ;  a 
renewal  of  the  former  project  in  Ulster  County,  which  had  fallen 
through. 

Others  specially  mentioned  were  Samuel  Adams  and  John  Han- 
cock again,  and  Governor  Morris.  With  the  name  of  the  latter,  gos- 
sip had  associated  a  pubHshed  address  to  the  "Quakers  and  Bethle- 
hemites,"  says  the  diarist,  and  adds  that  this  was  the  first  time  they 
had  been  publicly  so  styled  and  distinctly  classed  with  the  Tories. 
It  would  have  enhanced  the  picturesque  confusion  of  ideas  about  the 
Brethren  if  some  romancer  had  given  them  that  title  after  the  hos- 
pital epoch  opened  at  Bethlehem,  and  sprung  the  theory  that  now 
the  problem  of  their  origin  and  character  had  been  solved  in  the 
supposition  that  they  were  an  ofifshoot  of  the  Franciscan  Father 
deBethencourt's  Hospital  Order  of  the  previous  century,  given  that 
name  with  its  insignia  bearing  a  picture  of  the  Nativity  at  Bethle- 
hem. It  would  have  aflorded  a  yet  wider  range  for  the  imagination 
that  has  produced  so  many  wonderful  modern  stories  about  the 
Moravians.  It  would  also  have  apparently  vindicated  the  conclusion 
of  those  early  north  Hibernian  settlers  in  the  Forks,  that  they  were 
Papists  because  they  celebrated  Christmas  in  a  religious  manner  and 
even  according  to  the  new  calendar.  Such  a  theory  about  the  "Beth- 
lehemites"  would,  moreover,  have  harmonized  with  that  ideal  of  the 
Sisters'  House  of  Bethlehem,  under  the  erroneous  impression  that 
it  was  a  convent,  which,  nearly  forty  years  later,  was  put  into  beauti- 
ful verse  by  the  beloved  American  poet  Longfellow,  while  a  youth  of 
eighteen  years,  when  his  fancy  was  stirred  by  reading  an  incident 
associated  with  the  presence  in  Bethlehem  of  another  gallant  foreign 
officer  whose  career  in  the  American  Revolution  enters  into  the 
poetry  of  the  sublime  struggle,  and  around  whose  sojourn  in  the 
Moravian  town  a  yet  more  romantic  glamour  has  been  cast  than 
about  that  of  LaFayette.  On  the  afternoon  of  Maundy  Thursday. 
April  16,  in  the  spring  of  1778,  Count  Casimir  Pulaski  came  into 
the  church  where  the  congregation  was  assembled  to  hear  the  read- 


486  A    HISTORV    OF    BETHLEHEM,   PENNSYLVANIA. 

ing  of  the  second  lesson  of  the  clay,  the  scene  in  Gethsemane.  He 
was  accompanied  by  "the  well-known  Col.  Kobatsch."  The  latter  is 
mentioned  in  the  diary,  January  24,  as  "a  Prussian  officer  of  Hussars 
who  had  long  been  living  in  retirement,"  but  at  that  time  was  endeav- 
oring to  raise  and  equip  a  troop  for  the  Continental  service  and  hoped 
to  negotiate  with  the  saddlers,  glovers,  founders,  and  other  artisans 
of  Bethlehem,  to  furnish  him  the  necessary  accoutrements,  but  found 
that  in  consequence  of  the  lack  of  materials  at  the  time  and  the 
demoralization  caused  by  the  occupation  of  the  Brethren's  House  by 
the  hospital,  they  would  not  be  able  to  do  it.  He  is  mentioned  again 
on  July  31,  as  passing  through  from  Easton  "en  route  for  Baltimore" 
with  his  troopers,  equipped  and  armed.^ 

His  connection  with  Pulaski  seems  to  have  commenced  when  the 
latter  was,  before  this,  preparing  to  recruit  his  legion,  mainly,  as 
some  writers  state,  about  Baltimore.  On  May  15,  Pulaski  is  men- 
tioned again  as  coming  to  the  church  with  some  of  his  staff  in  stately 


I  This  name  is  found  spelled  Kowatz  and  Kowats  in  public  documents  of  the  time.  The 
Moravian  diarist,  more  familiar  with  the  orthography  of  such  East-Prussian  and  Polish 
names  than  American  civil  and  military  officers,  vi^ho  often  quite  changed  their  form,  prob- 
ably spells  it  more  correctly. 

So  the  name  of  Pulaski  is  spelled  in  the  Moravian  records  Polasky  and  Pulawsky,  either 
of  which  forms  is  probably  more  in  accordance  with  the  correct  pronunciation  and  the 
original  spelling  than  the  current  one.  The  pronunciation  of  these  forms  is  somewhat  as  if 
spelled  Pollotschky — like  that  of  the  more  common  modern  name  Palacky — or,  the  second, 
Pullofschky.  When  the  Indian  incursions  in  July,  1778,  began  to  endanger  the  frontier  of 
Northampton  County,  the  Government  of  Pennsylvania,  on  consultation  with  the  Board  of 
War,  appointed  "Col.  Kowatz"  (Kobatsch)  to  guard  the  region,  he  having  "under  his 
command  a  small  company  of  liorse  "  at  Easton.  [Col.  i?d'i-.,  XI,  531.)  Robert  Levers, 
Esq.,  writing  from  Easton,  August  25,  1778,  to  George  Bryan,  Vice-President  of  the  Execu- 
tive Council,  represents  the  appointment  of  Kobatsch  as  an  "  unhappy  choice  "  because  he 
was  "  totally  inadequate  to  the  important  task  of  conducting  military  operations  in  an 
Indian  country  or  in  a  country  into  which  the  savages  may  make  inroads  and  devastations, 
he  being  as  perfectly  unacquainted  with  the  country  liable  to  be  exposed  to  Indian  ravages, 
as  he  is  to  the  nature  of  the  Indian  manner  of  fighting."  He  says,  "  Col.  Kowats  in  the 
Legion  to  which  he  belongs  and  for  the  service  it  is  immediately  raised  may  doubtless  dis- 
tinguish himself,"  but  fears  the  people  in  the  upper  part  of  the  Minnisinks  "  will  soon  feel 
a  heavy  blow  from  the  enemy,"  and  adds  :  '-That  part  of  General  Pulaski's  Legion  which 
remain  with  Col.  Kowats  at  his  headquarters  at  Fort  Penn  I  humbly  am  of  opinion  cannot 
possibly  render  any  service  to  the  public  in  that  very  broken  country  but  by  way  of  ex- 
presses, and  this  is  needlessly  distressing  that  unhappy  country  to  a  very  great  degree." 
Pa.  Archives,  VI,  719.  From  all  this  it  appears  that  in  July  and  August,  Kobatsch,  instead 
of  having  proceeded  to  Baltimore,  commanded  that  detachment  of  Pulaski's  cavalry  which 
ranged  and  guarded  the  Minnisinks. 


1778 1785-  487 

procession  to  attend  the  English  preaching.  He  was  in  Bethlehem 
again  later,  during  the  time  when  a  detachment  of  his  legion  was 
assigned  to  duty  in  near-by  parts  of  New  Jersey, before  he  went  south 
to  join  the  campaign  in  Georgia.  It  is  stated  elsewhere  that  he  had 
previously  visited  La  Fayette  while  the  latter  was  lying  wounded  at 
Bethlehem,  but  the  records  of  the  place  do  not  menton  him  at  that 
time.  Several  times  when  there  appeared  to  be  danger  of  unruly 
troops  disturbing  the  seclusion  of  the  Sisters'  House,  this  chivalrous 
son  of  Poland  detailed  members  of  his  staff  to  guard  its  doors.  The 
meagre  references  to  him  in  authentic  original  records  are  tantaHz- 
ing.  He  carried  with  him  from  Bethlehem  a  handsome  silk  guidon 
which  fluttered  from  the  upright  lance  at  the  head  of  his  legion  when 
he  fell  at  Savannah  in  October,  1779.  It  was  embroidered  in  the 
Sisters'  House.  Tradition  has  it  that  the  banner  was  tendered  him 
by  the  sisters  in  grateful  recognition  of  his  gallant  concern  for  their 
protection.  This,  however,  is  nowhere  stated.  The  probabihty  is 
that  when  examining  the  fine  specimens  of  embroidery  and  other 
fancy  work  in  the  Sisters'  House — where  at  that  time  such  work  of 
a  high  order  was  produced  in  abundance — and  making  purchases,  as 
many  another  officer  did,  he  specially  arranged  with  those  in  charge 
to  have  such  a  guidon  made.  So  much  of  sentiment  may  have 
attached  to  the  transaction  that  he  fancied  the  idea  of  having  a  ban- 
ner that  had  been  made  at  that  place ;  and  it  is  not  beyond  the  bounds 
of  probability  that  this  Polish  patriot,  said  to  have  been  a  nephew  of 
Polish  royalty,  may  have  had  some  knowledge  of  the  old  heroic  his- 
tory of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  associated  with  former  struggles  of  his 
fatherland,  and  w^as  aware  of  the  historic  connection  of  the  Brethren 
at  Bethlehem  with  that  ancient  Church.  Some  such  associations 
with  the  person  of  Pulaski  may  possibly  also  have  entered  the  minds 
of  the  gentle  women  who  designed  and  executed  the  work,  and  there 
is  at  least  no  evidence  against  the  conjecture  that,  even  if  he  asked 
to  have  it  done  for  him  and  proposed  to  pay  for  the  work,  they  may 
have  declined  the  compensation  and  begged  him  to  accept  it  as  a 
token  of  appreciation  in  view  of  his  manifest  concern  for  their  safety. 
The  tradition  that  makes  the  idea  to  have  originated  with  these  sis- 
ters, credits  Susan  von  Gersdorf,  their  Eldress  or  superintendent, 
with  proposing  it.  Rebecca  Langly,  who  had  brought  fine  needle- 
work at  Bethlehem  to  its  highest  point  of  excellence,  is  said  to  have 
designed  the  pattern.  She  was  a  young  English  w^oman  of  genteel 
breeding,  good   education   and   formerly  opulent   family.     With   the 


488  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

work  of  embroidering  the  pattern  the  names  of  her  sister,  Erdmuth 
Langly,  Julia  Bader,  Anna  Bkmi,  Anna  Hussy,  Maria  Rosina  Schultz 
and  Anna  Maria  Weiss  have  all  been  associated. - 


2  What  is  known  about  the  banner  is  given  in  Lossing's  Piclorial  Field-Book  of  the  Revo- 
lution, from  which  all  writers  since  have  gotten  their  data,  apart  from  what  is  stated  above. 
Lossing  says  :  "  Pulaski  visited  La  Fayette  while  that  wounded  officer  was  a  recipient  of  the 
pious  care  and  hospitality  of  the  Moravians  at  Bethlehem.  When  it  was  known  that  the 
brave  Pole  was  organizing  a  corps  of  cavalry  in  Baltimore,  the  single  women  of  Bethlehem 
prepared  a  banner  of  crimson  silk,  with  designs  beautifully  wrought  with  the  needle  by 
their  own  hands,  and  sent  it  to  Pulaski  with  their  blessing.  This  banner  was  used  in  the 
procession  that  welcomed  La  Fayette  to  Baltimore,  1824,  and  was  then  deposited  in  Peale's 
Museum.  Mr.  Edmund  Peale  presented  it  to  the  Maryland  Historical  Society  in  1844, 
where  it  is  now  (1850)  carefully  preserved  in  a  glass  case."  [It  is  still  in  the  possession  of 
that  society.]  "  But  little  of  its  former  beauty  remains.  On  one  side  the  capitals  U.  S.  are 
encircled  by  the  motto,  '  Unitas  Virtus  fortior'';  on  the  other,  the  all-seeing  eye  of  God,  in 
the  midst  of  the  thirteen  stars  of  the  Union,  surrounded  by  the  words,  ^Non  alius  regit.'' 
These  designs  are  embroidered  with  yellow  silk,  the  letters  shaded  with  green.  A  deep- 
green  bullion-fringe  ornaments  the  edges.  The  size  of  the  banner  is  twenty  inches  square. 
It  was  attached  to  a  lance  when  borne  to  the  field."  Mr.  Lossing  gives  a  drawing  of  it. 
It  is  stated  by  other  writers  that  when  Pulaski  fell  in  battle  at  Savannah,  October  li,  1779, 
the  banner  was  rescued  by  his  First  Lieutenant  and  given  to  Captain  Bantalon,  who  even- 
tually took  it  with  him  to  Baltimore. 

In  reference  to  Longfellow's  "  Hymn  of  the  Moravian  Nuns  of  Bethlehem  at  the  Conse- 
cration of  Pulaski's  Banner,"  written  before  he  knew  that  the  Moravian  sisters  were  not 
nuns,  and  when  he  supposed  the  banner  to  have  been  a  large  flowing  flag,  there  has  been 
published  the  following  note  written  by  the  poet,  in  reply  to  an  inquiry  addressed  to  him  by 
Gen.  W.  E.  Doster,  of  Bethlehem,  when  the  latter  was  a  student  at  Yale  : 

Cambridge,  January  13,  1857. 
"Dear  Sir: 

The  Hymn  of  the  Moravian  Nuns  was  written  in  1825  and  was  suggested  to  me 
by  a  paragraph  in  the  North  American  Review,  Vol.  II,  p.  390,  'The  standard  of  Count 
Pulaski,  the  noble  Pole  who  fell  in  the  attack  on  Savannah  during  the  American  Revolution, 
was  of  crimson  silk,  embroidered  by  the  Moravian  nuns  of  Bethlehem,  Pa.'  The  banner  is 
still  preserved ;  you  will  find  a  complete  account  of  the  matter  in  Lossing's  Field-Booh  of 
the  Revolution.  The  last  line  is  figurative.  I  suppose  (in  the  poem)  the  banner  to  have 
been  wrapped  about  the  body,  as  is  frequently  done.         Truly  yours, 

Henry  W.  Longfellow." 

There  is  an  accurate  pictorial  representation  of  the  banner  in  colors,  reduced  size,  in  the 
Moravian  archives  at  Bethlehem.  A  reproduction  of  it  was  carried,  for  the  first  time,  at  the 
head  of  the  procession,  followed  by  numerous  historic  flags  and  banners,  by  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  at  the  unveiling,  June  19,  1897  —  anniversary 
of  the  evacuation  of  Philadelphia  by  the  British  in  1778^  of  the  bronze  tablet  placed  by 
them  on  the  front  of  "Colonial  Hall  "  — the  old  Brethren's  House  —  of  the  Seminary  for 
"S'oung  Ladies,  at  Bethlehem,  to  commemorate  its  use  as  a  general  hospital  by  the  Conti- 
nental army,  1776  to  1778. 


1778 — 1785-  489 

In  F"ebruary  of  that  year  the  diarist  mentions  a  visit  by  the  French 
litterateur  Mons.  cle  La  Bahii,  who  was  collecting  material  for  writ- 
ing American  history.  He  made  particular  inquiry  into  the  teach- 
ing, principles  and  institutions  of  the  Moravian  Brethren  and  the 
organization  and  estabhshments  of  Bethlehem,  with  which  he  was 
much  pleased.  His  frequent  response  to  statements  and  explana- 
tions was  simply  "bo)i!"  Early  in  October,  another  foreign  General 
in  the  continental  service  is  mentioned  as  a  visitor,  the  Chevalier  de 
La  Neuville,  Army  Inspector  under  General  Gates.  But  more  inter- 
est and  importance  was  attached  to  the  arrival,  on  November  25, 
of  the  first  accredited  Minister  Plenipotentiary  from  France  to  the 
United  States,  the  ChevaHer  Conrad  Alexandre  Gerard.  He  had 
arrived  at  Philadelphia,  July  8,  with  the  French  fleet  under  Count 
d'Estaing.  Silas  Deane,  who  with  Arthur  Lee  had  been  engaged 
with  Dr.  Franklin  in  securing  the  important  treaty  of  February  6, 
between  France  and  the  United  States,  which  was  a  turning  point  in 
the  fortunes  of  the  Revolution,  and  who  had  also  arrived  from 
France  with  that  fleet,  accompanied  the  Ambassador  to  Bethlehem. 
With  them  came  also  that  courtly-mannered  Spaniard,  Don  Juan 
de  Miralles,  unofficially  representing  his  nation,  which  was  then 
assuming  an  uncertain  position  towards  the  American  cause.  He 
was  commissioned  by  the  Governor  of  Havana  to  gather  information 
and  impressions,  in  order,  as  was  supposed,  to  help  the  home  gov- 
ernment to  conclusions.  Congress,  although  apparently  a  little 
dubious,  felt  constrained  to  show  him  all  honor  that  was  safe,  and 
to  make  favorable  impressions  upon  him  in  every  way.  This  desire, 
with  that  of  showing  every  possible  distinction  to  the  representative 
of  the  young  Nation's  new-made  ally,  who  himself  had  taken  a  lead- 
ing part  in  shaping  the  treaty  and  had  officially  signed  it,  caused 
men  at  the  head  of  afifairs  to  take  special  pains  to  impress  upon  the 
Bethlehem  authorities  the  importance  of  these  persons  and  the 
desirabilitv  of  treating  them  with  marked  respect.  It  was  wished 
that  they  should  appreciate  all  this  and  act  accordingly,  so  that  the 
visits  of  these  men  to  this  conspicuous  and  famous  inland  settlement, 
ill-spoken  of  by  some  minor  public  men,  might  be  properly  enjoyed. 
The  letter  written  by  Henry  Laurens,  President  of  Congress,  to 
Ettwein,  announcing  them,  reveals  this  desire.^ 


3  "  My  Dear  Friend, 

Mons'r  Gerard,  the  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  France  will  be,  provided  he  meets  no 
obstruction  on  the  Road,  at  Bethlehem  on  Wednesday  the  25th  inst  about  midday.      This 


490  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

That  the  P'rench  minister  enjoyed  his  stay  of  three  days  and  found 
the  place  and  its  institutions,  and  the  neighborhood  generally,  inter- 
esting, was  strongly  testified,  and  was  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  he 
made  another  visit  in  June,  1779.  Meanwhile,  on  January  5  of  the 
last  mentioned  year,  another  party  of  a  different  kind,  but  of  some 
note,  arrived  at  Bethlehem,  followed  at  intervals,  on  to  the  end  of 
the  month,  by  others  on  like  footing.  These  were  paroled  officers 
of  the  British  army  captured  at  Saratoga,  October  17,  1777,  mostly 
of  the  Brunswick  corps.  On  the  5th  came  General  Frederick  Adolph 
Riedesel,  with  his  noble  and  devoted  wife,  who  was  sharing  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  camp  and  march  and  battle-field  with  him,  and  their 
three  children,  accompanied  by  their  regimental  chaplain,  John  August 
Milius.  Madam  Riedesel  brought  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Gen- 
eral Gates,  then  inactive  at  Boston.*  They  were  followed  on  the  nth 
by  General  William  Phillips,  Burgoyne's  famous  artillery  commander, 
who  has  been  praised  as  a  "brave  and  honorable  soldier,"  and  on  the 
other  hand  criticised  for  "haughtiness  and  irritability."  He  was 
accompanied  by  several  subordinates.       Both  the  amiable  and  the 

worthy  character  merits  regard  from  all  the  citizens  of  these  states,  an  acquaintance  with 
him  will  afford  you  satisfaction,  and  I  am  persuaded  his  Visit  will  work  no  evil  or  incon- 
venience to  your  Community.  Don  Juan  de  Miralles  a  Spanish  Gentleman  highly  recom- 
mended by  the  Governor  of  Havana  will  accompany  Mr.  Gerard.  The  whole  suite  may 
amount  to  six  Gentlemen  and  perhaps  a  servant  to  each.  I  give  this  previous  intimation  in 
order  that  preparations  suitable  to  the  occasion  may  be  made  by  Mr.  Johnson  (Jost  Jansen) 
at  the  tavern  and  otherwise  as  you  think  expedient.  My  good  wishes  attend  you  all." 
(Then  a  few  lines  about  other  matters.) 

"  Believe  me  Dear  Sir  to  be  with  sincere  respect  and  veiy  great  affection, 

Your  friend  and  most  humble  servant, 

Philadelphia  23  Novem.  1778.  Henry  Laurens." 

Boston,  Novemb'r  177^. 
4  "  Dear  Sir, 

This  letter  will  be  delivered  to  you  by  Madame  Riedesel,  the  Lady  of  Major 
General  Riedesel,  to  whom  I  entreat  you  will  show  every  mark  of  Civility  and  Respect  in 
your  Power.  Wise  reasons  have  determined  Congress  to  direct  the  march  of  the  Army  under 
the  Convention  of  Saratoga  to  Charlottsville,  in  Virginia.  General  Riedesel,  his  Lady  and 
little  Family,  accompany  the  troops  of  their  Prince.  It  is  a  painful  and  fatiguing  journey  at 
this  season  of  the  Year.  I  doubt  not  your  Hospitable  Disposition  will  render  it  as  pleasant 
as  possible,  and  that  without  my  Recommendations,  you  naturally  would  indulge  the  senti- 
ments which  influence  the  Gentleman  and  the  Citizen  of  the  World 

I  am  Dear  Sir 

Your  affectionate 
Rev.  Mr.  Ettwein  Humble  Servant, 

of  Bethlehem  Penna.  Horatio  Gates." 


■^i.CVl  «> 


/i1 


^77^ 1785-  491 


S>Z^^^^      -^^i^.    lyyo 


y)     —  '^    ~^ 

^^}  o//Mt  ^iM^A  ^/iA<^^3  J^  ^^^  z, 

\^{^wcJi  C^/'^U^  ^..yft^r^r^y  i4/yt£>l£/ty  ^/^4..■'/^>v%^t^^'A.^n    (ML 

4^c  CL^Wi^  ^v^G/^  Qy^v^'nc^ 9-yr4d  ^  Ji^^vt^yl^uJ^ 

Qyu.6^r>^ir>xe/ncca^/i^yi^ ^  ^jC**  yyva/144'iMyt^  '(A^C>i^t/ii  ty^^i,^;iU</-a^^ 


492  A    HISTORY    OF   BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

harsh  sides  of  his  character  are  revealed  b}-  incidents  of  this  time.  His 
heart  was  so  won  by  the  little  girls  in  the  boarding-school  at  Beth- 
lehem that  he  dealt  out  five  guineas  in  solid  gold  to  them  as  a  present. 
On  the  other  hand,  after  the  second  stay  of  the  party  at  Bethlehem, 
when  they  had  to  turn  back  for  a  third  sojourn  because  negotiations 
for  their  exchange  were  suddenly  interrupted,  he  had  to  be  reproved 
by  Madam  Riedesel  for  the  indiscreet  rage  to  which  he  gave  expres- 
sion amid  dangerous  surroundings.  Then,  on  January  26  and  the 
following  days,  came  a  body  of  Brunswick  officers  of  General 
Riedesel's  corps  and  were  furnished  lodgings  at  the  request  of  Quar- 
termaster Robert  Lettis  Hooper.  The  diarist  of  Bethlehem  mentions 
by  name  Major  Just  von  Maibaum,  Captain  August  Frederick 
Dommes,  Captain  Schlagenteufel,  Lieutenants  Vreda,  Meyer,  Bach, 
Goedecke,  two  young  gentlemen,  von  Rantzau  and  von  Boenicke, 
Captains  of  Horse,  Stutzer  and  Schlagentruft  and  Chaplain  Melz- 
heimer.  They  had  several  musicians  with  them  and,  not  only 
engaged  in  much  diversion  among  themselves,  but  gave  the  villagers 
the  benefit  of  frequent  serenades  in  appreciation  of  the  comfortable 
and  agreeable  situation  into  which  the  fortunes  of  war  brought  them 
as  prisoners.  On  the  other  hand,  they,  as  typical  Germans,  did  not 
cast  away  the  religious  traditions  of  their  fatherland.  By  courtesy  of 
the  authorities,  their  chaplain  conducted  a  service  and  preached  a 
sermon  for  them  in  the  chapel  of  the  Brethren's  House  on  Easter 
Sunday.  They  had  also  attended  the  services  of  the  congregation 
on  Palm  Sunday  and  taken  Communion  during  Holy  Week.  A  little 
romance  was  also  associated  with  their  sojourn  at  Bethlehem,  in  that, 
on  May  10,  their  Chaplain,  Milzheimer,  became  the  husband  of  one 
of  the  Bethlehem  maidens.^ 

The  middle  of  May,  these  paroled  Brunswick  officers  left  for  Lan- 
caster. The  end  of  November,  1780,  certain  of  them  came  to  Beth- 
lehem again  from  Reading  and  on  December  i,  finally  left  for  New 
York.  General  Riedesel  and  his  party,  after  a  stay  of  only  two  days, 
started  for  Virginia,  followed,  on  January  22,  by  General  Phillips  and 
other  officers.  On  September  25  and  26,  they  were  back  in  Bethlehem 

5  He  married  Agnes  Mau,  a  daughter  of  Samuel  Mau,  whom  the  Brethren  at  Bethlehem  in 
1742  released  from  service  as  a  Redemptioner.  Her  mother  was  Anna  Catherine  Kremper, 
who  in  1742  came  to  Bethlehem  from  South  Carolina  with  Abraham  Bueninger.  Another 
daughter  became  the  wife  of  David  Bischoff,  of  Bethlehem,  in  1781.  Some  of  the  Bruns- 
wickers,  among  them  probably  the  chaplain,  had  their  quarters  at  the  home  of  this  family. 
Remote  family  connections  not  expected,  might  be  traced  back  to  this  marriage  link,  welded 
under  such  peculiar  circumstances. 


1/78 1785  493 

again  on  their  way  to  New  York,  expecting  to  be  exchanged.  Pro- 
ceeding on  their  journey,  they  were  stopped  at  EHzabethtown  by 
orders  stating  that  Congress  had  not  confirmed  the  proposed  terms 
of  exchange.  On  October  10  they  once  more  came  to  Bethlehem 
and  remained  until  November  22,  1779,  when  they  again  left  and 
finally  got  to  New  York.  In  connection  with  the  sojourn  of  this 
party  at  Bethlehem,  the  Moravians  again  had  to  pay  the  penalty  of 
being  written  about  and  having  their  institutions  and  arrangements 
described  as  the  several  writers  understood  and  viewed  them,  or  were 
disposed  to  represent  them.® 


6  The  memoirs  and  letters  of  General  and  Madam  Riedesel  are  well  known  and  the 
passages  relating  to  Bethlehem  have  been  often  quoted.  Their  statements  about  things  are, 
in  the  main,  more  correct  than  those  of  many  other  writers,  and  the  spirit  of  their  reminis- 
cences is  prevailingly  a  kindly  and  appreciative  one.  Madam  Riedesel,  however,  must  have 
received  some  singular  information,  not  from  Moravian  sources,  which  led  her  to  state,  in 
referring  to  the  "  well  cultivated  section  inhabited  by  the  Moravian  Brethren,"  that  "  one 
place  is  called  the  Holy  Sepulchre  and  another  district  goes  by  the  name  of  Holy  Land  in 
which  is  a  town  called  Bethlehem."  Not  fully  realizing  the  enormous  prices  to  which  all 
commodities  had  risen,  she  thought  they  were  exorbitantly  charged  at  the  Sun  Tnn.  Treat- 
ing of  their  last  sojourn  when  they  had  to  turn  back  from  EHzabethtown  in  October,  1779, 
she  says:  "We  now  returned  to  Bethlehem  where  my  husband  and  General  Phillips  were 
allowed  by  the  Americans  to  remain  until  the  particulars  of  the  exchange,  which  was  yet 
unfinished  should  be  settled  ;  and  as  our  former  landlord  at  this  place  had  treated  us  with 
kind  hospitality,  we,  all  of  us,  remained  to  board  with  him — sixteen  persons  and  four  house 
servants,  the  latter  receiving  money  to  pay  their  board,  also  about  twenty  horses.  Our  host 
would  make  with  us  no  definite  agreement  (probably  on  account  of  fluctuating  finances) 
about  the  price,  and  as  none  of  us  had  any  money,  this  was  very  convenient,  as  he  would 
cheerfully  wait  for  his  pay  until  we  received  some.  We  supposed  him  to  be  an  honest  and 
reasonable  man,  and  the  more  so  as  he  belonged  to  the  Community  of  Moravian  Brethren, 
and  the  Inn  was  one  patronized  by  that  Society.  But  how  great  was  our  surprise  when 
after  a  residence  of  six  weeks,  and  just  as  we  had  received  permission  to  go  to  New  York, 
we  were  served  with  a  bill  of  ^32,000,  that  is  to  say  American  paper  money,  which  is  about 
400  guineas  in  actual  money.  Had  it  not  been  for  a  royalist  who  just  at  this  time  happened 
to  pass  through  the  village  seeking  the  purchase  of  hard  money  at  any  price,  we  should  have 
been  placed  in  the  greatest  embarrassment  and  would  not  have  been  able  by  any  possibility 
to  leave  the  town."  (16  persons  and  20  horses  6  weeks,  furnished  the  best  to  be  had,  for 
400  guineas,  was  a  little  over  $3.25  per  day  for  man  and  beast,  which  was  reasonable  as 
]3rices  then  ran.)  Madam  Riedesel  says  that  in  the  Sisters'  House  at  Bethlehem  "  they 
made  magnificent  embroidery  and  other  beautiful  handiwork,"  and  that  they  purchased 
various  articles.  She  refers  to  the  numerous  manufactures,  a  leather  dresser  who  produced 
work  "as  good  as  that  of  England  and  half  as  cheap,"  states  that  the  gentlemen  of  the 
party  bought  a  quantity,  and  speaks  of  the  good  cabinet-makers  and  workers  in  metal.  She 
says,  "  while  at  Bethlehem  we  often  went  to  church  and  enjoyed  the  splendid  singing.  The 
wife  of  the  minister  died  while  we  were  there  (wife  of  the  Rev.  Paul  Muenster).     We  saw 


494  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

It  is  surprising  that  Jest  Jansen,  the  Bethlehem  host,  was  able  to 
keep  the  hotel  up  to  the  standard  commonly  described  by  guests, 
and  to  so  frequently  entertain  persons  of  quality  in  a  fitting  manner, 
in  view  of  the  scarcity  and  high  price  of  so  many  articles  that  were 
constantly  required.  References  are  made  in  the  records  occasionally 
to  the  deplorable  condition  of  public  finances  and  to  the  market 
prices.  In  July,  1778,  wagon-master  Beitel,  who  had  conveyed  a  load 
of  sugar  from  Boston  to  Philadelphia,  brought  to  Bethlehem  from  the 
latter  city  twenty-six  gallons  of  Communion  wine  for  which  he  paid 
£125.  January  11,  1779,  flour  was  quoted  at  $20  per  cwt.  January 
18,  two  paroled  British  officers,  a  quartermaster  and  a  paymaster, 
who  had  spent  ten  days  in  Bethlehem,  are  reported  to  have  sold  from 
four  to  five  hundred  guineas  at  $35  Continental  currency  per  guinea. 
Before  the  close  of  1779.  one  dollar  in  specie  was  worth  thirty-seven 
dollars  in  paper.  On  October  8,  it  is  recorded  that  several  men 
returning  from  Philadelphia  reported  the  following  prices  in  the  city : 
Flour,  £60  Pa.  per  cwt.;  Tenerifife  wine,  £20  per  gallon;  tea,  £17  per 
pound ;  salt,  £80-90  per  bushel ;  "a  silk  neck-cloth  that  formerly  cost 
six  shillings,"  $100.  It  took  £120  to  purchase  One  Half  Joe,  i.  e.,  40 
to  I.  (In  1784  this  coin  could  again  be  had  for  £3  Pa.)  It  might 
have  been  expected  that  the  rates  at  the  inn  for  guests  who  wanted 
whatever  was  to  be  had  at  any  price,  would  have  been  higher  than 
those  that  astonished  Madam  Riedesel. 

On  June  15,  1779.  a  flutter  of  excitement  was  occasioned  by  the' 
arrival  at  this  famous  hostelry,  of  a  body  of  more  than  twenty  Amer- 
ican officers  from  Easton,  not  worn  and  weary,  nor  with  uniforms 

her  laid  out  in  a  separate  enclosure  with  bars,  waiting  for  burial ;  for  here  they  never  keep  a 
dead  body  in  the  house." 

Another  account  of  Bethlehem  at  that  time  which  found  its  way  into  print  and  has  occa- 
sionally been  reproduced,  is  that  of  Lieutenant  Anbury  who  was  at  the  place  when  Gen. 
Phillips  and  his  company  tarried  the  first  time  in  1778.  He  praises  the  tavern  highly,  like 
all  who  laid  chief  stress  on  good  living,  and  refers  to  General  Phillips  as  being  so  delighted 
with  it  that  the  good  accommodations  caused  him  to  turn  back  to  Bethlehem  when  not  per- 
mitted to  go  on  to  New  York.  He  speaks  of  the  fancy  and  ornamental  work  and  the 
numerous  musical  instruments  in  the  Sisters'  House.  He  says,  "  the  women  dine  in  a  large 
hall  in  which  is  a  handsome  organ  and  the  walls  are  adorned  with  Scripture  pieces  painted 
by  some  of  the  women  who  formerly  belonged  to  the  Society.  This  hall  answers  the  pur- 
pose of  a  refectory  and  chapel,  but  on  Sundays  they  attend  worship  in  the  great  church 
(Old  Chapel),  which  is  a  neat  and  simple  building."  Some  of  his  remarks  about  the  life  of 
the  place  are  singular,  and  those  about  the  manner  of  arranging  marriages  belong  to  the 
canards  with  which  so  many  have  been  imposed  upon  who  have  innocently  taken  the  state- 
ments as  true. 


1778 1785.  495 

dust-covered  and  torn,  from  the  field  of  battle  or  from  a  long  journey 
through  the  country,  but,  no  doubt,  attired  in  their  newest  and  finest, 
and  assuming  all  the  pomp  and  circumstance  they  could  muster. 
Thev  were  gallantly  escorting  to  Bethlehem  a  plainly  dressed  and 
unpretentious  but  more  illustrious  lady  than  any  who  had  yet  been 
a  guest  at  the  place.  It  was  the  wife  of  General  Washington  on  her 
way  to  Virginia.  She  had  passed  the  previous  months  at  the  Middle- 
brook  Camp,  where  the  Commander-in-Chief  had  sojourned  during 
the  winter,  with  his  headquarters  in  the  "Wallace  House"'  in  Som- 
erset County,  New  Jersey,  where  now  the  town  of  Summerville  is. 
That  famous  winter  camp  was  breaking  up.  Washington  set  out 
for  West  Point  on  June  14,  and  his  wife  started  with  an  escort  for 
her  home.  Where  she  passed  the  night  of  the  14th  does  not  appear. 
General  W^illiam  Maxwell,  with  his  stafif,  was  honored  by  being  her 
special  escort.  They  were  joined  at  Easton  by  General  John  Sullivan 
and  General  Enoch  Poor.  She  was  escorted  about  Bethlehem  to  see 
everything  that  interested  her,  and  was  present  with  her  attendants 
at  the  evening  service  when  Ettwein  discoursed  in  English  and  the 
choir  and  orchestra  furnished  their  best  music.  The  diarist  records 
that  the  next  morning  Lady  Washington,  well-pleased  with  her  visit, 
left  for  Virginia.  The  previous  evening  all  of  the  officers,  excepting 
those  who  were  to  accompany  her  on  the  remainder  of  her  journey, 
returned  to  Easton. 

•  General  Sullivan  had  his  temporary  headquarters  there,  preparing 
for  his  famous  autumn  campaign  against  the  Indians  in  Wyoming 
and  beyond  into  New  York,  who,  at  the  instigation  of  British  emis- 
saries and  with  the  assistance  of  base  and  ruthless  Tories,  had,  the 
previous  year,  commenced  their  barbarities  in  those  regions.  During 
July,  1778,  Bethlehem  had  been  reminded  of  the  former  Indian  wars 
by  the  down-rush  of  terror-stricken  refugees  from  beyond  the  Blue 
Mountains,  when  a  general  raid  was  expected.  On  July  9,  the  Rev. 
Edward  Thorpe,  the  Moravian  minister  at  Gnadenhuetten  on  the 
Mahoning,  wrote  that  about  three  hundred  refugees,  mostly  widows 
and  orphans,  had  come  to  his  place  well  nigh  famished  and  almost 
naked,  and  on  July  ii,  the  Bethlehem  diarist  records  "about  four 
hundred  New  England  men"  reported  massacred.  From  the  15th  to 
the  17th,  manv  refugees  from  Shamokin  and  along  the  west  branch 
of  the  Susquehanna  passed  through,  empty  and  destitute,  on  their 
wav  to  their  former  homes  in  New  Jersey  and  New  York  ;  having 


7  Andrew  G.  Mellick   ]x.—  The  Story  of  an  OIJ  Farm,  p.  455. 


496  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

abandoned  their  crops  and  lost  all  that  they  had.  One  woman  from 
the  Long  Island  in  the  Susquehannah  reported  that  the  Indian 
Renatus,  whose  sensational  arrest  and  trial  as  an  alleged  accomplice 
in  the  murder  at  Stenton's  tavern  in  1764,  has  been  treated  of  in 
a  previous  chapter,  had  spent  the  preceding  winter  with  his  wife 
and  two  children  at  her  place  of  residence  and  had  behaved  very 
decorously;  and  that  suddenly  in  the  spring  he  and  his  whole  family 
had  been  killed  by  persons  unknown.  The  attitude  of  the  Indians 
who  had  now  been  inveigled  into  these  outrages  to  harass  the 
colonies  was  such  that  no  word  deprecating  the  most  drastic 
measures  against  them  appears  in  the  Moravian  records.  It  was 
felt  that  the  condign  punishment  meted  out  to  them  by  General 
Sullivan  in  the  autumn  of  1779,  was  deserved  and  was  an  awful 
necessity.  It  is  rather  remarkable  that  at  this  time  the  usual  story 
that  the  Indians  were  supplied  with  ammunition  by  the  Moravians  to 
commit  murder  with,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  started.  Perhaps 
the  kind  of  men  who  had  on  former  occasions  circulated  this  favorite 
tale,  were  at  this  time  finding  other  ways  of  worrying  them  more 
interesting.  Some  of  these  presented  themselves  in  connection  with 
the  application  of  sundry  stringent,  but  crude  and,  in  some  cases, 
impracticable  acts  of  Assembly  in  the  line  of  coercion  brought  to 
bear  upon  Tories,  and  of  financial  experiment  in  the  desperation  of 
the  time.  Every  rigorous  law  thus  enacted,  with  a  view  to  meeting 
pressing  necessities,  could  be  and  was  used  by  such  minor  ofBcials  as 
were  so  disposed,  to  harass  and  persecute  people  who  were  in  their 
disfavor  in  petty  ways  that  were  not  intended  and  that  accomplished 
no  good  whatever  for  the  public.  Some  instances  of  such  proceedings 
against  men  in  Bethlehem  are  referred  to  in  the  diary.  Thus,  in 
connection  with  the  regulations  about  the  price  of  leather,  Charles 
Weinicke,  the  Bethlehem  tanner,  was  made  the  victim  of  a  little 
conspiracy,  in  June,  1778,  to  get  a  Moravian  indicted  as  a  law- 
breaker. He  was  summoned  before  one  of  the  most  ill-disposed 
squires  of  the  time,  Jacob  Morey,  of  Allentown,  on  the  charge  of 
defying  an  Act  of  Assembly  in  refusing  to  sell  a  shoemaker  leather 
on  terms  demanded.  This  shoemaker,  as  was  afterwards  ascertained, 
had  been  sent  to  the  tanner  for  this  purpose,  with  the  knowledge  of 
the  aforesaid  squire.  The  tanner  knew  that  the  regulation  appealed 
to  had  been  changed,  for  the  tradesmen  of  Bethlehem  kept  them- 
selves very  carefully  informed  about  such  matters.  Under  the  slow, 
official  process  that  prevailed  in  the  disorder  of  the  time,  his  honor. 


17/8 1785.  497 

this  doughty  Justice,  could  declare  that  he  had  not  received  formal 
official  notice  of  the  new  law,  although  he  knew  it  quite  well,  and 
imposed  the  penalty,  thus  getting  a  Moravian  on  his  docket  as 
punished  for  violation  of  law.  Another  exploit  was  in  connection 
with  the  very  natural  objection  not  only  of  Moravians,  but  of  all  other 
people  including  all  members  of  the  Assembly  as  well  as  all  county 
lieutenants  and  squires,  to  accepting  depreciated  currency  that 
might  go  down  twenty  per  cent,  more  before  they  got  rid  of  it,  if 
they  could  get  specie  or  its  equivalent  in  other  shape,  in  trade.  The 
last  issues  of  Continental  currency  not  having  been  made  legal  tender 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  people  not  being,  therefore,  compelled  to  take 
the  new  "Congress  money,"  the  Assembly,  on  March  24,  1779, 
resolved,  "that  any  person  who  shall  refuse  such  Bills  of  Credit 
emitted  by  the  Hon'ble  Continental  Congress,  as  have  not  been  made 
a  legal  tender  in  Payment  of  any  Debt  or  Compact,  in  which  the 
Continental  Bills  of  Credit,  which  have  been  declared  legal  tender, 
might  be  legally  tendered,  such  person  is  and  ought  to  be  considered 
as  an  Enemy  of  his  Country  and  a  betrayer  of  the  Liberties  thereof." 
Then  the  common  course  pursued  in  making  a  bargain  was  to  adjust 
terms  by  understanding  beforehand  what  kind  of  money  was  to  be 
used.  On  June  29,  a  certain  Gallagher,  clerk  of  John  Wetzel,  County 
Lieutenant,  of  A'lacungie,  came  to  Abraham  Boemper,  of  Bethlehem, 
■  and  bought  two  watches  at  a  price  set  on  the  basis  of  coin.  After  the 
fellow  had  put  the  watches  into  his  pocket  he  took  out  Continental 
currency  to  pay  the  stipulated  sum  in  that  medium  saying  "this  is 
the  money  I  trade  with."  When  Boemper  refused  to  accept  it  he 
left  with  the  watches  and  the  money.  When  Boemper  and  another 
man  went  to  Allentown  to  recover  the  watches  or  get  redress,  they 
found  that  the  squires  were  privy  to  the  matter  and  refused  to  do  any- 
thing, and  the  story  went  out  that  Boemper  was  a  transgressor  under 
the  above  act.  But  a  strange  retribution  came  to  the  instigator  when, 
soon  after  that  game,  this  same  Gallagher  absconded  with  £11.000 
of  paper  money  for  which  W^etzel  was  accountable.  In  November 
of  that  year,  a  different  kind  of  a  sensation  was  created  at  the  cost 
of  two  men  in  Bethlehem,  the  store-keeper  Oberlin  and  a  young  man, 
Siegmund  Leschinsky,  who  had  just  arrived  from  Europe.  They 
were  arrested  for  having  in  their  possession  and  passing  counterfeit 
paper  currencv,  which  some  miscreant  had  brought  to  Bethlehem 
and  imposed  upon  Oberlin  and  others.  Wliile  these  men  were,  of 
course,  both  victims   and  not   evil-doers,   the   circumstance  caused 

33 


49^  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

much  Stir  and  no  end  of  gossip.  It  gave  new  occasion  to  those  who 
were  disposed  to  find  satisfaction  in  seeing  the  names  of  two  more 
Bethlehem  men  figure  on  a  criminal  docket  as  alleged  conspirators 
against  the   Government. 

In  the  midst  of  all  the  turmoil  caused  in  Pennsylvania,  during  the 
years  1778  and  1779,  by  the  various  acts  of  Assembly  in  reference  to 
militia  service  and  the  oath  of  allegiance,  the  efforts  of  those  func- 
tionaries who  were  particularly  inimical  to  the  Moravians  ran  in  two 
general  directions.  One  was  this  attempt,  by  whatever  kind  of  means 
that  might  offer,  to  shake  public  confidence  in  their  character  and 
to  persuade  men  at  the  head  of  the  Government  who  regretted  that 
laws  made  for  active  enemies  of  the  cause  should  have  to  oppress 
people  from  whom  nothing  was  to  be  feared,  and  who  refused  to 
believe  the  Moravians  guilty  of  any  designs  or  acts  against  the 
Commonwealth,  that  this  was  misplaced  confidence,  and  that  there 
were  treacherous  and  dangerous  men  among  them,  and  men  who 
spurned  the  laws.  The  other  was  to  break,  if  possible,  the  compact 
made  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth,  and  stampede  the  men  who  were 
feeling  the  weight  of  the  double  tax  and  the  high  price  of  substitutes 
so  grievously,  into  taking  the  test  in  order  to  have  peace.  As  to 
the  first  of  these  designs,  notwithstanding  the  constant  espionage 
to  which  the  Moravians  were  subjected,  and  the  snares  of  all  kinds 
laid  to  entrap  the  unwary  among  them,  they  do  not  figure  in  any 
■of  the  long  lists  proclaimed  under  the  Act  of  Attainder,  passed  by 
the  Assembly  in  June,  1777,  and,  under  the  strong  pressure  of  the 
dire  times,  made  actively  operative  during  1778.  None  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  a  row  of  Moravian  names  on  those  lists  of 
persons  attainted  as  traitors,  enemies  of  the  country  and  operating 
against  it.  With  a  view  to  bringing  this  about  and  to  creating  a 
panic  among  the  men  at  Bethlehem,  County  Lieutenant  Wetzel  put 
forth  his  boldest  stroke  early  in  April,  1778,  when  he  finally  brought 
to  pass  the  arrest  of  twelve  Moravians,  with  some  others,  and  their 
lodgement  in  prison  at  Easton,  on  trumped-up  charges  which  the 
diarist  of  Bethlehem  unhesitatingly  pronounces  "a  tissue  of  false- 
hoods." The  arrests  were  not  made  at  Bethlehem  nor  even  at 
Nazareth,  but  in  Wetzel's  own  neighborhood  at  Emmaus,  where  it 
could  be  done  more  easily  and  with  less  likelihood  of  immediate 
interference  from  higher  quarters.  They  were  marched  like  criminals 
with  much  show  of  guard  and  restraint,  through  Bethlehem,  as  an 
object-lesson.  Sick  soldiers  in  the  hospital  looked  out  of  the  windows 


1778 1785-  499 

and  jeered  as  they  passed,  until  they  learned  that  they  were  Morav- 
ians, and  then  this  ceased.  The  procession  was  made  long,  in  order 
that  it  might  be  more  imposing.  The  guards,  acting  under  instruc- 
tions, tried  at  first  to  prevent  all  communication  with  them  at  Beth- 
lehem, but  had  to  give  way  in  this  particular  and  permit  them  to  be 
served  with  dinner,  which  the  guards,  of  course,  shared,  and 
doubtless  esteemed  more  highly  than  Wetzel's  orders.  One  of  the 
charges  was  that  one  of  them  had  shot  at  the  constable  sent  to  arrest 
him,  and  had  wounded  him.  It  was  soon  ascertained  that  the  shooting 
was  done  by  another  man  in  the  neighborhood  who  had  no  con- 
nection with  the  Moravian  Church.  Accusations,  as  absurd  as  the 
old  stories  about  sending  powder  and  lead  to  savage  Indians,  were 
brought  against  others.  Wetzel  and  their  other  accuser  failed  to 
appear  against  them  when  the  trial  was  set.  When  the  second 
attempt  was  made  to  try  the  case,  he  and  Jacob  Miller  appeared  and 
swore  to  the  platitude  that  they  were  dangerous  enemies  of  the 
State,  and  they  were  bound  over.  At  the  end  of  April,  they  were 
permitted  to  go  home,  but  were  threatened  with  another  arrest  if 
they  did  not  take  the  test.  Less  than  a  week  later,  they  were  sum- 
moned before  Squire  Morey,  at  Allentown,  to  take  the  oath.  Event- 
ually the  most  of  them  were  worried  into  doing  so.  One  of  their 
number,  against  whom  Wetzel  had  a  grudge  on  account  of  a  private 
quarrel,  was  left  sitting  in  jail  at  Easton.  Finally,  after  an  appeal 
to  the  Supreme  Court  proved  fruitless — for,  as  the  law  was  framed, 
nothing  could  be  done — he  took  the  oath,  paid  the  costs  and  was 
released.  A  revised  and  very  stringent  test  act  had  gone  into  effect 
on  June  i.  Before  that,  in  May,  many  of  the  Moravians  had  united 
with  the  Schwenkfelders  in  an  urgent  petition  for  relief,  addressed 
to  the  Assembly.  It  resulted  in  nothing  further  than  is  indicated 
in  the  following,  written.  May  22,  1778 — the  day  on  which  Thomas 
Wharton,  President  of  the  Executive  Council,  died — by  George 
Bryan,  Vice-President,  to  County  Lieutenant  Wetzel:  "The  Morav- 
ians and  Schwenkfelders  have  been  very  urgent  with  the  Assembly 
to  relax  the  Test  and  free  them  from  the  abjuration  part.  The  claim 
of  the  King  of  Great  Britain  forbids  anything  like  this  being  done 
at  present.  When  that  prince  shall  renounce  his  claim,  it  will  be 
time  enough  to  reconsider  the  Test.  However,  as  these  people  are 
not  to  be  feared,  either  as  to  numbers  or  malice,  it  is  the  wish  of 
Government  not  to  distress  them  by  any  unequal  fines,  or  by  calling 
them,  without  any  special  occasion  happens,  to  take  the  oath  at  all." 


500  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

On  May  25,  Wetzel,  not  knowing  yet  of  President  Wharton's  death, 
wrote  to  him,  evidently  somewhat  stirred  by  the  hint  given  him  to 
desist  from  measures  unnecessarily  harassing.  He  had  reason  to 
feel  on  the  defensive  in  this  respect  and  a  little  uneasy,  over  against 
his  superiors,  for  there  had  been  numerous  complaints  about  his 
harsh  and  overbearing  ways,  even  by  militiamen  who  had  taken 
the  oath  and  were  doing  service,  and  from  other  county  officers.  In 
his  letter  of  May  25,  he  says:  "I  perceive  that  the  Moravians  and 
Sinkfelders  have  been  busy  with  their  petitions  for  redress  of  Griev- 
ances, which  I  am  sure.  Sir,  were  never  inflicted  on  them  in  this 
County,  more  than  on  other  people  of  different  denominations,  or 
more  than  the  laws  of  this  Common  Wealth  justly  directs."  He  then 
disclaims  all  intention  of  distressing  any  one,  sets  forth  the  great 
trouble  with  "disaffected  men"  in  the  County,  stating  that  one-tenth 
of  them  had  not  taken  the  oath  yet  and  adds  "nor  do  they  ever  mean 
to  do  it."  He  goes  on  to  refer  to  the  bad  behavior  of  "those  in 
particular  who  had  some  time  ago  been  committed  to  Easton  Goal," 
that  merited  "no  lenity."  Then  follows  this :  "Notwithstanding,  I 
have  treated  them  and  will  ever  endeavor  to  treat  mankind  in  such  a 
manner  as  no  part  of  my  Conduct  shall  or  may  be  looked  upon  as 
rigorous,  or  m}-  actions  ever  deserve  the  name  of  persecution ;  on 
this  foundation.  Sir,  I  shall  ever  Act  whilst  I  live,  and  whilst  I  have 
the  honour  to  be  in  Office  under  so  respectable  a  Body  as  the  Hon- 
ourable Supreme  Executive  Council  of  the  Common  Wealth  of  Penn- 
sylvania." Notwithstanding  this  specious  and  grandiloc[uent  defence, 
he  had  to  be  summoned  before  the  Executive  Council  in  February, 
to  answer  complaints  of  oppressive  acts  and  irregularities,  brought, 
not  by  Moravians,  but  by  the  enlisted  and  organized  militia  of  the 
county.  Shortly  before  that,  the  Council,  in  their  address  to  the 
Assembly,  intimated  that  "the  abuses  of  the  process  of  attachments 
and  replevins  which  are  taken  out  upon  the  estates  of  attainted 
Traitors  and  upon  seizures  for  fines  and  other  public  demands  call 
for  some  wholesome  restraints."  In  the  preceding  August,  wdien 
fourteen  men  from  Bethlehem,  under  one  call  for  militia  of  the  first 
four  registered  classes,  had  to  each  pay  £8.  16.  for  substitutes — such 
payment  always  sufficed  only  for  the  particular  call  in  question,  so 
that  it  might  come  an  indefinite  number  of  times — it  was  clear  that 
the  proportion  had  been  manipulated  so  as  to  mulct  as  many  Morav- 
ians as  possible. 

Then  a  new  enterprise  was  inaugurated.     Suddenly,  on   Sunday, 
September    7— this    was    yet    in    1778 — Constable    Jost    Walp,    who 


177^ 1785-  50I 

•  had,  before  that,  been  sent  about  by  the  Squires  Jacob  Moray 
and  Frederick  Limbach  at  Ahentown,  to  worry  quiet,  inoffensive 
Mennonite  farmers  in  the  Saucon  Valley,  appeared  at  the  Crown 
Inn  armed  with  notices  from  these  squires  to  be  served  upon  all  of 
the  men  at  Bethlehem,  Nazareth,  Gnadenthal  and  Christiansbrunn, 
to  appear  before  their  Honors  on  the  14th,  to  take  the  oath  or 
take  the  consequences.  No  new  act  of  Assembly,  no  new  exciting 
cause  in  the  neighborhood  and  no  pressure  from  the  Government 
to  aggressively  proceed  with  such  measures  occasioned  this  move. 
It  was  a  business  enterprise,  for  it  meant  many  fees  for  the  squires. 
Ettwein,  hearing  of  the  constable's  presence,  went  across  the  river 
to  see  him,  invited  him  to  dinner,  talked  the  matter  over  with  him  and 
persuaded  him  to  refrain  from  trying  to  execute  his  rather  compre- 
hensive commission,  and,  instead  of  undertaking  to  serve  the  notices 
on  the  individuals,  to  go  away  with  the  following  certificate,  signed 
by  Ettwein,  to  be  returned  to  the  squires :  "This  is  to  certify  that 
Yost  Walp,  Constable  of  Upper  Saucon,  has  summoned  Bethlehem, 
Nazareth,  Gnadenthal  and  Christiansbrunn  to  appear  before  Jacob 
Morey  and  Frederick  Limbach  at  Nicholas  Fox's  at  Allentown,  on 
September  14th  inst.  Witness  my  hand,"  &c.  Constable  Walp 
seemed  glad  to  get  through  his  wholesale  service  with  this  farcical 
formality,  and  left  to  make  his  returns  accordingly.  The  next  day 
Ettwein  went  to  Easton  to  consult  with  sensible  men  among  the 
county  officers  and  with  Col.  Arndt,  as  to  the  best  course  to  be 
further  pursued.  At  the  suggestion  of  Arndt — who  also  wrote  to 
the  squires  that  their  action  was  unwarrantable — he  proceeded  at 
once  to  Philadelphia  to  take  counsel  with  the  executive  heads  of  the 
State  Government.  Accompanied  by  William  Henry,  he  returned 
on  the  13th  with  the  assurance  that  the  enterprise  instituted  by  the 
Allentown  squires  was  unauthorized,  illegal  in  method  and  an  imper- 
tinent assumption ;  and  with  the  advice  to  pay  no  attention  to  the 
summons.  William  Henry  and  John  Okely  went  to  Allentown  on 
the  14th  and  informed  the  waiting  squires,  who  had  been  meanwhile 
advised  to  retract  their  summons  but  were  now  stubborn,  that  they 
need  not  expect  any  of  the  summoned  men.  They  were  furious, 
because  the  result  was  so  different  from  that  which  had  attended 
their  measures  among  the  poor  Saucon  farmers,  and  if  this  ambitious 
stroke,  to  which  they  were  emboldened  by  success  among  men  less 
able  to  help  themselves  and  more  easily  intimidated,  had  likewise 
succeeded,  it  would  have  proved  a  profitable  day's  work  for  them. 


502  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

They  were  particularly  enraged  by  the  discovery  that  Ettwein  had 
gone  to  Philadelphia  about  the  matter.  Rising  to  the  full  height 
of  their  affronted  official  dignity,  they  issued  a  summons  for  Ettwein 
and  sternly  declared  that  if  he  did  not  appear  before  them  on  the 
15th,  and  that  too  at  ten  of  the  clock  in  the  forenoon,  they  would 
"have  him  fetched."  On  that  morning  Ettwein  took  his  hat  and 
walking-stick,  declined  the  anxious  offer  of  some  to  accompany  him, 
and  leisurely  wxnt  to  AUentown  to  face  the  irate  squires.  After 
a  colloquy  of  three  hours,  they  abandoned  the  idea  of  issuing  any 
more  warrants  for  whole  towns  to  appear  before  them,  and  arranged 
to  come  to  Bethlehem  on  April  18,  to  take  the  oath  of  those  who 
were  willing.  William  Henry  persuaded  them  that  this  was  what 
they  had  better  do. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  from  the  time  when  Okely's  com- 
mission as  a  Justice  lapsed,  with  the  decease  of  the  Proprietary 
Government,  there  had  been  no  Justice  at  Bethlehem.  None  was 
sought  or  desired  for  some  years.  It  was  thought  that  under  the 
circumstances  of  the  time,  the  place  would  be  better  off  without 
one.  This  remained  so  for  many  years.  Not  until  the  election  of 
William  Henry,  of  Nazareth,  December  22,  1787,  was  there  a  squire 
again  in  Bethlehem  Township — it  then  yet  included  Nazareth — and 
it  was  still  later  before  one  again  resided  at  Bethlehem.  In  spite 
of  this,  the  place  managed  to  get  on  fairly  well. 

In  October,  1778,  following  that  fiasco  of  the  AUentown  squires, 
another  special  appeal,  at  the  suggestion  of  influential  public  men, 
was  signed  by  citizens  of  Bethlehem,  Nazareth  and  Lititz,  and  pre- 
sented to  the  Assembly.  The  belief  was  expressed  by  some  leading 
men  that  another  such  a  petition  from  the  Moravians,  speaking  only 
for  themselves,  might  help  to  influence  that  body  to  modify  the  act 
then  in  force,  which  prudent  men  were  convinced  was  both  needlessly 
oppressive  and  impolitic.  John  Bayard,  Speaker  of  the  House, 
referring  to  this,  said,  "we  have  made  a  sharp  weapon  and  madmen 
have  gotten  it  into  their  hands.  We  must  try  to  get  it  from  them 
again."  Timothy  Matlack  had  written  to  Ettwein  on  September  11, 
that  none  of  them  must  obey  such  a  summons  as  that  of  the  two 
squires,  for  if  they  did,  its  validity  would  thereby  be  recognized, 
and  this  must  not  be.  It  subsequently  became  known  that  the  real 
instigator  of  the  whole  process  was  again  John  Wetzel,  and  that 
during  the  interview  between  Ettwein  and  the  squires  he  was  a 
surreptitious  listener,  concealed  in  an  adjoining  room.     A  man  from 


1778 1785-  503 

Lancaster  named  Sutton,  connected  with  the  Moravian  Church  there 
as  a  society  member,  had  appeared  in  Allentown  with  Ettwein.     His 
presence  mystified  the  squires  and  made  them  uneasy.    They  feared 
that  he  was  present  for  the  purpose  of  hastening  to  Philadelphia  to 
report    their    proceedings.      Afterwards,    when    twitted    with    not 
executing    their    blustering    threats    of    what    they    would    do    with 
Ettwein  when  they  got  hold  of  him,  their  excuse  was,  "he  has  too 
many  friends  in  the  Assembly  and  Council."    The  failure  of  this  effort 
broke    Wetzel's    influence.     Later,    after    several    consultations    at 
Bethlehem  and  Nazareth,  at  which  the  most  decided  difiference  of 
opinion  prevailed  that  had  yet  become  manifest,  it  was  agreed  that, 
under  the  circumstances,  it  should  not  be  regarded  as  a  breach  of 
faith  towards  those  who  were  more  tenderly  and  narrowly  scrupulous, 
and  might  moreover  be  advisable,  if  certain  classes  of  men,  such  as 
merchants,   millers,  tavern-keepers,   physicians   and  others   engaged 
in  any  kind  of  public  business,  took  the  test  oath  if  they  felt  consci- 
entiously at  liberty  to  do  so.     Some  of  them  did  then  take  the  test. 
/\t  Nazareth  there  was  more  unanimity  in  favor  of  maintaining  the 
previous  position.     Still  more  was  this  the  case  at  Lititz,  where  the 
people  were  more  secluded,  lived  more  in  the  atmosphere  of  sur- 
rounding Mennonite  and  Tunker  sentiment,  so  strong  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, and  had  not  felt  the  influencing  touch  of  the  more  enlight- 
ened and  elevated  currents  of  the  revolutionary  spirit  that  had  been 
flowing  through  Bethlehem.     Most  of  these  good  people,  like  some 
at  Bethlehem,  held  decidedly  narrow  views  of  the  great  struggle  of 
the  times  and  clung  to  their  old  position  in  a  manner  that  became 
open  to  the  charge  of  being  fanatical  and  stubborn,  even  though  the 
danger  that  any  of  them  would  in  any  way  lend  themselves  to  Tory 
intrigues  was  so  remote  that  the  supposition  was  absurd,  as  all  public 
men  who  were  best  acquainted  with  them  knew  quite  well.     William 
Henry,  at  this  juncture,  strongly  urged  the  men  at  Bethlehem  to  no 
longer  hold  out  against  taking  the  test  and  declined  to  believe  that 
the  dreaded  schism  would  mar  the  peace  of  the  place  to  the  extent 
which  some  apprehended.     Several  men    in    the    Executive    Board 
inclined  to  the  same  view,  notably  de  Schweinitz.     Ettwein's  senti- 
ments had  been  undergoing  a  change  on  the  general  question  of  the 
Revolution,  and  he  no  longer  refused  to  recognize  the  ground  taken 
by  the  colonies  as  justified.     But  his  keen  dread  of  internal  dissen- 
sion among  his  brethren,  if  gradually  a  party  that  had  taken  the 
oath  and  one  that  had  not  should  be  formed,  induced  him  to  urge 


504  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

maintaining  the  compact  that  had  given  them  union  and  strength 
in  the  ordeals  which  had  been  passed,  and  would  enable  them  to 
worry  on  through  those  which  might  yet  follow,  believing  that  noth- 
ing worse  could  befall  them  than  had  already  been  endured.  Taking 
this  position,  he  engaged  to  put  forth  every  effort  that  was  possible 
and  to  employ  every  influence,  he  could  set  in  motion,  to  secure  relief 
from  those  disabilities  and  penalties  of  the  test  laws  which  were 
imposed  to  cover  the  case  of  real  traitors  and  actual  conspirators,  in 
league  with  the  enemy. 

The  test  laws  were  amended  by  the  passage  of  a  bill,  on  November 
26,  which  became  law  on  December  5,  1778.  The  penalties  of  non- 
abjuration  were  removed,  excepting  disability  to  hold  office  under 
the  Government,  to  vote  at  the  election  of  public  officers  and  to  sit 
on  juries.  The  rehef  sought  by  the  Moravians  was  secured  by  the 
terms  of  this  act  and,  although  the  embarrassments  and  financial 
burdens  in  connection  with  militia  duty  continued,  they  were  no 
more  harassed  about  taking  the  oath  as  before.  The  civil  disabili- 
ties under  which  they  now  stood  did  not  distress  them.  New  uneasi- 
ness and  discussion  were  occasioned  a  year  later,  when  the  party  in 
the  Assembly  which  had  advocated  drastic  laws,  again  acquired 
the  ascendency  in  the  passage,  October  i,  1779,  of  a  sup- 
plement to  the  act  of  the  previous  year.  It  did  not  revive 
the  severe  penalties  of  the  former  acts,  but  specified  some 
additional  disqualifications,  not  more  grievous,  but  of  wider 
range,  and  provided  that  those  who  did  not  take  the  oath  required 
by  the  act  of  December  5,  1778,  within  the  fixed  time  should 
be  perpetually  debarred  from  the  privilege  and  disfranchised.  This 
latter  was  the  most  serious  part  of  the  amendment.  The  question 
was  now  discussed  whether  the  time  had  not  come  when  all  who  felt 
so  inclined  should  take  the  test,  in  protection  of  person  and  prop- 
erty, and  again  there  were  wide  differences  of  opinion.  Ettwein 
stoutly  maintained  that  such  an  act  of  Assembly  would  not  stand 
permanently,  that  the  pendulum  would  swing  back  again.  Others 
lacked  this  cool  confidence.  Again  Ettwein  went  to  Philadelphia 
and  had  interviews  with  the  most  able  and  reliable  leading  men; 
found  that  the  act  was  regarded  by  them  as  only  a  temporary  vic- 
tory of  an  extreme  wing;  received  renewed  assurances  of  friendslii]) 
from  the  most  influential  quarters,  and  returned  the  last  day  of  Octo- 
ber to  still  the  troubled  waters.  But  some  were  not  satisfied,  and 
when  Ettwein,  in  pursuance  of  other  duties,  went  to  Hope,  N.  J., 


JOHN    ETTWEIN 


^  1778 — 1785.  507 

London,  October  9,  1778.  There  they  secured  the  necessary  pass- 
ports and  safe  conducts  from  the  British  Government,  for  use  so 
far  as  these  might  serve,  which  it  was  hoped  would  be  at  least  as 
far  as  New  York,  then  in  British  possession.  They  left  London, 
the  end  of  October,  and  on  Christmas  Day  they  set  sail  at  Ports- 
mouth with  a  fleet  of  more  than  seventy-five  craft  bound  partly  for 
New  York  and  partly  for  the  West  Indies,  under  convoy  of  upwards 
of  twenty  English  war  vessels  of  various  sizes  and  descriptions. 
After  a  further  delay  at  the  naval  rendezvous  of  Tor  Bay,  they 
finally  put  out  to  sea,  January  i,  and  reached  New  York,  March  26, 
1779.  Their  arrival  was  announced  at  Bethlehem  on  the  31st. 
De  Schweinitz  immediately  started  for  Hope,  N.  J.,  to  proceed  from 
there  to  Elizabethtown  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  how  passes 
through  the  lines  to  Bethlehem  might  be  had.  April  2,  WilHam 
Duer,  of  New  York,  member  of  Congress,  then  in  Bethlehem, 
advised  Ettwein  to  write  to  President  Joseph  Reed,  at  Philadelphia, 
and  offered  to  speak  with  General  Washington  and  Governor  Liv- 
ingston, of  New  Jersey,  about  the  matter.  Henry  Van  Vleck  went 
to  Philadelphia  on  the  7th  to  apply  for  such  good  offices  as  Presi- 
dent Reed  could  render,  which  he  secured  without  difficulty.*^     His 


9  Two  papers  issued  by  him  are  preserved  in  the  Bethlehem  archives.  The  first  reads  as 
follows  : 

Philadelphia,  April  8th,  1779. 
"  Sir. 

The  Bearer  hereof,  Mr  Van  Vleck  has  applied  to  me  in  behalf  of  a  Mr  Marschall,  his 
Lady  and  2  Daughters,  (one  and  de  Watteville's  daughter)  the  Revd  Mr  Reichel  and  his 
Lady,  Mr  Jacob  Van  Vleck,  Mr  Campman  and  Messrs  Leshinsky  and  Swihola,  all  of  the 
Society  of  Moravians.  These  persons  are  now  at  New  York  and  are  desirous  to  proceed  to 
their  Friends  in  this  State  at  Bethlehem,  for  which  they  have  my  free  Consent  and  Permis- 
sion so  far  as  the  same  may  be  consistent  with  your  convenience  and  the  good  of  the  Service. 
If  therefore  there  is  no  Difficulty  on  that  Account,  you  will  be  so  obliging  as  to  favour  their 
Views  by  permitting  them,  their  Servants  and  necessary  Baggage  to  pass  the  Lines. 

I  am  with  much  Regard 
To  Brigadier  General  Maxwell  Your  most  humble  Serv't 

Comand'g  Officer  Jos.  Reed." 

at 
Elizabethtown. 

Another,  probably  written  to  the  Commander-in-Chief — the  address  is  torn  off — is  the  fol- 
lowing : 
Dear  Sir. 

The  Bearer  hereof,  Mr  Van  Vleck  is  a  respectable  Member  of  the  Moravian  Society 
and  a  Gentleman  of  amiable  Character.     Some  Concerns  of  the  Society  as  well  as  of  a  private 


508  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

testimonials  and  requests  were  honored ;  the  whole  party  was 
passed  through  the  American  lines  and  reached  Bethlehem,  April  17. 
One  of  Bishop  Reichel's  first  consultations  with  the  executive 
board — Provincial  Helpers' Conference — at  Bethlehem  related  to  the 
position  recommended  by  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  over 
against  the  Revolution  and  the  new  Government.  It  struck  a 
middle  course  between  the  stand  taken  by  those  who  thought  that 
former  favors  from  England  obligated  them  to  loyalty,  so  long  as 
the  issues  of  the  war  were  not  concluded  in  the  recognition  of 
American  independence,  and  that  taken  by  others  who  held  that  the 
inability  of  the  British  Government  to  any  longer  protect  them  in 
the  former  privileges,  released  them,  not  only  from  all  such  allegi- 
ance, but  also  from  standing  together  in  declining  to  take  any  oath 
or  to  bear  arms  in  active  warfare,  regardless  of  differing  individual 
sentiments ;  a  position  which,  as  had  been  formerly  urged,  they  were 
considered  under  obligation  to  take,  because  exemption  from  these 
things  was  the  special  privilege  they  had  sought  and  received.  The 
principle  he  advocated  was  that  of  recognizing  the  powers  that  be 
de  facto,  leaving  the  question  whether  dc  jure  or  not  out  of  account, 
so  long  as  their  claim  was  not  yet  recognized  in  terms  of  peace  by 
their  enemy,  the  former  Government.  On  this  basis  they  should 
endeavor  to  pursue  their  old  calling  to  seek  the  peace  of  the  places 
where  they  dwelt,  and  to  seek  the  peace  they  desired  of  the  existing 
Government  in  continuing  to  plead  for  the  previous  exemptions ;  but, 
so  far  as  was  in  their  power,  to  render  the  taxes  and  other  duties 
demanded  in  lieu  of  the  service  from  which  they  sought  exemption. 
If  these  duties  should  become  onerous,  under  the  stress  of  war,  to 
the  extent  of  spoliation,  they  should  regard  this  as  they  would  view 
suffering  which  might  come  upon  them  through  other  kinds  of 
calamity.  They  should  exhaust  every  means  to  secure  exemption 
from  oath,  while  exerting  themselves  just  as  strongly  to  prove,  by 
word  and  conduct,  that  this  did  not  signify  a  position  of  hostility  to 
the  new  Government.  If  the  pressure  became  extreme,  so  that  it 
would  be  a  matter  of  taking  the  oath  under  duress,  for  those  whose 

Nature  may  make  it  necessary  for  him  to  wait  upon  your  Excellency.  If  so  I  beg  Leave  to 
recommend  him  to  your  favorable  Notice,  being  assured  he  has  no  desires  but  what  are  per- 
fectly consistent  with  the  Interests  of  America.     I  am  with  the  greatest  Respect  and  Regard 

Dear  Sir 

Your  most  obedient  and 
Philadia  Atril  very  humble  Serv't 

9th  1779.  Jos.  Reed. 


1778 1785-  509 

scruples  were  strongest,  such  persons  could  not  rightfully  expect 
others  who  did  not  share  their  scruples  to  this  extent  to  go  with 
them  into  a  kind  of  martyrdom  on  this  account,  and  should  not 
insist  on  applying  their  own  conscience  to  other  men's  conduct  to 
such  an  extreme.  Then  it  must  become  a  matter  for  each  indi- 
vidual to  settle  for  himself.  Those  who  preferred  to  take  the  oath 
before  such  a  point  was  reached,  must  have  liberty  to  do  so  without 
reproach.  Those  who  preferred  to  stand  by  their  convictions  to  the 
last,  must  examine  their  hearts  and  be  sure  that  it  was  really  a  pure 
matter  of  conscience.  The  latter  must  not  charge  the  former  with 
violating  faith.  The  former  must  not  charge  the  latter  with  mak- 
ing themselves  burdensome  to  their  brethren.  Each  must  bear  with 
the  other.  In  any  case,  if  there  arose  such  a  division,  it  must  not 
be  on  the  ground  of  differing  attitude  towards  the  Government,  but 
purely  on  that  of  conscience  in  the  matter  of  oath.  Meanwhile  it 
was  urged  that  those  who  were  for  abandoning  the  old  position  in 
a  body  should,  for  the  sake  of  others,  not  needlessly  precipitate  this 
issue  within  the  Congregation. 

One  of  the  important  things  Bishop  Reichel  did  during  his  stay 
of  more  than  two  years  was  to  introduce  a  body  of  articles,  called 
a  Brotherly  Agreement,  which  all  of  the  so-called  city  and  country 
congregations  adopted  and  signed,  as  a  uniform  covenant.  The  stat- 
utes of  Bethlehem  and  of  the  other  exclusive  settlements,  although 
a  different  body  of  articles,  were  in  entire  harmony  with  it  in  every 
declaration  of  principle.  It  was  adopted  by  a  conference  of  thirty 
ministers  held  at  Bethlehem,  April  26-28,  1781.  It  was  substantially 
the  same  as  the  Brotherly  Agreement  at  the  present  time  issued  by 
authority  of  the  Northern  Provincial  Synod  of  the  Church  in 
America,  as  the  covenant  to  be  adopted  by  every  new  congregation 
organized.  The  seventh  and  eighth  articles  of  that  compact  read  as 
follows:  "We  wall  cordially  subject  ourselves  to  the  government 
that  is  in  power  over  us,  and  will  conform  to  all  human  ordinances 
of  the  land  in  which  we  live ;  and  we  will  by  no  means  evade  the 
payment  of  the  taxes  required  of  us  for  the  support  of  our  State 
or  County.  Being  called  to  maintain  peace,  and  being  by  grace 
children  of  peace,  we  will  follow  after  peace  with  all  men,  and  in 
no  wise  will  permit  ourselves  to  become  entangled  in  political 
agitation  or  controversies,  but,  if  such  take  place,  in  the  Providence 
of  God,  will  strive  to  approve  ourselves  as  orderly  and  quiet  citizens." 
The    sie-nificance    of   these    articles    of   the    covenant — for    no    such 


510  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Brotherly  Agreement  had  before  been  adopted  and  signed  by  the 
people  in  the  city  and  coiuitry  congregations — was  that  they  were 
introduced  at  this  particular  time,  when  the  war  was  yet  in  progress 
and  its  result  uncertain.  They  recognize  an  existing  government, 
confess  their  obligation  to  it  and  promise  subjection  to  it,  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  avowing  determination  to  keep  aloof  from 
politics.  They  refer  explicitly  to  State  and  County.  This  means, 
therefore,  due  recognition  of  both  general  and  local  ordinances  and 
officials.  It  is  worthy  of  attention  that  at  that  time  the  Moravians 
were  undoubtedly  the  only  religious  body  in  Pennsylvania  which,  as 
such,  bound  all  its  membership  in  its  central  church  covenant, 
signed  by  all,  to  such  a  formal  and  explicit  recognition  of  dutiful 
subjection  to  the  Civil  Government  in  its  first  experimental  stage, 
with  its  armies  in  the  field,  fighting  to  establish  its  right  to  begin 
to  exist.  Some  other  bodies  among  those  who  objected  to  taking 
the  test  oath  deemed  it  their  duty  to  withhold  recognition  from  the 
new  Government.  The  adoption  of  these  articles,  at  that  time,  shows 
the  general  drift  of  Bishop  Reichel's  policy,  which  meant  that  of  the 
general  authorities  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  Europe.  It  indicates 
their  probable  belief  in  the  successful  issue  of  the  struggle  for  inde- 
pendence, and  reveals  that  they  did  at  least  not  view  it  as  an 
unrighteous  revolt.  If  they  had  strongly  believed  in  the  probable 
success  of  the  British  arms,  or  had  strongly  disapproved  of  the 
Revolution,  they  would  hardly  have  favored  the  introduction  of  any 
kind  of  reference  to  civil  government  in  the  Brotherly  Agreement,  at 
a  time  when  the  end  of  the  conflict  was  not  yet  in  sight. 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  influence  of  the  statements  and  masterly 
achievements  of  Dr.  Franklin  in  the  interest  of  the  cause  while  in 
Europe,  particularly  his  securing  the  important  French  alliance, 
affected  their  opinions  in  this  respect ;  especially  those  of  Spangen- 
berg,  who,  like  that  eminent  Moravian  of  England,  James  Hutton — 
although  the  latter  was  hard  to  convince — was  a  personal  friend  of 
Franklin.  That  Franklin  found  time  and  considered  it  worth  while 
— for  he  had  much  intercourse  with  Hutton,  personally  and  in 
writing — to  bring  some  weight  to  bear  upon  these  men's  minds,  in 
view  of  the  interests  with  which  they  were  connected  in  Pennsylvania 
and  North  Carolina,  is  not  unlikely.  Bishop  Croeger  states  in  his 
history,  doubtless  on  the  authority  of  official  records,  that  Bishop 
Reichel,  when  he  started  on  his  journey  to  America,  was  commended 
to  Franklin's  good  offices  by  Spangenberg  and  Hutton. 


17/8 1785-  511 

When  Reichel  assumed  official  charge,  both  in  general,  which 
required  visits  to  all  Moravian  fields,  including  that  in  North 
Carolina,  and  locally  at  Bethlehem,  Ettwein,  actually,  although  not 
nominally  the  leader  before,  withdrew  for  the  time  being  from  his 
difficult  post.  Besides  visiting  various  places  to  assist  in  getting  the 
Brotherly  Agreement  properly  introduced,  he  devoted  his  particular 
attention  to  the  affairs  of  Hope,  New  Jersey,  where  he  took  up  his 
residence  for  a  while.  During  the  first  week  in  June,  1779,  Reichel 
effected  some  reconstruction  of  boards  at  Bethlehem,  in  accordance 
with  modifications  that  had  been  decreed  by  the  General  Synod  of 
1775.  The  general  tendency  of  these  modifications  was  in  the  line 
of  reaction,  to  some  extent,  from  the  plan  of  organization  fixed  for 
the  whole  Unity  and  all  of  its  parts,  in  1769,  towards  a  more  compact 
federalism  and  a  stronger  central  government — as  intimated  in  a 
previous  chapter,  in  elucidating  some  principles  and  features  of 
organization.  The  Gcmcinrath  or  Common  Council  of  the  village  no 
longer  consisted  of  all  the  voting  members  or  citizens,  but  of  a 
representation  from  its  different  classes  or  choir  divisions.  There 
was  a  noticeable  increase  in  the  relative  number  of  ex-ofhcio  members 
in  the  various  official  bodies;  and  in  the  case  of  those  who  were 
elected  by  the  people,  the  employment  of  the  lot  to  select  from 
candidates  chosen,  was  regulated  in  such  a  way  that  its  check  upon 
mere  majority  choice  was  more  strongly  felt.  The  paramount 
position  of  the  Elders'  Conference,  or  Board  of  Elders,  representing 
the  connection  of  the  Congregation  with  the  central  Unity's  Elders' 
Conference,  became  more  distinct  and  effective.  It  opened  an  era 
of  compactness  and  fixedness,  under  strongly  centralized  control, 
that  marked  the  most  stationary  period  of  the  whole  Moravian 
Church  and  of  all  its  exclusive  villages  and  its  congregations.  In 
its  practical  working,  so  far  as  Bethlehem  was  concerned,  this 
tendency  was,  at  first,  perhaps  salutary  under  existing  circumstances. 
It  was  like  making  things  fast  and  going  into  snug  winter-quarters 
for  the  vicissitudes  of  an  inclement  season.  The  unfortunate  feature 
of  it  appeared  at  a  later  period,  resulting  from  the  fact  that  every- 
thing was  left  there  too  long,  when  greatly  changed  conditions  called 
for  opening  up  and  relaxation  of  arrangements. 

During  Bishop  Reichel's  stay,  various  changes  in  the  official 
personnel  at  Bethlehem  took  place,  bringing  some  new  names  into 
prominence,  while  some  of  the  officials  of  1776,  referred  to  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  were  transferred  to  positions  elsewhere.     After 


512  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

the  death  of  Thrane,  there  mentioned,  the  Rev.  John  Andrew 
Huebner  of  Niesky,  an  important  seat  of  Moravian  educational  work, 
in  Germany,  was  selected  by  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  to 
become  their  Helper,  at  the  head  of  the  Elders'  Conference  at 
Bethlehem.  On  account  of  the  disturbances  of  war,  his  coming  was 
delayed.  He  finally  sailed,  with  his  wife,  from  Hamburg  for  England 
in  March,  1779,  and  from  Portsmouth,  the  latter  part  of  October, 
reaching  New  York,  February  2t,,  1780.  David  Zeisberger,  Jr.,  of 
Nazareth  and  his  wife  returned  to  America  on  the  same  vessel.  They 
were  accompanied  also  by  several  other  persons ;  John  Michael  Kern, 
Jeppe  Nielsen,  bound  for  Salem,  N.  C,  and  the  widow  Barbara 
Alartens,  who  became  superintendent  of  the  widows.  Huebner 
formally  entered  upon  his  duties  at  Bethlehem  on  April  3,  1780. 
For  a  while  he  was  also  the  principal  preacher  of  the  place.  He 
had  the  assistance,  in  general  pastoral  oversight,  of  Paul  Muenster 
and,  after  October,  1784,  of  John  Frederick  Peter,  Sr.  Jeremiah 
Dencke  continued  to  fill  the  important  office  of  warden  at  Beth- 
lehem, with  Christian  Frederick  Oerter  as  general  accountant,  until 
October,  1784,  when  Paul  Muenster  assumed  the  wardenship. 
Andrew  Busse  continued  to  be  chaplain  of  the  Brethren's  House 
and  pastoral  overseer  of  the  single  men  until  July,  1781,  assisted, 
after  A'lay,  1777,  by  Jacob  Friis,  who  passed  the  remainder  of  his 
days,  to  1793.  in  that  establishment,  meanwhile  diligently  preaching 
for  some  years  at  various  places  about  the  country.  July  23,  1781, 
Jacob  Van  Vleck,  who  had  been  had  in  view  for  the  position  from 
the  time  of  his  return  from  Europe — being  a  young  man  far  superior 
in  ability  and  attainments  to  those  who  preceded  him — and  had  been 
acquiring  preparatory  experience  in  the  little  Brethren's  House  at 
Christiansbrunn,  became  chaplain  of  the  Brethren's  House  at  Beth- 
lehem and  special  pastor  of  the  single  men — Briicdcrpflcger.  His 
services  were  also  utilized  as  secretary  for  the  General  Board  and 
in  writing  fair  copy  of  the  Bethlehem  diary.  Those  who  have 
occasion  to  search  the  records  of  that  time,  particularly  the  diary 
of  the  Brethren's  House,  have  reason  to  bless  his  memory,  like  that 
of  Immanuel  Nitschmann  for  the  manner  in  which  he  wrote  them, 
when  compared  with  some  other  penmanship  that  causes  so  much 
sighing,  or  even  worse  than  sighing.  He  was  also  one  of  those 
diarists — for  they  differed  greatly,  not  only  in  penmanship— who  had 
some  historical  instinct  and  some  idea  of  what  would  be  of  future 
interest,  and    enough    intelligence    to    use    some    discretion    in    the 


1778 1785-  513 

insertion  of  interesting  details  and  incidents,  even  when  writing 
under  the  strict  instructions  about  records  which  reduced  the  diaries 
of  some  other  men  to  a  monotonous  chronicle  of  dry  routine,  scarcely 
of  any  use  after  the  governing  board  had  examined  it  to  see  whether 
regulations  were  being  complied  with,  and  then  filed  the  manu- 
script.^° 

Siegmund  Leschinsky  held  the  wardenship  of  the  Brethren's 
House  from  his  arrival  in  April,  1779,  to  September,  1785,  assisted 
by  various  young  men  as  stewards,  several  of  them  filHng  the 
wardenship  itself  ad  interim  at  different  times,  as  substitutes,  and 
assisting  the  chaplain  of  the  house  in  the  conduct  of  services  and  in 
pastoral  oversight ;  these  positions  being  filled  usually  by  men  in 
training  for  larger  service  at  Bethlehem  or  elsewhere.  Several  such 
became  prominent  officials  at  Bethlehem,  while  others  entered  the 
ministry  and  labored  at  various  places.  Thus  John  Schropp  became 
steward  in  the  Brethren's  House  in  April,  1780,  and  served  until 
March,  1782,  acquiring  training  for  his  future  wardenship  of  the 
Congregation.  Other  such  assistants  were  Abraham  Reinke,  Jr., 
during  part  of  1782,  more  prominently  Abraham  Hessler,  December, 
1782,  to  September,  1784,  followed  by  John  Frederick  Schlegel  until 
April,  1785,  when  John  Christopher  Pyrlaeus,  Jr.,  who  had  occasion- 
ally been  doing  subordinate  duty,  became  steward  and  first  assistant 
to  the  warden  until  September.  In  April.  1785,  John  Gambold, 
another  candidate  for  service  in  the  country  ministry,  became  an 
assistant,  both  to  the  chaplain  and  the  warden  of  the  house, 
remaining  in  the  position  five  years.  In  the  Sisters'  House  and  the 
Widows'  House  a  superintendent  and  a  stewardess  with  minor 
assistants  had  charge  of  their  respective  establishments.  The  indus- 
trial activities  together  with  the  orchard,  garden  and  other  appur- 

10  It  may  be  remarked  here  that  towards  the  end  of  the  century  a  period  of — although 
punctiliously  regular — very  barren  and  uninteresting  diaries,  as  a  rule,  began,  which  con- 
tinued for  nearly  half  a  century ;  consisting  almost  entirely  of  mere  schedules  of  services 
from  day  to  day,  with  painfully  faithful  mention  of  who  officiated  at  one  and  another.  Ac- 
tual history  seems,  to  a  great  extent,  to  have  been  kept  out  of  the  congi  egation  diary  and 
recorded  in  the  official  minutes  of  boards,  but  principally  in  those  of  the  Provincial  Helpers' 
Conference,  or,  as  it  came  to  be  called  for  a  number  of  years,  by  the  ponderous  title. 
"■Heifer  Conferenz  ill's  gauze  der  Pctiiisy'Vanuchen  unci  iimliegenden  Gemeincn  iind  Posten,'" 
— the  title  growing  as  the  work  shrank.  It  may  also  be  remarked  that  examinations  of  the 
Sisters'  House  diary  are  at  all  periods  very  disappointing.  It  was  reslrictetl  throughout  to 
such  momentous  routine  and  to  petty  domestic  details.  Excepting  that  of  the  Widows' 
House,  it  is  the  least  satisfactory,  as  a  source  of  information,  of  ail  the  ofticial  records. 
34 


514  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,   PENNSYLVANIA. 

tenances  of  the  former,  constituted  a  considerable  body  of  affairs 
to  be  overseen,  and  called  for  some  administrative  ability  on  the 
part  of  the  stewardess.  There  was,  furthermore,  connected  with  each 
of  those  households — the  single  women  and  the  widows — a  curator. 
Under  the  arrangement  made  in  1779,  William  Boehler  was  curator 
of  the  former  and  George  Huber  of  the  latter  house.  The  village 
Board  of  Supervision — Anfschcr  Collegium — as  then  organized,  con- 
sisted of  seven  of  the  elected  men  drawn  by  lot  from  the  body  oi  can- 
didates chosen  by  ballot ;  three  from  among  the  married  men,  three 
representatives  of  the  single  men  and  one  to  represent  the  widowers, 
together  with  six  ex-oMcio  members,  the  several  wardens  and  cura- 
tors and  the  local  magistrate,  if  there  had  been  one.  Thus  the 
general  organization  and  the  official  personnel  ran  to  the  end  of  the 
period  embraced  in  this  chapter. 

Bishop  Reichel  and  his  wife  left  Bethlehem  for  New  York,  August 
6,  1 781,  preparatory  to  their  return  to  Europe.  In  order  to  secure 
the  necessary  passports,  he  had  to  give  satisfactory  assurance  that 
he  would  not  return  to  the  country  again  so  long  as  the  war  con- 
tinued. At  New  York  he  visited  and  endeavored  to  strengthen  the 
much-demoralized  congregations  in  that  city  and  on  Staten  Island. 
The  vessel  on  which  he  took  passage  had  to  wait  long  for  a  convoy, 
and  did  not  sail  until  the  beginning  of  December.  He  took  with 
him  the  ten-year-old  son  of  de  Schweinitz,  Christian  Frederick,  and 
as  companion  and  attendant  for  his  wife,  a  young  woman,  Anna 
Maria  Yarrell.  They  were  accompanied  also  by  the  veteran  store- 
keeper of  Bethlehem,  John  Francis  Oberlin,  who,  with  his  wife  and 
four  children,  returned  to  Europe.  After  eighteen  years  of  ser- 
vice, he  had  been  succeeded  in  the  charge  of  the  village  store,  on 
Ferbruary  26,  1781,  by  Christian  Renatus  Heckewelder,  a  brother 
of  the  missionary  John  Heckewelder ;  he  having  accompanied  Bishop 
Reichel  on  his  return  from  North  Carolina  to  Bethlehem  for  this 
purpose. 

Soon  after  this  change  in  the  store,  the  inn  of  the  place  also 
changed  hands.  Jost  Jansen,  who  was  in  charge  during  the  most 
stirring  times  and  entertained  so  many  worthies  and  notables,  retired 
from  the  position  and  was  succeeded  by  John  Christian  Ebert,  who 
was  inn-keeper  until  1790.  Among  the  public  men  who  visited  the 
place  during  the  last  months  of  Jansen's  incumbency  were,  early  in 
October,  1780 — escorted  1)y  a  squad  of  cavalry — President  Joseph 
Reed,  who  made  another  visit  in  June,  1782;  Speaker  John  Bayard, 


^77^ 1785-  515 

who  came  again  in  September,  1782,  and  State  Treasurer  David 
Rittenhouse.  Among  foreign  celebrities  and  military  officers  are  men- 
tioned, in  January,  1781,  the  Marquis  de  Laval  Montmorenci  and  the 
Count  de  Custrine,  who  took  pains  to  investigate  the  institutions  and 
arrangements  of  the  place ;  and  on  April  5,  the  Count  de  St.  Maine 
and  Captain  de  St.  Victor,  who  attended  services.  At  the  beginning 
of  July,  the  new  landlord,  Ebert,  had  among  his  guests  a  number 
of  English  and  German  officers.  To  one  of  these  the  Bethlehem 
diarist  makes  particular  reference.  This  was  Captain  David  Zieg- 
ler,  connected  with  the  Pennsylvania  Infantry.  It  is  mentioned  that 
he  was  a  German  soldier  who  had  served  in  the  Russian  army  in  the 
Crimea,  whom  "Br.  Mueller  had  met  in  St.  Petersburg,  who  had 
visited  Herrnhut,"  and  who  had  subsequently  come  to  Pennsylvania. 
This  was  the  Captain  Ziegler"  who  later  served  in  Indian  campaigns 
in  the  West,  became  a  resident  and  the  first  Mayor  of  Cincinnati, 
in  1801,  while  living  there,  showed  courtesies  to  the  Moravian  mis- 
sionaries, Kluge  and  Luckenbach,  on  their  way  to  the  Wabash 
River,  and  died  there  in  181 1.  In  1782  not  many  new  names  appear 
in  the  references  to  noteworthy  visits.  In  April  and  October,  John 
Dickinson  is  mentioned  and  the  retired  Governor  John  Penn,  with 
a  party,  once  more  in  April. 

In  mid-summer  of  that  year  (1782),  however,  Bethlehem  was  vis- 
ited— but  without  any  pomp  or  circumstance — by  a  more  illustrious 
man  than  any  one  who  has  yet  been  mentioned.  July  25,  1782,  the 
diary  contains  the  following  entry :  "Quite  unexpectedly  and  very 
quietly,  his  Excellency,  General  Washington,  arrived  here,  accom- 
panied by  two  aids  de  camp,  but  without  escort.  Brother  Ettwein 
and  other  brethren  immediately  went  to  pay  their  respects  to  him. 
After  partaking  of  a  meal,  he  inspected  the  choir-houses  (Brethren's 
House,  Sister'  House  and  Widows'  House)  and  other  objects  of 
interest  in  the  place,  and  attended  the  evening  service,  at  which 
Bro.  Ettwein  delivered  a  discourse  in  English,  on  the  text:  Tn  all 
things  approving  ourselves  as  the  ministers  of  God,'  etc.  (II.  Cor. 
6:4),  and  the  choir  rendered  some  fine  music,  both  at  the  beginning 
and  at  the  close.  The  General  manifested  much  friendliness,  and 
the  pleasure  and  satisfaction  which  the  visit  afforded  him  were 
clearly  to  be  inferred  from  his  utterances."  The  diary  of  the  Breth- 
ren's House,  written  by  the  same  person,  Jacob  Van  Vleck,  repeats, 


"J.   G.  Rosengarten,     T^/e   German  Soldier-  in  the   Wars  of  the   United  States,  second 
ecHtion,  p.  124. 


5l6  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

substantially,  part  of  this  record  and  particularly  mentions  his  visit 
to  that  house,  his  partaking  of  refreshments  there  while  listening 
to  music  performed  on  the  organ  by  Van  Vleck,  and  the  impression 
made  by  his  imposing  and  agreeable  personality.  He  passed  the 
night  of  July  25  at  the  Sun  Inn,  occupying  the  principal  "guest- 
room," as  the  house  was  then  arranged.  The  record  of  July  26 
states  that  "at  a  very  early  hour  he  proceeded  on  his  journey  by 
way  of  Easton,"  and  that  "Bro.  Ettwein,  who  had  expected  to  go 
to  Hope,  N.  J.,  accompanied  him  to  the  first-named  place  and  then 
(while  the  General  apparently  tarried  a  while  at  Easton)  rode  on 
ahead  to  make  some  preparation  for  his  entertainment  at  Hope, 
where  he  dined  and  looked  about  the  place  with  pleasure."^- 

12  The  above  translation  of  the  diary  notes  was  furnished,  in  1891,  by  the  writer  of  these 
pages  for  that  part  of  the  "  Itinerary  of  General  Washington  from  June  15,  1775,  to  Decem- 
ber 23,  1783,"  by  Wm.  S.  Baker,  which  appeared  in  Vol.  XV,  of  the  Pa.  Mag.  of  Hist,  and 
Biog.  This  was  Washington's  First  and  Only  Visit  to  Bethlehem.  Numerous 
confusing,  contradictory  and  erroneous  statements  on  this  subject  have  appeared  in  print. 
Some  writers  have  tfeated  of  two  supposed  visits.  This  tradition  undoubtedly  arose  out  of 
the  visit  of  the  "nephew  of  General  Washington"  on  July  28,  1779.  Matthew  S.  Henry's 
History  of  the  Lehigh  Valley  has,  on  page  ill,  the  following  :  ''General  Washington  passed 
through  Easton  during  the  year  1778.  The  Bethlehem  recollections  are  that  he  arrived  at 
that  place  accompanied  by  one  of  his  aids,  where,  after  partaking  of  a  dinner,  he  hurried  on 
to  Easton."  On  pp.  215-216  of  the  same  work  stands  the  following  :  "  Washington  was 
here  (Bethlehem)  in  1778  and  was  introduced  into  the  various  rooms  (Sisters'  House)  by 
Bishop  Ettwein,  (Bp.  1784)  where  finding  in  the  room  the  mother  of  the  writer,  who  among 
others  was  at  work,  he  remarked,  '  Ladies,  I  am  pleased  to  find  you  all  busy  at  work.' 
Ettwein  replied  to  him,  '  yes,  it  stands  written  in  the  Bible,  those  that  do  not  work  shall  not 
eat.'  The  General  purchased  several  pair  of  knit  hose  for  himself,  and  the  sisters  presented 
him  with  a  dress  pattern  of  '  blue  stripe '  for  his  lady  which  he  said  she  should  wear."  The 
statement  follows  that  "  he  was  received  with  music  on  the  trombones  from  the  belvedere  on 
the  Brethren's  House  "  when  he  entered  the  village.  Then  is  mentioned  also  the  recollec- 
tion of  some  old  inhabitants  about  the  odd  appearance  of  the  short  Ettwein  walking  between 
the  tall  General  and  his  apparently  also  tall  adjutant.  Continuing,  Mr.  Henry  says:  ''In 
the  spring  of  1778,  Washington  again  passed  through  Bethlehem  on  his  way  to  Easton,  but 
did  not  stay  longer  than  was  necessary  to  get  some  dinner  for  himself  and  aid  and  feed  for 
the  horses."  The  author,  writing  at  Easton  and  preferably  for  Eastonians,  makes  that  town 
the  objective  point  of  both  those  alleged  visits  of  1778,  and  the  impression  might  be  gotten 
from  the  reference  to  the  second,  that  Washington  sought  to  avoid  a  second  contact  with 
Bethlehem  people  and  to  get  out  of  the  place  to  Easton  as  soon  as  possible.  It  may  be  ac- 
cepted as  certaia  that  Washington  was  neither  in  Easton  nor  in  Bethlehem  nor  in  the  neigh- 
borhood in  1778,  or  at  any  other  time  prior  to  July,  1782.  To  that  visit,  which  he  really  did 
make  to  both  places,  Mr.  Henry  makes  no  allusion  although  it  is  a  matter  of  plain  official 
record  at  the  time  and  not  of  mere  current  tradition  or  "oldest  inhabitant's''  recollection — 
always  an  uncertain  source.  The  incident  in  the  Sisters'  House,  which  Mr.  Henry  relates, 
which  various  other  writers  have  gotten  from  his  book  and  reproduced,  could  then  only  have 


1778 1785.  517 

Other  new  visitors  of  interest,  up  to  the  close  of  the  period  cov- 
ered by  this  chapter,  may  be  mentioned  in  this  connection,  so  that 
this  feature  in  the  picture  of  Bethlehem  life  during  those  years,  pre- 
served in  various  extant  records,  need  not  be  again  adverted  to. 
The  next  visit  of  special  note,  because  it  produced  one  of  the  inter- 
esting pubHshed  descriptions  of  the  place  at  that  time  by  a  distin- 
guished foreigner,  was  that  of  the  Marquis  Francois  Jean  de  Chas- 
tellux,  who  had  entered  the  American  service  under  Rochambeau. 
He  came  to  Bethlehem,  December  10,  and  remained  over  the  next 
day.  He  asked  many  minute  questions  about  things,  says  the  diarist, 
and,  as  a  result,  he  devoted  some  space  in  his  famous  narrative^^  to 

13  Voyage  dans  P Avieriqiie  septentrionale  dans  les  annees,  1780-82,  Paris,  1786 — ''translated 
by  ail  English  gentleman  who  resided  in  America  at  that  period,  with  notes  by  the  transla- 
tor." The  English  translation,  under  the  title  Travels  in  A'o7-th  Avierica,  1780-82,  was 
published  in  London  in  1787.  The  anonymous  translator,  who  was  eventually  concluded  to 
have  been  one  George  Grieve,  a  Northumberland  attorney,  in  America  several  times  between 
17S0  and  1783,  was  evidently  also  in  Bethlehem  and  reveals  some  knowledge  of  Moravian 
people  and  things. 


occurred  in  1782.  Washington  was  at  that  time  on  his  way  from  Philadelphia  to  his  head- 
quarters at  Newburg-on-the-Hudson.  If  he  had  been  in  Bethlehem  twice  in  the  early  part 
of  1778.  it  would  have  been  while  the  hospital  was  yet  at  the  place.  That  two  visits  by  the 
Commander-in-Chief*to  the  place  under  those  circumstances  would  not  be  alluded  to  by 
himself  or  any  public  official  in  any  e.xtant  public  records,  any  journals  or  correspondence  is 
not  supposable.  The  statement  Mr.  Henry  makes  about  the  second  alleged  visit,  if  1779 
were  substituted  for  1778,  would  partly  apply  to  the  visit  of  the  "nephew,"  but  the  latter 
went  from  Bethlehem  to  Nazareth.  That  Washington  was  greeted  on  entering  the  village 
by  the  music  of  trombones  from  the  belvedere,  or  roof  terrace,  of  the  Brethren's  House,  was 
only  an  unfounded  local  tradition  embellishing  the  story.  He  appeared  in  the  place  sud- 
denly, not  expected  by  any  one.  That  compliment  was  sometimes  paid  in  olden  times  to 
prominent  Moravian  visitors  or  to  particular  dignitaries  of  state.  Even  if  there  were  no 
other  circumstantial  or  negative  evidence  that  General  Washington  was  not  in  these  parts 
prior  to  1782,  anyone  who  has  examined  the  Bethlehem  diaries  of  those  years  and  noted  how 
the  presence  of  all  the  prominent  generals  and  civil  officers  who  visited  the  place  is  regu- 
larly recorded,  will  take  the  absence  of  all  reference  to  a  visit,  by  the  greatest  of  them  all,  as 
convincing  evidence  that  he  was  never  among  them. 

Mr.  John  Hill  Martin,  who  assiduously  gathered  up  local  traditions  and  oldest  inhabitants' 
recollections  for  the  Historical  Sketch  of  Bethlehem  (1869),  incorporated  several  in  connection 
with  Washington,  which  also  reveal  the  confused  and  uncertain  character  of  such  sources. 
That  Ettwein  was  conspicuously  a  Whig  among  Tory  clergy  (p.  2q)  is  an  instance  of  erron- 
eous tradition.  That  "nearly  all  the  sisters  sided  with  the  Whigs,"  will  not  be  taken 
seriously  by  those  who  know  how  much  Moravian  sisters  of  that  time  indulged  in  pronounced 
political  tentiments.  The  Rev.  C.  F.  Seidel,  there  quoted,  who  came  to  America  in  1S06,  first 
settled  at   Bethlehem  in   1817.       Ettwein  hardly  spoke  German  to  Washington  (p.  30),  anil 


5l8  A    HISTORY    OF   BETHLEHEM,   PENNSYLVANIA. 

Bethlehem,  giving  previously  also  an  interesting  account  of  his  visit 
to  Hope,  N.  J.  Bearing  the  reputation  of  a  somewhat  tlippant  French 
aristocrat,  not  much  in  sympathy  with  Christian  piety,  it  is  the  more 
striking  that  he  treats  the  institutions  and  customs  of  Bethlehem  with 
so  much  respect.  His  first  remarks,  as  usual,  are  about  the  tavern. 
Some  misunderstanding  or  misinformation  led  him  to  state  that  it 
formerly  served  the  Aloravian  Brethren  as  a  magazine.  He  says, 
"I  could  not  derive  much  information  from  my  landlord  on  the 
origin,  opinions  and  manners  of  the  Society,  but  he  informed  me 
that  I  should  next  day  see  the  ministers  and  administrators,  who 
would  gratify  my  curiosity.  The  nth,  at  half-past  eight.  I  walked 
out  with  a  Moravian,  given  me  bv  the  landlord,  but  who  was  likewise 


even  if  he  did,  he  hardly  addressed  him  with  "f/z<."     That  Washington  said  "I  wish  I  were 
a  simple  Moravian"  is  highly  improbable. 

The  recollections  of  one  "old  sister,"  quoted  (p.  32),  correctly  state  only  one  visit,  but 
do  not  give  the  year.  James  Hall,  the  fuller  (p.  32),  evidently  confused  the  two  Washing- 
tons.  The  trombone  music  he  refers  to  was  probably  rendered  when  Washington  approached 
the  house  on  his  tour  of  the  town  after  dinner.  Mr.  Martin  gives  these  statements  as  he  got 
them.  An  additional  tradition,  given  by  the  Rev.  Wm.  C.  Reichel  in  The  O-own  Inn,  p. 
no,  is  the  following:  "  According  to  the  late  Mr  Frederick  Fuehrer's  statement  (he  was  the 
fifth  sou  of  Valentine  and  Margaret  Fuehrer  [thirteen  years  inn-keeper  at  the  Crown]  and 
having  been  born  in  the  ferry-house  in  September,  1768,  was  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  his  age, 
when  Washington  was  at  Bethlehem)  the  General  passed  the  night  of  the  24th  of  July  at 
his  father's,  and  on  retiring,  pleasantly  sought  to  impress  the  people  of  the  house  with  an 
idea  of  the  height  of  his  person  by  reaching  his  hand  into  a  ring  suspended  from  a  staple  in 
the  ceiling,  which  was  inaccessible  by  men  of  ordinary  stature."  This  "  recollection," 
somewhat  perplexing  because  definite  and  circumstantial,  admits  of  two  explanations.  One 
is  that  this  again  was  not  General  Washington,  but  the  "nephew"  of  July,  1779,  and  that 
the  exact  date  (24th)  was  assumed  by  Reichel  as  the  only  possible  one  in  connection  with 
the  General's  visit,  the  memory  of  Fuehrer  having  hardly  been  so  distinct,  he,  at  most,  prob- 
ably specifying,  "  the  night  before  "  Washington  came  into  Bethlehem.  This  was  not  an 
improbable  occurrence  in  the  case  of  the  nephew,  who  may  also  have  been  a  tall  man  and 
was  doubtless  more  likely  than  his  stately  uncle  to  thus  show  off  his  height,  to  "  astonish 
the  gazing  rustics  ranging  round."  The  other  possible  explanation  is  that  General  Washing- 
ton, traveling  unannounced  and  unobtrusively,  as  he  was  then  doing,  may  really  have  passed 
the  night  before  entering  Bethlehem  at  the  Crown  on  the  south  side,  reaching  there  perhaps 
late  in  the  evening  from  Pottsgrove,  now  Pottstown.  In  the  Itinerary  of  Getieral  Washing- 
ton {Pa.  Mag.,  XV,  p.  306)  it  is  assumed  that  he  passed  the  night  of  the  24th  at  Pottsgrove, 
from  an  entry  of  his  expense  account  :  "  Exp.  to  Pottsgrove,  £1.  13.  4 — Bethlehem,  £1. 
17.6."  But  this  is  not  conclusive,  for  that  entry  has  merely  "July,  1782,"  without  exact 
date.  Lodging  and  breakfast  at  the  Crown  and  next  day's  entertainment  at  the  .Sun  might 
not  unnaturally  have  been  placed  in  one  item  as  "Bethlehem."  This  lengthy  note,  which 
some  may  think  needless,  may  prove  of  use  to  others,  for  reference,  bringing  under  review 
together,  at  one  place,  the  various  published  Betlilehem-Washington  stories. 


■^**»^., 


««?aH^H^Br 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON 

From  Chas.  Willson   Peale's  Portrait  of   1780 

See   Penna.  Magazine,  Vol,  XIII,   P.  257 


17/8 1785-  521 

appears  to  be  a  defective  translation  of  the  autlior's  meaning.  Then 
after  eating  breakfast,  at  ten  o'clock,  with  which  he  was  "still  better 
satisfied"  than  with  his  walk,  he  and  those  with  him  proceeded  on 
their  journey  at  noon;  halting  twenty  miles  away,  towards  Phila- 
delphia, at  Kalf's  tavern,  a  German  house,  very  poor  and  filthy." 
This  kind  of  comments  by  travelers  on  country  taverns  in  Pennsyl- 
vania generally,  in  those  days,  was  the  common  rule. 

The  first  new  visitor  of  the  following  year,  1783,  to  be  specially 
mentioned,  was  Attorney  General  John  Gardiner,  of  the  Island  of 
St.  Kitts,  the  first  week  in  June.  Counsellor  Gardiner  was  a  son  of 
Dr.  Sylvester  Gardiner,  of  Boston,  proprietor  of  the  "Plymouth 
Purchase"  on  the  Kennebeck  River,  in  Maine,  the  region  in  which 
the  Broad  Bay  work  had  previously  been  carried  on  by  Moravian 
evangelists.  John  Gardiner  was  acquainted  with  Moravian  clergy  in 
England,  had  his  son,  who  later  became  rector  of  Trinity  Church, 
Boston,  educated  in  the  Moravian  School  at  Fulneck,  England,  was 
a  warm  friend  and  supporter  of  the  Moravian  missionaries  in  St. 
Kitts,  and  for  some  time  was  engaged  in  negotiations  with  the  Mora- 
vian authorities  with  a  view  to  the  founding  of  a  settlement  on  the 
Kennebeck. ^^'  He  was  received  with  much  pleasure  at  Bethlehem, 
spent  six  days  at  the  place,  was  accompanied,  on  his  departure,  as 
far  as  Nazareth,  by  Ettwein,  and  from  there  proceeded  to  Boston. 
At  the  end  of  June  there  is  a  reference  to  the  celebrated  Judge 
Edmund  Pendleton,  of  Virginia,  who  had  sojourned  some  time  as 
an  invaUd  at  Bethlehem  and  left,  much  benefitted  in  health.  Four 
weeks  later  Dr.  Otto  was  called  to  attend  the  Swedish  Baron  von 
Hermelin — an  eminent  mineralogist,  on  a  tour  of  scientific  investi- 
gation— who  was  taken  ill  on  the  road  six  miles  away.  He  was 
brought  to  Bethlehem  for  treatment  and  remained  until  August  7. 

From  July  22  to  August  29  of  that  year,  1783,  the  famous  Captain 
Paul  Jones  was  most  of  the  time  at  Bethlehem.  He  was  accompa- 
nied to  the  place  by  the  well-known  Philadelphia  merchant,  Samuel 
Wharton,  who  seems  to  have  just  returned  from  his  eventful  sojourn 
in  Europe,  where,  after  fleeing  from  England,  he  had  sought  the 
befriending  offices  of  Dr.  Franklin  in  France.  The  diarist  says  he 
became  acquainted  with  the  English  Moravian,  James  Hutton.  dur- 
ing the  intercourse  of  the  latter  with  Franklin.  Captain  Jones  had 
occasion  to  participate  during  his  stay,  as  a  voluntary  emergency 
police  captain,  in  an  exciting  incident  at  the  Crown  Inn.     After  the 

15  See  Transactions,  Moravian  Historical  Socicfy   IV,  53-65. 


522  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSVLVANIA. 

evening  service  of  the  Children's  Festival,  August  17,  Fuehrer,  inn- 
keeper at  the  Crown,  came  over  and  reported  the  suspicious  move- 
ments and  unruly  acts  of  two  individuals  who  had  followed  to  his 
tavern  a  traveler  who  carried  a  sum  of  money  which,  under  fear  of 
these  men,  he  had  given  into  Fuehrer's  care.  Meanwhile  they 
attacked  the  traveler,  deprived  him  of  his  letters  and  papers, 
intiicted  bodily  injury  upon  him  and  threatened  to  kill  him,  when  he 
escaped  in  the  darkness,  the  assailants  then  intimidating  the  other 
persons  at  the  tavern  and  taking  possession  of  the  place.  There 
being  no  magistrate  at  Bethlehem,  Captain  Jones  took  matters  into 
his  hands  and  made  arrangements  to  hold  and  guard  the  ruffians 
until  an  officer  could  be  summoned.  The  next  day  a  neighboring 
Justice  was  sent  for,  the  affair  was  investigated,  the  assaulted  trav- 
eler appeared,  the  prisoners,  who  were  both  found  to  be  tavern- 
keepers  on  the  road  to  Philadelphia,  were  bound  over  to  court,  and 
at  the  trial,  on  September  18,  the  worthy  squires  concluded  that  the 
afifair  was  trivial  and  the  case  was  dismissed.  The  apparent  reason 
for  their  leniency  is  doubtless  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  trav- 
eler's errand  proved  to  be  one  associated  with  Moravian  mission- 
aries and  Indian  missions  to  which  their  worships — most  of  them — 
cherished  the  old  repugnance,  cultivated  among  some  classes  of 
people  in  Northampton  County.  The  aforesaid  tavern-keepers  who 
followed  the  traveler  to  Bethlehem  proposed,  as  it  seems,  to  earn 
fame  in  the  service  of  their  country  by  hunting  down  a  traitorous 
emissary  of  the  Moravians  and  unearthing  some  dark  plot.  When 
the  papers  taken  by  them  from  their  victim,  after  he  first  escaped 
from  their  hands,  were  examined  by  Captain  Paul  Jones  and  others 
at  the  tavern,  the  -traveler  turned  out  to  be  a  trader,  Ebenezer  Allen, 
who,  on  August  2,  had  brought  to  Bethlehem  letters  sent,  June  22, 
from  Niagara  by  that  faithful  assistant  of  the  missionaries  John 
Joseph  Bull,  alias  Shebosh,  frequently  mentioned  in  former  chap- 
ters, and  John  Weigand,  of  Bethlehem,  on  their  way  as  messengers 
of  the  Moravian  authorities  to  the  fugitive  missionaries  Zeisberger, 
Heckewelder  and  Sensemann,  settled  with  the  remnant  of  their  con- 
verts at  New  Gnadenhuetten,  on  the  Huron  River — now  Clinton — 
in  the  present  State  of  Michigan. 

The  whole  afifair  had  a  connection,  therefore,  with  occurrences 
on  the  ragged  border-edge  of  the  great  Revolutionary  struggle,  out 
in  the  wild  West,  which  once  more  involved  the  Moravians  and 
gave  the  heaviest  blow  to  their  Indian  missions  that  had  yet  been 


f«i 


JOHN    MARTIN    MACK 


OWEN    RICE    (Ist) 


JOHN    HECKEWELDER 


DAVID   ZEISBERGER 


ABRAHAM    LUCKENBACH 


1778 1785-  525 

is  what  a  traveler  in  1783  found  where  now  the  cinder  banks  burn 
under  the  August  sun.  To  the  mind  of  the  genial  writer  "the  ferry- 
man and  his  two  assistants  seemed  to  reflect  the  cheering  aspect 
of  the  landscape,  being  friendher  and  more  accommodating  than  the 
generality  of  settlers  in  the  vicinity." 

He  then  enumerates  the  principal  buildings  of  the  town  and  com- 
ments on  the  cleanliness,  order  and  industry.  He  observed  that 
while  there  were  few  EngUsh  in  the  place,  nearly  all  were  conversant 
with  both  languages,  and  that  there  was  English  preaching  every 
Sunday.  He  says,  "As  most  of  the  Brethren,  and  especially  their 
ministers,  are  of  Saxon  origin,  it  is  a  matter  of  no  surprise  that  the 
purest  and  most  correct  German  of  which  America  can  boast  is 
spoken  here  at  Bethlehem,  and  in  the  other  Moravian  settlements." 
Ettwein  was  absent  on  a  journey,  but  in  Huebne'r  he  "found  an 
agreeable  and  amiable  gentleman  and  an  ardent  lover  of  botany." 
He  bestows  the  customary  praise  upon  the  inn,  refers  to  Baron 
Hermelin,  the  Swedish  mineralogist  who  was  there  sick,  and  notes 
Dr.  Otto's  skillful  treatment,  under  which  he  was  recovering.  The 
various  "factories  and  mills,"  the  water-works,  and  the  new  brewery 
are  alluded  to  and  in  part  described.  The  observant  visitor  refers 
to  "an  iron  nail  of  the  thickness  of  the  little  finger  and  three  inches 
long,"  found  in  digging  a  cellar,  "ten  feet  below  the  surface  of  the 
ground  and  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  from  the  bed  of  the  river,"  at  a 
place  where  no  excavations  were  known  to  have  ever  taken  place 
before.  He  speculates  on  the  possibiUty  of  its  having  come  from 
the  wrecked  vessel  of  European  navigators,  before  the  days  of 
Columbus,  and  having  been  brought  inland  by  Indians ;  and  on  the 
length  of  time  requisite  to  have  thus  buried  it  under  that  depth  of 
soil  through  deposits  by  the  annual  rise  of  the  waters.  The  skill 
of  Bethlehem's  artisans  and  the  variety  and  excellence  of  their 
products  are  praised.  He  acknowledges  his  indebtedness  to  Dr. 
Otto  "for  a  variety  of  information  respecting  the  medicinal  proper- 
ties of  indigenous  plants."  "What  a  glorious  land  would  America 
be,"  he  says,  "if  all  its  inhabitants  conformed  to  the  pattern  afforded 
by  the  Society  at  Bethlehem."  Referring  to  the  position  of  the 
people  in  the  matter  of  bearing  arms  and  the  trouble  to  which  it 
had  subjected  them,  he  says,  "Their  love  of  peace  and  quiet  cost  the 
Moravian  Brethren  dear  during  the  late  war  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution." 

The  long  war  could  at  that  time  be  thus  spoken  of  as  at  an  end. 
On  January  20,   1783,  the  preliminary  Treaty  of    Peace    had    been 


526  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

signed.  Un  April  11,  Congress  had  ordered  a  cessation  of  hostili- 
ties, and  this  had  been  announced  on  the  i6th  by  the  Supreme 
Executive  Council  of  Pennsylvania.  The  final  treaty  was  signed, 
September  3.  Its  ratification  by  Congress  took  place,  January  14, 
1784,  and  was  proclaimed  on  January  22. 

On  December  11,  1783,  the  people  of  Bethlehem  joined  devoutly 
and  joyfully  in  services  of  thanksgiving,  in  accordance  with  public 
proclamation,  ^^''ith  grateful  hearts  they  looked  into  the  future 
and,  in  their  restricted  sphere,  deliberated  upon  plans  for  the  new 
era  and  the  changed  conditions,  as  in  the  wider  sphere,  men  upon 
whom  the  responsibilities  of  state  rested  gave  their  attention  to  the 
proper  formation  of  government,  to  dealing  with  the  glorious  and 
the  grievous  results  of  the  war  and  to  the  development  of  nation- 
ality. The  Moravians  were  prepared  to  approve  themselves  faithful 
and  law-abiding  citizens  under  a  new  government,  as  they  had 
striven  to  be  imder  the  old  one.  The  prospects  for  the  prosecution 
of  their  old  missionary  calling  among  the  Indian  tribes  were  not 
highly  inspiring,  for  the  ruin  that  had  been  wrought  in  the  Tusca- 
rawas Valley,  in  Ohio,  had  left  them,  thus  far,  nothing  that  could 
be  done  but  to  hold,  if  possible,  the  remnant  that  survived.  But 
plans  for  a  new  forward  movement  were  being  discussed,  in  spite  of 
the  discouragement,  under  the  inspiration  given  by  the  celebration 
of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  beginning  of  Moravian  missions,  in 
that  same  sadly  memorable  year,  1782. 

There  were  also  other  problems  of  readjustment  and  reconstruc- 
tion to  be  considered  in  a  variety  of  greater  and  lesser  things.  The 
ordeal  of  the  preceding  years  had  not  been  without  its  internal 
effects,  not  only  in  their  scattered  town  and  country  congregations, 
but  also  in  their  exclusive  settlements.  Some  of  these  effects  at 
Bethlehem  were  far  from  pleasing  and  salutary.  Associations  and 
impressions  that  could  not  be  avoided  had  left  their  mark  on  many 
of  the  young  men  in  particular,  in  ways  that  caused  the  fathers  of 
the  village  grave  concern.  Among  some  the  old  simplicity,  the  old 
loyalty  to  the  ideals  of  the  place  in  its  central  missionary  purpose, 
its  religious,  social  and  industrial  life,  had  departed.  That  solidarity 
which  had  once  made  the  Single  Brethren  so  effective  in  united 
strength  and  zeal,  in  every  effort  upon  which  their  energies  were 
directed,  was  seriously  weakened.  Thoughts  and  ways  picked  up  out- 
side were  adopted  by  some  who  at  the  same  time  lacked  the  caliber, 
the  stamina  and  the  experience  in    the    outside    world    that    were 


1778 1785.  527 

requisite  to  make  them  sturdy  and  reliable  men,  if  emancipated  from 
the  old  tutelage  and  left  to  act  independently.  Even  some  contami- 
nation of  morals  was  painfully  evident,  here  and  there,  among  those 
whose  years  of  transition  from  boyhood  to  manhood  had  fallen  in 
the  time  of  the  Revolution,  when  evil  influences  could  not  be  kept 
at  a  distance.  Xot  only  the  toning  up  of  discipline  and  order,  but 
the  revival  of  industries  and  the  rehabilitation  of  the  economic  sys- 
tem, to  make  the  diacony  of  the  Single  Brethren  flourish  again  on 
the  old  basis,  were  attended  with  difficulty. 

Throughout,  in  the  matter  of  general  and  local  government,  in 
the  management  of  property  and  finances,  in  the  conduct  of  trades 
and  handicrafts,  in  pastoral  oversight  and  educational  work,  the 
problem  of  the  time  was  complicated.  Those  who  dealt  with  it  had 
to  face  the  fact  that,  on  the  one  hand,  after  the  Revolution,  it  could 
be  said  that,  in  many  respects,  old  things  had  passed  away  and  all 
things  had  become  new  in  the  country  in  which  they  were  placed, 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  their  intimate  organic  connection  with  the 
European  settlements  of  the  Church,  and  the  nature  of  their  subjec- 
tion to  immediate  control  by  the  central  Executive  Board  in  Europe, 
bound  them  to  conformity,  even  in  the  minutest  details,  to  principles, 
and  methods  which  were  fixed  for  both  sides  of  the  ocean  alike,  and 
were  not  altered  by  the  great  changes  produced  by  the  American 
Revolution.  Along  with  all  this  was  the  fact  that  through  the  exten- 
sive acquaintance  that  had  been  formed  during  the  Revolution  with 
leading  men  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  who  regarded  the  Moravian 
settlements  with  admiration  and  conceived  that  more  such  would  be 
desirable,  in  opening  up  and  developing  the  country,  they  were  met 
by  numerous  inducements  and  even  urgent  requests  to  colonize  in 
different  regions  and  increase  the  number  of  such  settlements.  This 
also  gave  rise  to  questions  that  had  to  be  considered.  Then,  fur- 
thermore, the  impression  made  upon  so  many  intelligent  people  by 
the  educational  system  and  methods  of  the  Moravians,  and  the  desire 
of  many  such  to  find  good  schools  in  which  to  place  their  sons  and 
daughters— for  there  was  a  woeful  scarcity  of  such — resulted  in 
applications  from  one  quarter  and  another  for  permission  to  bring 
children  to  Bethlehem  to  be  educated. 

The  boarding-school  for  girls  had  been  maintained  through  all  the 
demoralization,  on  a  small  scale,  but  not  on  a  plan  that  admitted  the 
daughters  of  people  generally,  or  afforded  the  facilities  they  sought. 
That  for  bovs  at  Nazareth  Hall  had  been  temporarily  closed  in  Sep- 


528  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENXSVLVANIA. 

tember,  1779,  under  the  dire  stress  of  the  time,  and  the  six  boys 
remaining  in  it  had  been  transferred  to  Bethlehem  and  placed  in  the 
little  school  that  was  again  domiciled  in  the  large  stone  house  .which 
in  its  palmy  days  had  quartered  a  much  greater  number  before  they 
were  moved  to  Nazareth  Hall,  when  the  school  there  was  first 
opened  in  1759.  Hence  it  came  that  the  question  of  re-organizing 
and  enlarging  the  plan  of  school  work  to  meet  these  applications, 
as  an  important  branch  of  Christian  service  to  the  pubHc  in  the  new 
era  that  had  been  entered,  was  added  to  the  other  questions  to  be 
considered. 

Very  naturally  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  at  the  close  of  the 
Revolutionary  War,  concluded  to  send  a  representative  to  America 
to  direct  the  various  new  measures  that  had  to  be  introduced,  while 
thoroughly  inspecting  affairs,  both  externally  and  internally,  and 
doing  what  seemed  best  to  foster  the  spirit  and  fix  the  form  then 
thought  desirable.  Bishop  John  deWatteville,  commissioned  to 
undertake  this  task,  proceeded  with  his  wife,  early  in  September,  to 
Holland,  took  passage  on  the  ship  Neutrality,  Captain  Carl  Siever, 
in  the  harbor  of  the  Texel,  and  sailed,  September  27.  They  were 
accompanied  by  the  Rev.  John  Daniel  Koehler,  destined  for  Salem, 
N.  C,  and  his  wife ;  an  attendant  named  Sponar,  and  a  woman,  Jus- 
tina  Graff.  Their  voyage  was  an  exceedingly  long  one,  full  of  hard- 
ship and  peril.  Reaching  the  vicinity  of  Sandy  Hook  early  in  Janu- 
ary, and  being  tossed  about  there  until  nearly  the  end  of  the  month, 
they  headed  for  the  West  Indies ;  were  shipwrecked  off  the  Island 
of  Barbuda,  spent  some  time  in  Antigua,  and  finally  sailed  in  another 
vessel  for  Philadelphia,  where  they  landed,  the  end  of  May,  and 
reached  Bethlehem,  June  2,  1784.  Their  nearness  to  New  York  and 
tJien  their  shipwreck  in  the  West  Indies  had  become  known  and  their 
arrival  had  been  awaited  with  the  utmost  anxiety,  especially,  of 
course,  by  deSchweinitz  and  his  wife,  the  son-in-law  and  daughter 
of  deW^atteville,  and  the  joy  in  welcoming  them  was  correspondingly 
great.  This  was  Bishop  deWatteville's  second  visit  to  America, 
but  the  third  made  by  his  wife,  who  must  have  been  much  impressed 
by  the  changes  that  had  taken  place  at  Bethlehem  since  she  first 
saw  the  spot  when,  a  maiden  of  less  than  seventeen  years,  she 
accompanied  her  father.  Count  Zinzendorf,  to  the  Forks  of  the 
Delaware  in  1741. 

DeWatteville's  duties,  during  his  stay  of  three  years  in  the  United 
States,  embraced  more  or  less  extended  visits  to  all  of  the  congre- 


1778 1785-  529 

gations  in  the  Northern  States  and  a  protracted  sojourn  in  North 
Carolina,  where  a  separate  executive  government  for  the  Wachovia 
work  was  organized  which  survives  to  the  present  time,  dividing  the 
Moravian  Churches  in  America  into  two  Provinces.  The  seat  of 
government  of  the  Northern  Province  continued  to  be  at  Bethlehem. 
After  the  death  of  Bishop  Nathanael  Seidel,  Ettwein,  first  Vice-Presi- 
dent of  the  Executive  Board,  who  had  been  engaging  for  a  while  in 
official  duties  at  Lititz,  returned,  on  May  31,  1782,  to  Bethlehem,  to 
fully  take  the  President's  place,  with  Huebner  as  Vice-President, 
until  instructions  about  the  permanent  filling  of  these  positions 
should  be  received  from  Europe.  A  General  Synod  was  held  at 
Berthelsdorf,  Saxony,  that  year  and,  although  no  deputy  from 
America  was  present,  American  affairs  were  specially  considered  by 
a  committee,  and  various  enactments  relating  to  them  resulted. 
Ettwein  was  to  be  the  successor  to  Seidel,  and  he  became  the  candi- 
date for  the  episcopacy  to  fill  the  vacancy.  Bishop  Grafif,  of  Salem, 
N.  C,  had  died,  August  29,  1782,  a  little  more  than  three  months 
after  Seidel's  decease,  and  the  venerable  Matthew  Hehl,  of  Lititz, 
was  the  only  Moravian  bishop  left  in  America.  Ettwein's  consecra- 
tion was  deferred,  however,  until  the  arrival  of  deWatteville.  It  took 
place  on  June  25,  1784,  in  connection  with  the  anniversary  festival 
of  Bethlehem.  Bishop  Hehl,  at  that  time  already  in  the  eightieth 
year  of  his  age,  died  on  December  4,  1787.  Ettwein  was  then  the 
only  Moravian  bishop  in  America  until  1790,  when  the  Rev.  John 
Andrew  Huebner,  of  Bethlehem,  and  the  Rev.  John  Daniel  Koehler, 
of  Salem,  N.  C,  who  had  come  to  America  with  Bishop  deWatte- 
ville, were  consecrated  to  the  episcopacy.  Seidel  had,  as  set  forth 
in  a  previous  explanation  of  the  executive  office,  been  regarded  as 
the  American  "Provincial  Helper"  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Confer- 
ence. Their  several  Helpers  at  the  head  of  the  Elders'  Conferences 
of  the  American  church-settlements  had,  together  with  the  Admin- 
istrator of  the  Unity's  estates  in  America,  constituted  a  kind  of 
cabinet  of  the  Provincial  Helper,  called  the  Provincial  Helper's 
Conference,  all  being  appointees  of  the  Unity's  Elders"  Conference, 
selected  by  them,  subject  to  confirmation  by  lot.  Now,  under  the 
order  instituted  by  deWatteville,  this  individual  position  of  Provincial 
Helper,  as  "Oeconomus"  of  the  American  settlements  and  congre- 
gations, was  to  cease,  and  the  conference  as  a  body  were  to  jointly 
administer  affairs,  under  directions.  The  title  Provincial  Helpers' 
Conference  also  ceased  for  a  number  of  years  and  the  long,  unwieldy 

35 


530  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

one,  ''Conference  of  Helpers  in  General  of  the  Congregations  and 
Stations  in  Pennsylvania  and  adjacent  parts,"  referred  to  in  a  pre- 
ceding note,  was  given  them.^- 

The  rationale  of  all  this  was  to  eliminate,  under  the  policy  of  that 
period,  all  semblance  of  autonomy  from  the  body  of  American  settle- 
ments, congregations  and  stations,  as  an  integral  section  (Province) 
of  the  Unity ;  to  place  them,  like  those  in  Germany,  under  the 
immediate  control  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  more  fully, 
this  board  holding  direct  relations  to  them  severally,  as  congre- 
gations, and  undertaking  to  deal  across  the  ocean  with  all  their 
internal  affairs,  the  same  as  a  governing  board  on  the  spot.  Such 
a  thing  as  an  American  Provincial  Government  did  not  really  exist 
under  this  arrangement.  There  was  no  Synod,  properly  speaking, 
from  the  last  such  gathering  in  1768  until  181 7.  The  meetings  that 
took  its  place  were  merely  conferences  of  ministers,  shorn  of  all  power 
to  legislate  independently,  even  on  the  most  trifling  things.  What 
may  be  called  the  Provincial  Board  by  courtesy  was  only  an  admin- 
istrative agency  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  composed  of  its 
appointees  sent  over  from  Europe,  from  time  to  time,  as  vacancies 
occurred.  They  possessed  no  power  of  independent  action  in  any 
particular  beyond  what  they  were  occasionally  compelled  to  exercise 
in  emergencies.  A  related  feature  of  this  policy  was  the  abandon- 
ment of  church  extension,  so  far  as  embracing  opportunities  to 
organize  further  city  and  country  congregations  was  concerned.  The 
growth  of  those  which  did  exist  was  restricted  by  the  system  then 
everywhere  established,  of  making  even  admissions  to  membership 
subject  to  the  use  of  the  lot,  and  by  imposing  regulations  upon  them 
as  closely  akin  to  those  of  the  exclusive  settlements  as  possible,  and 
as  nearly  uniform  as  possible,  even  in  the  most  petty  details,  quite 
regardless  of  varying  circumstances  and  classes  of  people. 

The  only  kind  of  extension  taken  into  consideration  under  this 
regime  was  that  invited  by  large  land-owners  who  held  out  induce- 
ments for  the  founding  of  additional  settlements  after  the  model 
of  Bethlehem.  But  one  after  another,  these  propositions,  after  inter- 
minable deliberations,  came  to  nought  in  consequence  of  what  the 
board  in  Germany  concluded  were  insurmountable  difficulties ;  these 
being  often  matters  of  detail  which  from  the  standpoint  of  present- 
day  views,  seem  unimportant  and  sometimes  even  petty.     The  rigid 

18  "Heifer  Conferenz  iti's  ganze  der  Penmylvanischen  iind  ttinliegenden  Gemcinen  und 
Post  en  P 


1778 1785.  531 

system  which  had  been  elaborated  and  everywhere  imposed,  required, 
in  such  cases,  provision  for  every  feature  that  entered  into  the  organi- 
zation and  equipment  of  the  existing  exclusive  settlements,  and  when 
the  means  for  such  provision  were  not  in  sight  the  project  must 
needs  be  abandoned.  That  under  such  a  regime  the  Moravian 
Church  in  America,  as  a  whole,  as  well  as  its  several  settlements  and 
congregations,  entered  upon  a  stationary  period,  got  out  of  touch 
with  the  spirit  and  movement  of  the  country  about  them,  became 
confirmed  in  an  isolated,  unique,  quiescent  character — self-absorbed 
and  somewhat  open  to  the  charge  of  narrow  self-complacency  and 
conceit,  like  those  in  Europe — was  natural  and  inevitable.  That  at 
Bethlehem  and  the  other  exclusive  settlements,  it  was  found  by  and 
by,  that  this  isolation  did  not  exclude  human  nature  in  any  of  its 
elements  and  phases ;  did  not  suffice  to  make  all  people  perfectly 
good  and  harmonious,  contented  and  happy,  was  just  as  natural  and 
inevitable.  On  the  other  hand,  the  vitality  preserved  in  spite  of  all 
the  artificial  restraints  and  trammels,  so  that  these  settlements  did 
not  become  effete-  in  the  exotic  character  forced  upon  them — a 
vitality  which  was  able  eventually  to  emancipate  itself  and  adjust 
itself  to  surroundings  that  had  moved  far  away  from  them  in  the 
development  of  the  country — remains  a  matter  of  surprise. 

This  stationary,  exclusive  and  quiescent  condition  of  Bethlehem 
was  fixed  by  the  results  of  deWatteville's  visit.  Such  a  more  pro- 
nounced isolation  of  the  Moravian  villages  was  the  alternative  chosen 
when  the  question  of  future  policy  had  to  be  decided  after  the  Revo- 
lution. The  other  would  have  been  to  fvdly  fall  into  line  with  the 
new  general  movements  of  the  time.  This  would  have  required  the 
entire  abandonment  of  the  church-village  plan,  and  for  many  reasons 
deemed  cogent,  this  was  regarded  as  undesirable,  impracticable,  even 
fatal  to  Moravian  ideals.  The  logic  of  the  situation  seemed  to 
demand  a  decided  course  in  one  direction  or  the  other.  That  which 
was  taken  greatly  retarded  the  growth  of  the  Moravian  Church  and 
accounts  for  its  comparative  smallness  at  the  present  time.  Nearly 
fifty  years  passed  before  it  began  to  organize  new  congregations 
again,  and  some  old  ones  had,  under  this  system,  been  permitted  to 
die.  But  at  Bethlehem,  and  its  other  exclusive  settlements,  it  pre- 
sented one  of  the  most  interesting  experiments  in  methods  of  reli- 
gious culture,  municipal  organization,  regulation  of  business — adjust- 
ing supply  and  demand,  taking  care  of  the  place  and  claim  of  each, 
preventing  aggrandizement   on   the   one   hand   and   impoverishment 


532  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

on  the  other,  making  the  niilUonaire  and  the  pauper  ahke  impos- 
sible— that  can  be  found  anywhere  by  the  student  of  these  matters. 

In  its  effects  on  the  general  spirit  of  Bethlehem,  deWatteville's 
sojourn  was  highly  beneficial.  His  personal  influence  in  allaying 
friction,  smoothing  out  the  wrinkles,  reducing  the  jarring  that  had 
been  produced  during  the  trying  years  of  the  Revolution,  and  in  gen- 
erally toning  up  the  esprit  dc  corps,  was  very  great.  His  earnest 
appeals  to  heart  and  conscience  were  effective  in  recalling  to  their 
better  selves,  some  who  had  drifted  away  from  the  standards,  and  in 
checking  the  inroads  of  baleful  tendencies,  such  as  intemperate 
indulgence  in  strong  drink,  which  had  become  a  cause  for  serious 
alarm  in  some  quarters  and  had  borne  some  sad  fruit. 

The  entire  system  of  finances  was  thoroughly  examined  and  the 
agreements  between  Bethlehem  and  the  Wardens  of  the  Unity,  as 
well  as  the  Pennsylvania  Sustentation  Diacony,  made  in  1771,  were 
renewed.  Notwithstanding  the  grievous  burdens  of  eight  years  of 
war  and  the  heavy  taxes  which  yet  continued,  the  Bethlehem  Con- 
gregation Diacony  at  the  closing  of  accounts  on  May  31,  1784,  not 
only  showed  no  deficit  for  the  year,  but  revealed  that  the  amount 
for  which  its  property  in  buildings  stood  obligated  to  the  Wardens 
of  the  Unity — iio,ooo  in  1771 — had  been  reduced  to  the  extent  of 
£3,500.  It  was  found  that  the  finances  of  the  Sisters'  House  were 
in  a  gratifying  condition.  Those  of  the  Widows'  House  showed  a 
small  deficit,  due  to  the  fact  that  there  was  less  opportunity  for  carry- 
ing on  productive  industries,  and  that  the  rates  for  board  had  to  be 
fixed  very  low  on  account  of  the  indigence  of  most  of  the  widows. 
The  finances  of  the  Brethren's  House  were  not  in  good  shape,  owing 
to  the  long  demoralization  of  most  of  the  industries  carried  on  by 
the  single  men,  from  which  they  had  not  recovered,  the  drain  caused 
by  the  heavy  war  taxes  and  militia  fines,  which  almost  bankrupted 
their  establishment,  and  a  lack  of  loyalty  and  zeal  in  their  common 
cause  shown  by  some  of  the  single  men  since  the  war.  Some  diffi- 
culty in  the  adjustment  of  wages  to  the  price  of  living  was  also  being 
experienced.  It  is  stated,  early  in  1785,  that  the  warden  of  the 
Brethren's  House  was  finding  some  relief  for  the  situation  by  the 
barter  of  products,  especially  from  the  oil-mill  and  from  the  oat  and 
barley-hulling  mill,  for  provisions  in  Philadelphia,  enabling  him  to 
procure  these  cheaper  than  they  could  be  furnished  him  through  the 
Bethlehem  store.  In  this  connection  the  regulations  of  the  time  in 
the  matter  of  mutual  support  between  the  various  establishments  of 


^77^ i/SS-  533 

the  place  appear,  for  while  the  authorities  acquiesced  in  this  enter- 
prise on  the  part  of  the  warden  of  the  Brethren's  House,  under  the 
peculiar  circumstances,  strong  disapproval  of  the  practice  of  some 
people  of  commissioning  him  to  make  purchases  in  the  city,  was  offi- 
cially expressed.  The  people  were  admonished  to  patronize  their 
own  village  store,  just  as  each  of  them  expected  the  support  of  his 
brethren  and  fellow-citizens  in  his  particular  trade  or  business. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  in  connection  with  the  need  of  farmers 
and  of  various  craftsmen  and  artisans,  such  as  shoemakers,  tailors, 
linen-weavers,  tinkers,  a  brazier  and  a  coppersmith,  then  wanted  in 
the  industrial  revival  and  advance,  and  to  be  secured  from  the  church 
settlements  in  Europe,  if  possible,  the  decision  was  recorded  when 
this  matter  was  under  discussion,  that  there  should  be  no  previous 
binding  contract  with  such  men,  or  advance  of  money  for  traveling 
expenses  to  America,  for  should  any  of  them  prove  to  be  useless  or 
unfaithful,  the  higher  law  of  the  place,  as  based  on  Christian  brother- 
hood, would  leave  them  a  charge  upon  its  resources,  if  indigent  or 
sick.  Thus,  in  its  limited  scope,  Bethlehem,  at  that  time,  considered 
and  pronounced  upon  the  questions  of  pauper  immigration  and 
imported  contract  labor  on  which,  in  modern  times,  the  United 
States  Government  makes  laws. 

A  final  important  reconstruction  effected  at  the  opening  of  the 
new  era,  under  Bishop  deWatteville's  supervision,  was  that  of  the 
boarding-school  for  girls,  to  be  yet  mentioned  in  this  chapter.  It  is 
an  interesting  fact  that  at  this  third  epoch  in  the  history  of  that 
department  of  Moravian  work  in  Pennsylvania,  his  wife,  the  Countess 
Benigna,  again  took  part  in  shaping  its  plan  and  course — she  who 
had  opened  the  original  school  for  girls  in  Germantown,  May  4. 
1742,  and  helped  in  its  re-organization  and  permanent  establishment 
at  Bethlehem,  January  5,  1749.  The  desire  of  various  people  outside 
the  Moravian  Church  to  have  their  daughters  educated  at  Bethle- 
hem, which,  as  already  stated,  led  to  the  thought  of  restoring  the 
school  to  ifs  original  character  on  an  enlarged  scale,  as  a  general 
boarding-school  for  girls,  had  been  anticipated  by  action  of  the  Gen- 
eral Synod  of  1782.  Such  applications  to  the  schools  of  the  Church 
in  Europe  had  there  led  to  a  similar  move.  Prior  to  1769,  both  in 
Europe  and  America,  all  the  children  of  Moravian  settlements  had 
been  educated  in  their  schools  at  the  expense  of  the  general  treasury 
of  the  Unity.  Then,  this  being  no  longer  financially  feasible,  and 
more  complete  local  organization  being  everywhere  effected,  only 


534  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

the  children  of  ministers  and  missionaries  continued  to  be  so  cared 
for,  and  arrangements  had  to  be  made  to  support  schools  for  the 
other  children  out  of  the  several  congregation  diaconies.  This  new 
arrangement  went  mto  efifect  at  Bethlehem  in  1771,  as  was  men- 
tioned in  a  previous  chapter. 

The  General  Synod  of  1782  was  made  attentive  to  a  movement  to 
so  re-organize  or  newly  establish  schools  in  the  church  settlements 
of  Germany  and  England,  that  the  desire  of  outside  people  to  place 
their  children  in  such  schools  might  be  met  and,  at  the  same  time, 
by  means  of  the  enlarged  facilities  and  increased  school  income  thus 
available,  the  very  important  end  be  gained  to  secure  better  school- 
ing for  the  village  children  without  a  heavier  financial  burden  on  the 
people ;  while  the  presence  of  such  boarding-scholars  would,  further- 
more, be  a  financial  benefit  to  the  several  places  in  other  ways.  The 
Synod,  taking  the  whole  subject  into  consideration,  concluded  that 
this  movement  also  indicated  a  mission  which  the  Moravian  settle- 
ments might  fulfill  in  making  educational  work  in  their  way,  on  this 
basis,  a  special  department  of  Christian  service  to  the  public,  and 
therefore  officially  authorized  undertakings  in  this  direction. 

Thus  opened  the  new  era  of  schools,  both  for  boys  and  girls,  in  the 
Moravian  villages,  with  the  two  classes  of  scholars — boarders  and 
day-scholars ;  the  era  of  the  boarding-schools  in  their  modern  char- 
acter, as  one  of  the  special  departments  of  Moravian  activity.  In 
the  boarding-school  for  girls  at  Bethlehem  there  had  been,  during 
the  Revolution,  a  great  decrease  in  the  number  of  daughters  of  mis- 
sionaries from  the  West  Indies  and  South  America,  and  at  this  time, 
although  it  had  not,  like  Nazareth  Hall,  been  temporarily  closed, 
there  were  only  five  inmates.  After  many  deliberations,  a  scheme 
for  the  institution  on  the  new  basis  was  matured,  and  plans  for  the 
re-organization  and  re-opening  of  Nazareth  Hall,  as  a  boarding- 
school  for  boys,  were  worked  out  at  the  same  time. 

October  2,  1785,  the  school  for  girls,  thus  re-organized,  entered 
the  new  period  of  its  existence  with  those  five  boarders,  Susan  Bagge, 
Rosina  Friedman,  Maria  Heckewelder,  Anna  Unger  and  Maria 
Unger  as  a  nucleus,  and  eleven  girls  as  day-scholars.  Two  former 
teachers,  Elizabeth  Burnet,  serving  since  1757,  and  Susan  Langaard, 
retired ;  also  Juliana  Esther  W'apler,  for  many  years  the  matron,  and 
Anna  Margaret  Motz,for  a  while  the  stewardess.  Two  other  teachers, 
Maria  Elizabeth  Beroth  and  Sulamith  Nyberg,  continued  under  the 
new  order,  performing  also  some  of  the  duties  of  the  retired  matron 


i?/^ 1785-  535 

and  stewardess,  while  John  Frederick  Peter  and  his  wife  became 
curators  of  the  estabHshment.  The  whole  was  in  charge  of  the 
Head  Pastor  at  Bethlehem,  the  Rev.  John  Andrew  Huebner,  as 
first  "Inspector,"  or  Principal  of  the  new  period,  and  its  quarters 
continued  to  be  in  the  bell-turret  building — "Old  Seminary"  or  "bell 
house" — in  which  it  was  established  in  1749.  On  October  3,  eleven 
Bethlehem  boys  were  taken  to  Nazareth  Hall  and  that  institution 
was  re-opened  with  the  Rev.  Charles  Gotthold  Reichel  as  Principal 
and  George  Godfrey  Miller  and  Lewis  Huebener  as  teachers,  while 
a  little  bovs'  school  was  continued  at  Bethlehem. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Two  Decades  Under  the  Close  Regime. 
1786— 1806. 

The  re-establishment  of  Bethlehem  on  the  basis  of  more  complete 
conformity  to  the  lierrnhut  model  caused  it  to  become  stationary 
amid  surroundings  that  were  all  in  flux  politically,  ecclesiastically, 
industrially  and  socially.  This  was,  in  accordance  with  the  revised 
scheme,  consummated  step  by  step  during  the  year  1786  and  the  first 
months  of  1787.  Bishop  deWatteville  and  his  wife,  having  finished 
their  work  in  America,  bade  farewell  to  Bethlehem  on  June  4,  1787, 
and  went  to  Philadelphia,  where  they  had  engaged  passage  for 
Europe  on  the  brig  Ruby,  Captain  Sam.  Smith.  They  sailed  on  June 
12.  They  were  accompanied  by  several  other  persons.  One  of 
these  was  Susan  von  Gersdorff,  the  superintendent  of  the  Sisters' 
House  during  the  Revolution,  who  returned  to  Germany.  Bethle- 
hem was  left  to  struggle  with  the  experiment  of  extreme  exclusivism 
amid  conditions  more  adverse  to  such  a  regime  than  could  have  been 
found  anywhere  in  civilized  countries — with  the  experiment  of  strict 
paternal  government  at  a  time  when  the  contagion  of  independence 
was  in  the  air  to  such  an  extent  that  even  the  legitimate  outcome 
of  the  Revolution  in  the  creation  of  federal  government  had  to  fight 
for  its  life,  when  the  war  was  over,  with  many  who,  after  indepen- 
dence had  been  achieved,  wanted  also  to  be  independent  even  of  a 
central  government  of  their  own.  The  spirit  of  the  brewing  French 
Revolution,  already  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  times,  moving  the 
thinking  and  the  unthinking,  the  educated  and  the  ignorant  in  their 
several  ways,  could  not  be  entirely  kept  out  of  even  Bethlehem.  An 
aversion  to  being  controlled  became  contagious,  especially  among 
the  younger  men  of  the  place,  from  the  more  intelligent  craftsmen 
and  mechanics  who  read  books  and  newspapers  and  discussed  the 
great  movements  of  the  time,  down  to  the  stable  boys,  who  got  ideas 
from  others  of  their  kind  and  tugged  at  their  leading  strings.  The 
old  heroic  days  of  Bethlehem  were  a  thing  of  the  past,  never  to 
return. 

536 


1786 i8o6.  537 

The  spirit  and  aims  of  earlier  times  were  specially  recalled  and 
fervently  impressed  upon  the  people  on  one  memorable  occa- 
sion during  this  period.  This  was  when  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
the  organization  of  the  settlement — Bethlehem's  first  jubilee — was 
celebrated  with  high  festivities  on  June  25,  1792.  A  festal  eve  ser- 
vice of  humble  confession,  fervent  prayer  and  grateful  praise  was 
held  on  the  previous  evening.  At  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the 
trombonists,  stationed  on  the  belvedere  or  roof-terrace  of  the  Breth- 
ren's House,  ushered  in  the  festival  with  stirring  chorales.  At  half- 
past  eight,  the  people  gathered  to  morning  prayer.  At  the  next  ser- 
vice, at  ten  o'clock,  a  historical  sketch  of  Bethlehem  and  several 
original  poems  treating  of  the  theme  of  the  occasion  were  read. 
There  was  lovefeast  at  three  o'clock,  the  Holy  Communion  was 
celebrated  at  seven  o'clock,  and  after  that  the  day  was  closed  with 
evening  prayer  around  a  pyramid  of  light  in  the  square  in  front  of 
the  bell-turret  house  or  old  seminary.  The  entire  town  entered  into 
the  spirit  of  the  day.  Illuminations  were  arranged  in  the  evening 
in  nearly  every  building  of  the  place,  and  the  feeling  prevailed  that 
all  ages  and  classes  had  a  part  in  this  great  festival.  There  was  an 
upHfting  of  spirit  in  the  contemplation  of  noble  men  and  women,  and 
noble  deeds,  awakened  by  the  historical  review.  The  thought  was 
impressed  anew  that  Bethlehem  had  been  founded  to  the  glory  of 
God,  and  had  been  preserved  through  tribulation  and  peril  by  His 
mighty  hand  for  a  further  mission  in  His  Name. 

The  festival  was  beneficial  in  its  effects  on  the  general  tone  of  the 
place,  and  it  evidently  made  many  a  one  attentive  to  ideals  that  should 
not  be  abandoned.  But  it  did  not  permanently  revive  the  aspirations 
of  the  earlv  years,  or  kindle  anew  the  first  love.  To  be  heroically 
altruistic  was  not  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  time.  The  spirit  of  self- 
denying  co-operation  for  the  maintenance  of  ideals  had  given  way, 
among  many,  to  that  of  merely  striving  to  better  individual  circum- 
stances, either  by  leaving  and  seeking  their  fortune  in  the  world  or  by 
staving  and  trying  to  get  all  they  could  out  of  the  establishment  with 
the  least  necessary  return  on  their  part;  some  doing  this  by  agitation 
and  clamor,  other  by  circumvention.  The  former — those  who  left — 
deserved  more  credit  than  the  latter  and,  although  their  depar- 
ture often  saddened  the  hearts  of  the  village  fathers,  they  caused 
them  less  trouble  and  did  not  resort  to  dishonorable  little  ways  of 
seeking  their  own  interests,  as  the  latter  frequently  did.  Many  other 
men,  both  married  and  single,  were  good  and  faithful  and  true.   They 


538  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

were  yet  in  sympathy  with  the  okl  ideals,  and  eontinued  to  associate 
their  place  and  calling  with  missionary  work  and  with  the  service  of 
Christ.  In  them  the  men  who  were  sincerely  trying  to  maintain 
exalted  standards  always  foimd  support.  There  were  yet  others 
who,  although  quiescent,  so  far  as  action  for  or  against  established 
ideas,  principles  and  methods  was  concerned,  were  nevertheless  a 
burden,  for  they  perpetually  murmured  and  found  fault.  The  growth 
of  this  spirit,  under  such  a  regime,  among  those  who  lacked  the  force 
or  the  opportunity  to  do  anything  alse,  was  natural  and  became  a 
prominent  characteristic  of  Moravian  villagers.  The  system  was 
well  adapted  to  developing  a  chronic  disposition  to  grumble  among 
persons  who  were  so  inclined  and  who  in  their  narrow  confines  were 
given  to  magnifying  the  smallest  occasions  for  dissatisfaction.  With 
all  there  was  of  comfort  and  unconcern  for  the  lesser  spirits,  in  the 
state  of  being  entirely  taken  care  of,  there  appeared  with  it  also  the 
common  propensity  of  persons  who  are  beneficiaries  to  childishly 
dwell  upon  little  grievances,  supposed  inequalities  in  the  bestowal 
of  favors,  partiality  in  assigning  places  or  tasks  and  the  like. 
Those  who  had  more  energy  and  were  engaged  in  occupations  that 
gave  them  more  importance,  but  who  did  not  figure  in  controlling 
circles,  chafed  under  an  order  of  things  that  subjected  them  to  so 
much  ofificial  surveillance,  and  all  their  doings  and  affairs  to  such 
close  and  constant  supervision. 

What  the  old  devotion  and  enthusiasm  could  submit  to  without 
growing  restive,  the  spirit  of  those  last  decades  of  the  century  found 
very  galling  at  times.  The  men,  both  at  the  top  and  in  minor  places, 
who  were  set  in  authority  under  the  system,  differed  in  ability, 
force  and  tact,  as  well  as  in  heart.  Some  were  able  to  control  easily 
and  hold  good  will,  some  could  even  inspire  subordinates  with  loy- 
alty and  zeal.  Others  were  unable  to  be  anything  but  a  hardship 
to  those  under  them.  Not  all  could  in  a  pleasing  manner  pursue  the 
strictness  and  minuteness  of  the  worked-out  instructions  under  which 
they  performed  their  official  duties.  Some  were  disposed  to  impress 
their  own  importance  by  being  minutely  severe  and  playing  the  mar- 
tinet. There  were  men  then,  just  as  there  are  now,  who  quickly 
grew  great  by  being  put  into  some  little  office  and  being  clothed 
with  a  little  authority.  Under  such  it  was  less  easy  for  persons  to 
patiently  bear  the  yoke,  and  their  assumptions  often  provoked 
insubordination  and  caused  friction  that  under  larger  minded  and 
wiser  men  would  not  have  appeared.     During  the  first  vears  after 


1786 i8o6.  539 

the  Revolution,  more  difficulty  was  experienced  in  all  these  respects 
than  some  years  later,  when  the  machinery  of  the  place  ran  smoother 
and  the  period  of  serious  new  jarring  and  friction  had  not  opened. 

In  numerous  features,  however,  the  life  of  the  place  was  a  very 
attractive  one  in  its  quiet  retirement,  its  orderly  industry,  its  degree 
of  social  equality  and  harmony  hardly  to  be  met  with  anywhere  else 
except  in  similar  Moravian  villages,  its  average  comfort  among  all 
classes,  its  genial  intercourse  which  among  many  tempered  the  fault- 
finding spirit  into  a  harmless  habit,  its  cultivation  of  much  aesthetic 
taste  under  the  unpretentious  plainness,  particularly  in  music,  and 
the  picturesque  externals  of  the  situation.  Such  characteristics  were 
usually  charming  to  people  who  visited  Bethlehem  and  did  not 
come  into  contact  with  the  things  that  were  less  pleasing,  for  these 
commonly  escaped  the  attention  of  the  outsider.  The  latter,  which 
have  thus  been  cursorily  sketched,  can  indeed  hardly  become  known 
and  would  not  be  associated  now  with  those  idyllic  days  except 
through  an  examination  of  the  minutes  of  official  boards.  These 
records  reveal  how  difficult  it  was  to  regulate  some  things  and  some 
men,  and  they  give  an  insight  into  the  sombre  features  of  the  situa- 
tion. 

Some  of  the  difficulties  were  occasioned,  of  course,  by  the  attempt 
to  operate,  in  all  particulars,  the  over-wrought  system  that  was 
imposed,  often  giving  rise  to  serious  embarrassments  in  quite 
trivial  matters  without  compensating  benefit  resulting  from  the 
methods.  It  is  true  also  that  it  was  the  official  custom  of  those  days, 
when  treating  of  the  conduct  of  people,  to  make  use  of  language,  in 
the  way  of  allusion,  that  conveys  the  impression  of  something  far 
more  serious  than  really  lay  in  many  a  case,  so  that  such  allusions 
must  be  taken  with  caution  and  with  a  proper  understanding  of  the 
official  expressions  in  vogue,  in  justice  to  many  an  individual  referred 
to  whose  offence  was  really  but  a  trifling  thing.  It  is  true,  further- 
more, that  the  paternal  administration  of  those  days  was  disposed 
to  attach  too  much  odium  in  the  relative  estimate  of  various  offences, 
to  the  particular  one  of  insubordination,  a  very  undefined  misde- 
meanor ;  one  in  which  very  insignificant  occurrences  were  sometimes 
magnified  by  small  men,  jealous  of  their  authority,  into  grave 
ofifences,  and  the  offender  was  occasionally  as  much  officially  sinned 
against  as  sinning — like  a  child  provoked  to  wrath.  Nevertheless, 
manv  of  the  difficulties  were  experienced  in  the  effort  to  suppress 
propensities  and  to  keep  out  influences  that  were  really  evil.  One 
most  frequentlv  referred  to  was  intemperance  in  the  use  of  strong 


540  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

drink,  mentioned  in  the  previous  chapter,  which  seems  to  have  pre- 
vailed in  some  circles — as  generally  throughout  the  country  at  that 
period — to  a  deplorable  extent.  This  was  the  most  prominent  evil 
in  the  declining  establishment  of  the  single  men  at  Christiansbrunn, 
which  finally  sank  into  decadence  that  became  hopeless.  It  had  to 
be  closed  out  on  April  i,  1796,  when  the  important  farm  and  indus- 
tries were  put  in  charge  of  a  few  competent  and  trustworthy  men, 
mainly  men  with  families,  and  several  of  the  deteriorated  bachelors 
were  given  a  mere  asylum  there  under  watchful  restraint. 

Another  flagrant  vice  which  was  particularly  characteristic 
of  that  age  throughout  the  country  generally  and  at  Bethlehem 
found  its  way  into  some  circles  to  an  extent  that  called  forth  earnest 
pastoral  admonition,  was  the  practice  of  coarse  profanity.  A  spirit 
of  irreverence,  indifference  and  levity,  over  against  sacred  things, 
among  many  inmates  of  the  Brethren's  House  and  even  among  some 
heads  of  families,  and  a  disposition  to  neglect  the  services  of  the 
sanctuary  under  all  kinds  of  flimsy  pretexts,  occasioned  the  Elders' 
Conference  of  the  village  much  anxiety.  In  all  these  things,  the 
taint  of  bad  influences  during  war  times  and  the  invading  spirit  of 
the  age  in  revolt  against  long  accepted  religious  tenets,  ecclesiastical 
traditions  and  even  moral  restraints,  did  no  little  damage  in  Beth- 
lehem during  those  closing  years  of  the  century  and  taxed  the 
resources  of  its  guardians.  Possibly  if  the  policy  of  complete  open- 
ing up  had  been  adopted  at  this  period,  in  harmony  with  the  general 
course  of  things  in  the  country,  the  result  might  have  been  disastrous 
to  the  spiritual  and  material  trusts  providentially  committed  to  Beth- 
lehem. Perhaps  the  system,  given  the  name  of  "close  irginw"  in  the 
heading  of  this  chapter,  was  at  that  time,  all  things  being  considered, 
the  best,  as  a  means  of  conserving  the  body  of  resources  centered  at 
the  place  for  more  efifective  future  unfolding  and  use  under  other 
conditions. 

The  official  personnel  of  Bethlehem,  during  the  twenty  years 
embraced  in  this  chapter,  did  not  change  very  frequently,  so  far  as 
the  most  important  positions  were  concerned,  but  it  included  a  con- 
siderable number  of  minor  functionaries,  particularly  in  connection 
with  the  establishment  of  the  single  men,  who  came  and  went,  serving 
short  terms.  Bishop  John  Ettwein  remained  at  the  head  of  the  Amer- 
ican General  Board  until  old  age  and  infirmity  compelled  him  to 
retire  on  November  26,  1801.  He  died  soon  after  that,  January  2, 
1802,  and  on  January  5,  his  remains  were  laid  to  rest  aside  of  the 


1786 i8o6.  541 

grave  of  Bishop  Nathanael  Seidel.  His  funeral  was  attended  by  a 
great  concourse  of  people  from  the  surrounding  country,  including 
three  clergymen  of  other  denominations.  The  General  Board  had 
decided,  in  February  prior  to  his  retirement,  to  request,  when  the 
General  Synod  of  that  year  should  meet,  that  provisions  might  be 
made  for  the  continual  residence  of  two  bishops  in  Pennsylvania,  in 
order  that  the  embarrassments  resulting  several  times  before  from 
the  old  age  and  incapacity  of  the  single  one  resident  in  this  country 
might  not  occur  again.  Under  the  system  existing  at  that  time,  one 
was  singled  out  as  "Presiding  Bishop,"  placed  by  the  Unity's  Elders' 
Conference  at  the  head  of  its  Conference  of  Helpers,  the  General 
Board  in  Pennsylvania. 

Ettwein  was  succeeded  in  this  position  by  Bishop  George  Henry 
Loskiel,  who  arrived  from  Europe  on  July  23,  1802.  The  Rev.  John 
Andrew  Huebner,  Head  Pastor  and  President  of  the  Elders'  Confer- 
ence at  Bethlehem — Gcmcinhclfer — and  first  Principal  of  the  re-organ- 
ized boarding-school  for  girls,  was  consecrated  a  bishop  on  April  11, 
1790,  and  in  May  removed  to  Lititz,  where  he  was  stationed  until 
1801,  when  he  attended  the  General  Synod  in  Europe  and  remained 
there  as  a  member  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference.  The  Rev.  John 
Augustus  Klingsohr,  a  very  popular  preacher  and  a  zealous,  faithful 
man,  before  this  stationed  at  Lititz,  became  his  successor  at  Beth- 
lehem in  May,  1790,  continuing  in  that  ofBce  until  his  death,  Novem- 
ber 5,  1798.  The  head  pastorate  at  Bethlehem,  after  his  death,  was 
filled  ad  interim  by  Bishop  Ettwein,  assisted  by  the  Rev.  Christian 
Frederick  Schaaf,  until  the  appointment  of  the  Rev.  Jacob  Van 
Vleck  to  the  office  by  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  in  1799,  after 
serving  since  1790  as  Huebner's  successor  in  the  principalship  of  the 
boarding-school  and  as  regular  preacher  at  Bethlehem.  In  the  spring 
of  1802,  he  removed  to  Nazareth  and  his  successor  in  1800,  as 
principal  and  regular  preacher,  the  Rev.  Andrew  Benade,  became 
associate  Head  Pastor,  with  the  Rev.  John  Gebhard  Cunow  ad 
interim,  until  the  arrival  of  Bishop  Loskiel,  who  had  been  appointed 
to  this  ofifice  by  the  authorities  in  Europe,  along  with  the  presidency 
of  the  Board  of  General  Helpers. 

In  May,  1790,  the  Rev.  John  Schropp  became  Warden  of  Bethle- 
hem and  filled  this  ofifice  until  his  death,  July  4,  1805,  when  he  was 
succeeded  by  the  Rev.  John  Yungberg.  Others  connected  with  the 
pastorate  corps  during  that  period  were— a  short  time  until  his  death 
in  1791 — the  Rev.  John  Frederick  Peter,  Jr.,  assisting  the  Rev.  Paul 


542  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Muenster,  ^vho  died  October  15,  1792,  in  special  oversight  of  the 
married  people,  along  with  other  duties.  Muenster  was  followed 
in  this  position,  in  1793,  by  the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Dencke,  formerly  war- 
den, who  died.  May  28,  1795.  After  a  temporary  arrangement  until 
November,  1798,  this  department  of  pastoral  service,  together  with 
various  other  positions  and  duties,  passed  into  the  charge  of  the 
Rev.  Christian  Frederick  Schaaf,  who  filled  the  place  more  than 
twenty  years — the  longest  consecutive  term  of  service  in  connection 
with  the  Moravian  pastorate,  in  the  history  of  Bethlehem.  Others 
who  assisted  in  the  pastorate  during  the  period  from  1786  to  1806 
were  the  veteran  missionary,  the  Rev.  Bernhard  Adam  Grube,  from 
May,  1787,  to  March,  1791,  and  then,  after  a  brief  term  of  service  at 
Emmaus,  where  his  wife  died,  from  October,  1793,  to  the  end  of  this 
period  and  beyond  to  his  death,  March  20,  1808,  at  the  great  age  of 
ninety-three  years.  During  his  years  at  Bethlehem  he  also  rendered 
much  service  as  a  secretary  of  boards  and,  like  Schaaf,  Van  Vleck, 
Dencke,  Oerter,  Immanuel  Nitschmann  and  some  others,  with  his 
superior  musical  abilities.  Another  assistant,  1786  to  1787,  was  the 
Rev.  Lewis  Frederick  Boehler,  a  son  of  Bishop  Peter  Boehler. 

Jacob  Van  Vleck,  when  he  was  selected  to  be  principal  of  the 
boarding-school  was  succeeded,  as  chaplain  of  the  Brethren's  House 
and  spiritual  overseer  of  the  single  men,  by  his  assistants,  John  Mar- 
tin Beck,  Nathanael  Brown  and  John  Christian  Reich  by  turns,  from 
1789  to  November,  1791,  when  this  office  was  filled  by  the  Rev. 
George  Godfrey  Mueller  until  September,  1793,  the  Rev.  John  Fred- 
erick FrueaufT  until  November,  1797,  the  Rev.  John  Frederick  Stadi- 
ger  until  April,  1802,  the  Rev.  John  Constantine  Mueller  to  November, 
1804,  and  then  the  Rev.  John  Frederick  Loeffier  to  the  end  of  the 
period  under  review  and  beyond ;  he  at  the  same  time  performing  the 
duties  of  warden  for  the  single  men  during  part  of  his  term  of  service. 
The  wardenship  of  the  Brethren's  House,  after  1790,  was  brought  into 
closer  relation  to  the  general  wardenship  of  the  village,  on  account 
of  the  precarious  state  of  the  finances  and  the  growing  disposition 
in  the  Brethren's  House  to  proceed  incautiously  and  incur  debts. 
The  incumbent  was  no  longer  such  an  important  and  independent 
functionary,  but,  shorn  of  some  authority,  was  rather  merely  a 
steward  acting  under  directions.  John  Gambold  was  in  office  until 
Alarch,  1790 — a  faithful,  conscientious  man  struggling  with  great 
difficulties — assisted,  prior  to  that  time,  by  Samuel  Gottlieb  Kramsch, 
who  also  assisted  the  chaplain  and  was  school-master  of  the  boys ; 


1786 i8o6.  543 

Charles  Jacob  Dreyspring,  and  John  Christian  Reich,  who  then  for 
a  while  filled  the  position  alone.  After  that  the  chaplain  was  at  the 
same  time  the  steward,  for,  as  arrangements  then  were,  he  had  less 
of  actual  business  to  oversee  than  was  formerly  the  case. 

The  Rev.  John  Christian  Alexander  deSchweinitZjx^dministrator  of 
the  property  of  the  Unity  in  Pennsylvania  from  1771,  returned  to 
Europe  in  1798  and  became  a  member  of  the  Unity's  Elders"  Confer- 
ence. He  left  Bethlehem  with  his  family  on  April  10  and  sailed,  April 
22.  His  assistant,  the  Rev.  John  Gebhard  Cunow,  who  arrived  from 
Europe,  Jul}-  30,  1796,  and  had  therefore  been  in  training  for  the  office 
nearly  two  years,  became  his  successor  and  thus  acquired  a  very 
prominent  and  important  position  at  Bethlehem.  He  was  a  man  who 
made  himself  felt,  not  only  in  point  of  ability,  but  in  self-asserting 
force,  a  disposition  to  be  arbitrary  and  dictatorial  in  the  conduct  of 
afifairs,  and  an  uncompromising  insistence  upon  every  minute  regula- 
tion that  had  been  fixed,  no  matter  what  kind  of  difficulties  might  be 
involved  in  enforcing  it.  As  the  nature  of  his  duties  brought  him 
into  close  and  constant  connection  with  financial  and  industrial  mat- 
ters of  all  kinds  and  with  village  afifairs  generally,  these  character- 
istics were  decidedly  felt  by  those  who  had  the  most  to  do  with  its 
business  concerns. 

Besides  these  positions  filled  by  ordained  men,  some  other  con- 
spicuous places  and  their  incumbents  may  be  mentioned.  The  first 
postmaster  of  Bethlehem  appointed  by  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment was  Joseph  Horsfield.  His  commission  dated  from  June  12, 
1792.  He  also  filled  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  a  while, 
from  1794.  The  second  postmaster  was  George  Huber,  February 
13,  1802,  and  the  third  was  Francis  Christian  Kampmann,  February 
20,  1803.  He  was  the  incumbent  at  the  close  of  the  period  covered 
by  this  chapter.  The  apothecary  shop  of  Bethlehem,  in  charge  of 
Dr.  John  Matthew  Otto  until  his  death  in  1786,  had  the  names  of 
several  men  connected  with  it  besides  Timothy  Horsfield,  Jr.,  for  a 
number  of  years  his  chief  assistant.  These  were  Dr.  Christian  Fred- 
erick Kam])mann,  who  had  come  to  Pennsylvania  in  1781.  He  had 
served  as  physician  at  Hope,  N.  J.,  some  time  prior  to  Dr.  Otto's 
death.  Then  he  came  to  Bethlehem  as  physician  and  apothecary  until 
the  appointment  of  a  successor  in  1790.  when,  in  September,  he  again 
went  to  Hope  and  remained  until  1808.  and  then  settled  finally  in 
Bethlehem.     He  was  assisted  for  a  while  after  1786,  by  the  young 


544  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

surgeon  Matthew  Otto,  Jr.,  who,  although  inheriting  his  famous 
father's  talents,  was  not  like  him  in  steadiness  and  reliability  of  char- 
acter. He  died  in  May,  1797,  at  Allentown.  Another  assistant  for 
some  time  was  James  Cruickshank,  better  known  as  steward  and 
accountant  of  the  boarding-school  for  girls,  who  died  in  1805.  Yet 
another  was  Joseph  Dixon,  who  in  August,  1794,  went  to  Emmaus 
as  physician. 

One  of  the  regularly  educated  physicians  of  the  period,  Dr.  God- 
frey Henry  Thumhardt,  was  temporarily  located  at  Bethlehem  after 
his  arrival  from  the  mission  field  in  the  West  Indies,  until  August, 
1 791,  when  he  went  to  Lititz  and  was  identified  with  that  place  until 
his  death.  Dr.  John  Eberhard  Freitag  arrived  from  Europe  in  1790, 
to  be  the  regular  physician  and  apothecary  of  Bethlehem.  His  long 
term  of  service  reached  far  into  the  new  century.  In  November, 
1795,  came  Dr.  John  Frederick  Rudolphi,  from  Europe,  who  later 
settled  for  a  while  near  Lititz  and  for  a  longer  time  at  Reading.  It 
is  a  little  surprising  to  read  of  such  specialties  in  the  heahng  art 
being  countenanced  at  Bethlehem  in  those  days  as  the  coming  of 
Dr.  Newbury  to  the  place,  in  1792,  to  instruct  Joseph  Dixon  in  the 
mysteries  of  magnetic  healing. 

The  Sun  Inn  also  changed  hands  in  1790,  when  John  Christian 
Ebert,  who  enjoyed  the  distinction  of  entertaining  General  Wash- 
ington, retired  from  the  position  and,  on  June  i,  Abraham  Levering, 
whose  wife  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  particularly  popular  hostess, 
took  charge.  He  was  inn-keeper  until  June,  1799,  when  he  was 
succeeded  by  John  Lennert,  who  on  June  i,  1805,  retired  in  favor 
of  Christian  Gottlob  Paulus,  who  was  landlord  at  the  time  which 
closes  this  chapter.  The  era  of  regular  mail  stages,  coming  and 
going  in  the  dignity  of  Government  contract,  opened  during  the 
decade  embraced  in  the  connection  of  Abraham  Levering  with 
the  famous  inn.  Before  that,  the  "stage  wagon"  to  Philadelphia 
was  a  more  humble  enterprise  of  intermittent  existence.  A  more 
satisfactory  service  than  had  existed  since  the  days  of  George 
Klein  was  established  in  the  summer  of  1785  by  Frederick  Beitel, 
farmer  general  and  former  wagon-master,  of  many  adventures  in 
Revolutionary  times.  He  expressly  stated,  however,  that  he  did  not 
wish  to  be  bound  by  an  advertisement  of  regular  trips.  How  long 
he  was  on  the  road  in  this  new  capacity  is  not  clear.  Now,  however, 
the  opening  of  regular  post  roads  brought  better  system  into  this 
important  branch  of  public  service  and  increased  its  speed  and  con- 


1786 i8o6.  545 

venience.  The  stage  coach,  arriving  and  departing  regularly,  became 
a  part  of  the  life  of  the  Sun  Inn,  and  after  1795  the  blowing  of  the 
stage  horn  when  the  vehicle  came  within  hearing  distance  of  the 
Lehigh,  was  no  longer  listened  for  in  the  direction  of  the  Irish  stone 
quarry,  from  which  the  old  Philadelphia  road  had,  since  the  days 
when  Bethlehem  was  founded,  led  to  the  place,  for  in  that  year  the 
road  across  the  mountain,  now  yet  spoken  of  as  "the  Philadelphia 
road,"  was  opened. 

In  connection  with  all  this,  a  more  conspicuous  epoch-making 
enterprise  had  been  consummated  at  Bethlehem  which  terminated 
the  history  of  the  Crown  Inn  and  the  need  of  a  house  of  entertain- 
ment on  the  south  side,  and  relegated  the  ferry  to  the  realm  of 
things  that  were,  by  proudly  carrying  all  who  sought  a  tavern  at 
the  place  quickly  and  on  an  unmoving  structure  across  the  river  to 
the  Sun.  This  was  the  building  of  the  first  bridge  over  the  Lehigh. 
Towards  the  close  of  1791,  when  the  construction  of  a  turn-pike  from 
Philadelphia  was  being  agitated  by  parties  in  the  city  and  along  the 
road — for  road-making  in  all  directions  was  then  a  leading  enter- 
prise— Warden  Schropp  and  other  men  at  Bethlehem  who  were 
studying  the  external  problems  of  the  time,  revived,  with  more  vigor 
than  before,  the  oft-mooted  project  of  a  bridge.  In  that  first  bridge 
scheme  the  new  principal  of  the  boarding-school,  Jacob  Van  Vleck, 
was  interested,  for  his  institution  was  then  the  most  important  estab- 
lishment in  the  town,  and  its  patrons  probably  expressed  the  wish 
that  conveyance  across  the  stream  on  a  foundation  more  firm  than 
the  ferry  might  be  secured.  A  committee  appointed,  January  2,  1792, 
to  deliberate  on  the  matter  and  report,  declared,  three  days  later,  in 
favor  of  postponing  it  because  of  other  proposed  undertakings.  The 
committee  consisted  of  Bishop  Ettwein,  Paul  Muenster,  Francis 
Thomas,  the  carpenter ;  Frederick  Beitel,  the  farmer  and  wagoner ; 
Valentine  Fuehrer,  and  Massa  Warner,  connected  with  the  fortunes 
of  the  Crown  Inn  and  the  ferry.  Perhaps  the  last  two  were  not 
unbiased  members  of  the  committee  and  supported  Bishop  Ettwein 
in  reporting  adversely.  Ettwein  stoutly  opposed  the  building  of  a 
bridge  at  that  time,  for  he  favored  first  enlarging  the  hotel  accom- 
modations, which  seemed  to  him  and  some  others  to  be  the  more 
pressing  need.  Those  who  were  urging  the  bridge  knew  that  when 
his  opposition  had  to  be  reckoned  with  :  there  must  be  some  special 
efTort  put  forth  to  win  the  day.  Therefore,  the  opportunity  was 
seized  on  January  23,  when  he  was  on  a  visit  at  Hope,  to  call  a  meet- 

36 


54*3  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

ing  of  the  voting  men  of  the  village  in  Gcmcuirath  or  Common  Coun- 
cil, to  test  the  prevailing  opinion  when  the  most  forceful  opponent 
was  not  present.  The  result  was  a  practically  unanimous  vote  in 
favor  of  a  bridge.  When  Father  Ettwein  returned  and  learned  of 
this  sly  maneuver  he  declared  that  he  would  have  nothing  to  do  with 
any  further  meetings  about  the  bridge,  and  he  kept  his  word.  He  did 
not  actively  oppose  it  but  quietly  let  things  take  their  course,  and  the 
bridge  was  built.  The  projectors  offered,  as  conciliatory  conditions, 
that  no  indebtedness  should  be  incurred  by  the  Congregation  treas- 
ury ;  that  a  sum,  each  year,  equal  to  the  average  annual  income  from 
the  i&rry  for  the  preceding"  ten  years,  should  be  guaranteed  the 
treasury  from  the  receipts  of  the  bridge ;  that  the  regulations  in  all 
respects  should  be  under  the  control  of  the  village  authorities ;  that 
the  stock — for  a  stock  company  was  to  be  formed — shoidd  be  kept 
in  the  hands  of  citizens  of  Bethlehem. 

The  Act  of  Assembly  authorizing  it  was  passed,  April  3,  1792, 
and  signed  by  Thomas  Mifflin,  the  first  Governor  of  the  State  under 
the  new  constitution.  Contracts  for  furnishing  material  and  building 
the  bridge  were  let  in  due  process  of  time,  and  at  last,  fine 
hemlock  timber  cut  in  the  forests  along  the  Panther  Creek, 
began  to  be  floated  down  and  drawn  ashore  near  the  ferry. 
In  the  spring  of  1794  operations  were  properly  started.  On  May 
12,  the  wood-work  was  commenced,  and  on  June  25,  the  first  pier 
was  completed.  But  between  difificulties  encountered  because  of 
inexperience  in  building  a  bridge  across  so  wide  a  stream  as  the 
Lehigh, and  a  set-back  through  damage  done  by  high  water, the  work 
was  delayed,  so  that  it  was  Saturday,  September  27,  before  the 
announcement  could  be  made,  "the  bridge  is  finished."  The  next 
day  it  was  opened  for  free  travel  and  on  Monday  the  taking  of  toll 
commenced.  The  structure  cost  $7,800.  The  amount  was  dis- 
tributed in  shares  of  $100.  This  first  bridge,  like  its  successor,  built 
in  1816  and  opened  for  travel  October  19,  was  an  imcovered  one. 

The  old  ferry  was  abandoned  as  soon  as  the  bridge  was  finished, 
and  on  October  31,  1794,  the  Crown  Inn  was  closed  as  a  public  house 
and  became  a  farm  house.  The  last  inn-keeper,  from  May,  1792,  to 
that  time,  was  George  Schindler.  The  need  of  additional  hotel 
accommodations  was  met  in  another  way.  by  considering  it  in  con- 
nection with  the  long-felt  need  of  more  ample  quarters  for  the  vil- 
lage store.  There  had  been  a  project  in  the  minds  of  some  to  erect 
a  more  commodious  inn  on  the  south  side,  but  the  interjection  of 
the  bridge-building  plan  caused,  instead  of  that,  the  entire  abandon- 


1786 i8o6.  547 

ment  of  the  tavern  on  that  side,  as  has  been  seen.  On  February  13, 
1792,  the  Elders'  Conference,  finding  that  there  was  a  determination 
to  build  the  bridge,  referred  to  the  Village  Board  of  Supervision — 
Aiifschcr  Collegium — a  substitute  for  that  tavern  plan.  This  was  to 
erect  a  new  building  for  the  store  and  then  fit  up  the  whole  of  the  old 
stone  building  on  the  Ladciigassc  or  store  street — the  present  ]^Iarket 
Street — that  is,  the  part  which  had  been  occupied  by  the  store  and 
the  adjoining  "Horsfield  house,"  later  "Van  Vleck  house" — as  an 
adjunct  to  the  Sun  Inn.  Further  developments  preserved  this  inter- 
esting connection  between  store  and  hotel,  for  the  new  store,  the 
site  of  which  was  selected  February  16,  1792,  "next  to  Joseph  Hors- 
field's  house,"  became  Bethlehem's  second  hotel,  the  Eagle,  which 
will  be  referred  to  again  in  proper  connection. 

During  that  year  and  the  following  one,  the  enterprise  dragged 
heavily.  Several  times  evidences  of  a  "hitch"  in  the  affair  appear — 
whether  because  of  a  coolness  between  Christian  Heckewelder,  the 
store-keeper,  and  the  village  fathers,  or  a  lack  of  entire  confidence  on 
their  part  in  the  ability  of  the  store-keeper  to  superintendent  building 
operations,  or  a  conflict  of  authority  between  Heckewelder  and  War- 
den Schropp,  is  not  clear.  When  the  plan  of  the  building  was  dis- 
cussed and  preliminary  approved,  on  August  2,  1792,  the  Elders'  Con- 
ference saw  fit  to  record  the  decision  that  the  warden  and  not  the 
store-keeper  was  to  superintend  its  construction.  They  twice  reiter- 
ated this  decree  during  the  following  months,  the  second  time  adding 
the  remark  that  there  was  much  unpleasantness  connected  with  the 
whole  matter.  The  store  was  moved  into  the  new  building  before 
its  completion  in  1794.  On  August  30,  of  that  year,  it  was  stated 
that  the  entire  building  was  about  finished  and  the  assistant,  John 
Christian  Reich,  moved  into  it.  This  new  store  was  finally  gotten 
into  proper  order  and  became  a  more  elaborate  business  than  that 
in  the  old  building,  but  Christian  Heckewelder  was  transferred  to 
Emmaus  to  take  charge  of  the  little  country  shop  at  that  place,  and 
then  to  Hope,  N.  J.,  and  was  succeeded  at  Bethlehem  by  Owen  Rice. 
He  was  a  son  of  the  Rev.  Owen  Rice  who  came  to  Pennsylvania  with 
the  "First  Sea  Congregation,"  had.  from  1784  to  1790.  been  in  charge 
of  the  inn  at  Xazareth  and  then  of  the  store  there,  and  in  November, 
1792,  would  have  been  selected  to  open  the  adjunct  inn  at  Bethlehem 
in  the  former  store-building,  if  the  fathers  of  the  Nazareth  Elders' 
Conference  had  concurred.  His  son,  Owen  Rice  the  third,  had 
been  "store-boy"  for  Christian  Heckewelder  for  a  season,  receiving 
liis  first  mercantile  training;  but  for  some  reason,  relations  were  not 


54^  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

perfectly  agreeable  between  him  and  his  master,  for  on  one  occasion 
Heckewelder,  who  seems  to  have  been  unfortunate  in  encountering 
the  cross-grained  side  of  various  persons,  complained  of  young  Rice 
that  he  gave  him  much  trouble — perhaps  by  "insubordination" — and 
made  life  grievous  for  him — "machtc  ihni  das  Lcbcn  saur" — so  that  two 
members  of  the  Elders'  Conference  had  to  be  deputed  to  interview 
the  young  man  and  persuade  him  to  desist  from  causing  his  master 
heaviness. 

Thus  in  divers  little  ways  the  surface  of  business  life  at  Beth- 
lehem was  ruffled  in  connection  with  Heckewelder's  administration, 
but  when  Owen  Rice,  father  of  the  aforesaid  youthful  Owen, 
was  established  in  charge  of  it,  things  moved  more  smoothly  and 
prosperously  at  the  new  stand ;  for  he  was  not  only  a  highly  capable 
but  a  popular  and  much  esteemed  citizen  and  business  man.  During 
the  early  years  of  his  administration  there  are  evidences  of 
gradual  but  very  modest  additions  to  the  range  of  stock  carried — 
things  which  some,  who  yet  cherished  the  notions  of  the  Spartan 
times  of  Bethlehem,  looked  upon  as  ministering  to  the  frivolities  of 
the  world ;  such  things  as  lay  in  the  direction  of  slight  ornamentation 
in  dress.  Even  such  articles  as  ribbons  of  divers'  colors  and  glittering 
beads  could  be  purchased  there  by  parents  who  wished  to  brighten 
the  hearts  of  their  little  girls,  when  taking  the  last  stroll  about  the 
village  with  them,  before  leaving  them  at  the  boarding-school  to 
enter  upon  their  first  struggle  with  home-sickness. 

This  institution  was  becoming  increasingly  important  to  the  village 
in  various  ways,  not  only  to  the  inn  and  the  store,  but  also  to  other 
establishments  and  lines  of  industry.  Already  in  1789.  it  had  out- 
grown its  primitive  quarters  and  the  question  of  better  accommo- 
dations had  begun  to  be  discussed.  August  16,  of  that  year,  the 
Elders'  Conference  of  Bethlehem  concluded  that  a  new  and  larger 
building  was  needed  and,  at  a  session  of  the  General  Conference  of 
Elders  on  the  22nd,  this  view  was  concurred  in  and  three  preliminary 
points  were  agree  to :  the  new  building  must  be  erected  on  school 
account  and  not  on  account  of  the  Congregation  treasury ;  a  stone 
building  would  be  preferable  to  a  frame  one ;  the  two  most  eligible 
sites  would  be  in  the  rear  of  the  old  school  building — where  the 
Parochial  School  now  stands — or  east  of  the  Widows'  House  where 
the  cow-stable  and  the  old  log  kitchen  of  the  Sisters'  House — "an 
eye-sore" — stood.  The  latter  site  was  preferred  by  some  ofKcials, 
but  the  superintendent,  stewardess  and  chief  women  of  the  Sisters' 


1/86 i8o6.  549 

House  entered  decided  objections,  because  of  the  ruin  that  would 
be  wrought  to  the  large  and  conveniently  located  garden  o£  that 
establishment.  The  subject  was  discussed  in  Common  Council  of 
the  village  on  September  lo.  The  site  back  of  the  old  school  was 
selected  in  deference  to  the  wishes  of  those  who  plead  for  the  Sisters' 
House  garden.  The  sisters  promised  to  have  the  unsightly  old 
kitchen  removed  as  soon  as  possible,  and  the  locality  put  into  more 
attractive  shape.  It  may  be  added  here  that  already  in  1782,  the 
Widows'  House  had  become  so  crowded  that  its  chapel  was  parti- 
tioned up  into  dwelling-rooms,  and  that  some  years  later  the  plan 
Avas  entertained  of  building  a  separate  but  communicating  wing  to 
afford  a  new  chapel  with  a  refectory  in  the  basement ;  but  in 
September,  1793,  it  was  decided  to  extend  the  main  building  east- 
ward and  in  1794  this  extension,  as  noted  in  an  earUer  chapter,  was 
completed  in  the  direction  of  the  spot  first  had  in  mind  for  the  new 
boarding-school  building.  Plans  for  the  new  school  building  had 
been  submitted  and  approved,  September  11,  1789.  It  was  to  be 
built  of  stone,  one  full  story  high,  forty  by  fifty  feet  in  dimensions, 
with  four  large  rooms  on  the  main  floor,  a  basement  under  the 
entire  building  for  refectory  and  cellar  and  an  attic  for  dormitory 
purposes,  to  contain  several  separate  apartments  sufficient  for  the 
accommodation  of  forty  to  fifty  girls.  The  only  alteration  of  the 
plan  was  that  in  November  it  was  concluded  to  have  a  broken  roof 
so  that  such  long  timbers  as  the  original  plan  called  for  would  not  be 
required,  and  the  dormitories  could  be  more  advantageously  con- 
structed. The  building  committee  consisted  of  Joseph  Horsfield, 
John  Christian  Hasse,  John  Heckewelder,  then  sojourning  at  Beth- 
lehem, John  Andrew  Huebner,  then  yet  principal,  with  James  Cruick- 
shank,  steward  and  book-keeper  of  the  school  as  paymaster,  and 
John  Schropp,  warden,  and  Paul  Muenster,  ex-warden  of  the  village, 
as  advisory  members.  The  building  was  commenced  that  fall  and 
during  the  winter  building  material  was  collected  and  prepared,  so 
that  in  the  spring  it  might  proceed  rapidly.  On  Sunday  afternoon, 
May  2,  1790 — Jacob  Van  Vleck  being  now  principal — the  corner- 
stone was  laid  with  appropriate  ceremonies.  In  a  leaden  box 
deposited  in  the  stone  was  placed  a  document  of  the  customary 
character,  in  which  were  recorded  the  names  of  the  eighty-eight 
boarders  and  day-scholars  and  all  who  had  entered  since  1786;  the 
officials  and  ten  teachers  connected  with  the  school  and  their  prede- 
cessors since  1785;  the  names  of  all  the  men  and  women  belonging 


550  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

to  the  Elders'  Conference  and  the  men  belonging  to  the  Board  of 
Supervisors — Aufschcr  Collcgiuiii,  formerly  translated  into  English 
by  some  in  the  literal  enough,  but  rather  pompous  and,  in  view  of 
their  functions,  inappropriate  title  "College  of  Overseers"^ — the 
names  of  the  General  Conference  of  Helpers,  conducting  the  affairs 
of  the  Moravian  Church  in  the  Northern  States  for  the  Unity's 
Elders'  Conference  in  Europe,  and  the  names  of  the  latter  body. 

The  building,  although  practically  finished  the  following  autumn, 
was  not  occupied  until  the  spring  of  1791.  On  April  12,  it  was 
formally  dedicated  and  taken  possession  of.    Beds  and  other  furniture 

I  The  Elders'  Conference,  or  Board  of  Elders,  consisted  of  all  the  local  clergy  in  official 
position — they  have  been  mentioned  in  this  chapter  —  the  wives  of  those  who  were  married 
and  five  other  women  in  office  :  Juliana  van  Gammern  and  Catherine  Lembke  in  the  Widows' 
House,  and  Elizabeth  Lewis,  Anna  Dorothea  von  Marschall  and  Verona  Schneider  in  the 
Sisters'  House. 

The  Board  of  External  Supervision  consisted  of  de  Schweinitz,  Muenster,  Reich  and 
Oerter,  already  mentioned,  and  the  following  :  John  Andrew  Borhek,  William  Boehler,  Sr., 
Joseph  Horsfield,  Henry  Lindemeyer  and  Matthew  Witke. 

It  may  be  added  that,  besides  this  official  personnel,  the  Common  Council  of  the  village 
— this  term  is  adopted  for  Gemeinrath  in  the  character  of  that  time  to  which  the  name  in 
modern  use,  Church  Council,  does  not  suit,  for  town  and  church  were  then  one  —  was  made 
up,  in  1790,  in  this  wise:  besides  the  above  boards  as  ex-officio  members,  there  were  10 
married  couples,  2  widowers,  6  single  men,  10  widows,  18  single  women  from  the  respective 
classes  (choirs)  of  the  population,  drawn  by  lot  from  candidates  chosen  by  ballot.  The 
following  persons  who  were  masters  of  trades  or  were  holding  positions  by  appointment, 
were,  by  virtue  of  their  office,  members,  in  1790:  Matthew  Weiss,  the  dyer;  Jacob  Rick- 
secker,  the  fuller  ;  Charles  Weinecke,  the  tanner;  John  Kornmann,  the  currier;  Herman 
Loesch,  the  miller ;  Christian  Ebert,  the  inn-keeper;  Frederick  Beitel,  the  farmer;  Chris- 
tian Heckewelder,  the  store-keeper ;  Schmick,  the  baker;  Christian  Hornig,  the  forester; 
George  Stoll,  the  saw-miller;  Massa  Warner,  the  ferryman;  Valentine  Fuehrer,  inn-keeper 
at  the  Crown ;  Dr.  Kampmann,  the  Physician ;  Abraham  Anders,  head  sacristan ;  John 
Jungmann,  connected  with  sustentation  affairs;  Joseph  Horsfield  and  Francis  Thomas,  in 
their  capacity  as  cicerones ;  Andrew  Borhek  and  William  Boehler,  as  curators  respectively 
of  the  Widows' and  Sisters'  Houses;  Christian  F.  Oerter,  the  book-keeper;  the  widow 
Mary  ApoUonia  Weber,  as  assistant  to  the  head  sacristan;  Detlef  Delfs  and  Eva  Lanius,  nurses ; 
Mary  Catherine  Gerhardt,  stewardess  in  the  Sisters'  House ;  Elizabeth  Beckel,  attendant 
upon  visitors ;  Jacob  Friis,  itinerant  minister  of  the  neighborhood. 

When  it  is  considered  that  all  of  these  positions  were,  by  previously  fixed  arrangement, 
represented  in  the  Council,  and  all  the  members  of  the  two  village  boards  were  ex-officio 
members  and  the  rest  of  its  membership  were  drawn  by  lot  from  the  candidates  elected,  it 
will  be  apparent  how  firmly  the  situation  was  held  in  the  grasp  of  the  "  close  regif?te,"  and 
how  very  little  opportunity  there  was  for  a  choice  by  the  people  in  making  up  this  body 
which  nominally  represented  the  7)ox  poptdi.  For  a  few  years  before  the  Revolution  the 
Gemeinrath  was  really  a  town  meeting,  composed  of  all  the  adult  male  population  and 
a  number  of  women  in  office. 


VIEWS     FRONT    AND    REAR    OF    THE    SEMINARY    OF    1790 


THE    BOYS'    SCHOOL    HOUSE    OF    1822 

WITH    FUNERAL    IN    THE    FOREGROUND 


1786 i8o6.  551 

were  moved  into  it  in  the  forenoon  and  in  the  afternoon  the  forty-live 
boarding  scholars  and  their  six  tutoresses,  with  the  clergy  and  other 
chief  men  and  women  of  the  village,  passed  in  ceremonious  procession 
up  from  the  old  to  the  new  building,  where  elaborate  exercises  were 
held.  Thus  began  school  history  at  the  spot  where  the  present 
generation  of  Bethlehemites  are  accustomed  to  see  the  troops  of 
boys  and  girls  who  make  up  the  day-school  and  the  Sunday-school 
of  the  Moravian  Church,  gather  about  buildings  more  commodious 
but  certainly  less  picturesque  than  that  massive  stone  structure  with 
its  quaint  curbed  roof  and  heavy  overhanging  eaves  and  its  embow- 
ering willows  which,  after  serving  a  quarter  of  a  century  as  board- 
ing-school and  then  for  more  than  forty  years  as  a  dwelling  and,  in 
part,  as  school  quarters  for  some  years,  had  to  be  destroyed  because 
those  who  then  controlled  such  things  were  immovable  in  their 
decision  that  no  place  could  be  found  at  which  to  erect  a  Parochial 
School  building,  except  by  demolishing  the  old  stone  house,  which 
many  wished  to  see  spared. 

Some  of  the  most  classical  memories  of  the  famous  institution 
which  in  subsequent  years  adopted  the  name  Seminary  for  Young 
Ladies  in  preference  to  boarding-school  for  girls,  are  clustered  about 
that  old  building  which  served  as  its  second  home ;  and  certainly 
the  largest  comparative  number  of  specially  interesting  and  distin- 
guished family  names  figure  on  its  roster  during  the  twenty-four 
years  of  its  history  in  that  house,  when  it  did  not  aspire  to  any  more 
assuming  name  than  simply  boarding-school.  If  the  diaries  of  those 
years  had  been  kept  in  the  manner  of  the  earliei"  periods,  there 
would  undoubtedly  be  many  allusions  to  persons  about  whom  it  is 
of  interest  now  to  read  even  trifling  incidents,  the  larger  number  of 
whom  were  attracted  to  Bethlehem  by  the  school  more  than  by  any- 
thing else.  The  occasional  references  to  notable  visitors  are  princi- 
pallv  when  foreign  Ambassadors,  Ministers  and  Consuls  came  to  see 
the  town,  as  the  common  custom  of  such  personages  was.  Now 
and  then  the  name  of  some  Governor,  Congressman,  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  or  eminent  scholar  and  educator  appears.  Among 
the  latter  class  of  public  men  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stiles,  President  of 
Yale  College,  who  was  in  Bethlehem  several  times,  had  some  corre- 
spondence with  Bishop  Ettwein  on  various  subjects  and  received 
sundrv  books  treating  of  the  history,  doctrines  and  missions  of  the 
Moravian  Church  to  be  added  to  the  library  of  his  institution.  The 
last  known  visit  to  the  place  by  one  of  the  Penns  occurred  in  1787, 


552  A    HISTORV    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

when  John  Penn,  son  of  Thomas — often  called  John  Penn  the 
poet,  to  distinguish  him  from  his  cousin  of  that  name,  the  last 
Proprietary  Governor — was  in  Bethlehem  and  felt  his  muse  stirred 
to  indite  some  lines  to  its  memory  which  are  to  be  found  in  his 
"Common  Place  Book,"  in  possession  of  the  Historical  Society  of 
Pennsylvania.- 

The  most  interesting  visit  of  that  period,  in  so  far  as  it  has  added 
another  to  the  published  accounts  of  Bethlehem,  was  that  of  the 
famous  Duke  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  who  was  pursuing  his  obser- 
vations and  experiments  in  agriculture  and  economics,  and  naturally 
therefore  investigated  things  at  Bethlehem  with  particular  attention. 
His  visit  occurred  in  June,  1797.  The  diary  of  that  time,  in  its  prosy 
brevity,  disposes  of  his  presence  with  the  statement  that  "a  French 
Duke  was  here  and  made  very  minute  inquiries  about  all  our  arrange- 
ments." Moving  about  in  the  quality  of  a  simple,  untitled  gentle- 
man, he  announced  himself  as  Monsieur  Liancourt,  using  the  name 
of  another  of  his  family  estates,  and  probably  did  not  encounter  the 
ignorant  criticisms  for  so  doing,  which  certain  quarrelsome  relig- 
ionists in  Pennsylvania  who  knew  more  about  polemics  than  they  did 
about  etiquette,  bestowed  upon  Count  Zinzendorf  in  1742,  for 
announcing  himself  as  von  Thuernstein.  This  French  nobleman 
came  to  Bethlehem  with  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Alexander 
Dallas,  Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth,  acting  in  the  matter  for 
Governor  Mifflin  and  commending  the  visitor  to  the  courtesies  of 

2  "  Hail,  Lehigh,  to  whose  woody  shores 
Monockesy  his  treasures  pours, 

Thro'  fertile  meadows  bro't ; 
For  when  he  writes,  the  groves  and  streams 
Most  fill  the  poet's  airy  dreams 

And  most  inspire  his  thoughts. 
Else,  Bethlehem,  had  I  pictured  thee 
(Surrounding  culture  raised  to  see) 

My  muse  s  earliest  care ; 
Or  told  the  customs  and  the  rites 
Each  brother  boasts  (as  she  indites) 

Or  each  religion  's  fair. 
From  German  fields  the  people  came 
O'er  stormy  seas,  with  pious  aim, 

Nor  deemed  the  risk  too  much. 
Irish  in  troops  the  same  have  done, 
By  bondage  short  their  welfare  won, 

Scotch,  English,  French  and  Dutch." 


1786 i8o6.  553 

Bishop  Ettwein.'^  He,  of  course,  met  with  polite  attention  and  in 
the  account  of  his  travels*  gave,  at  some  length,  the  most  correct 
statements  about  the  place  and  about  Moravian  affairs  generally 
that  is  to  be  met  with  in  such  printed  narratives. 

In  his  first  reference  to  Bethlehem  and  the  Moravian  Brethren  he 
says :  "I  have  read  in  books  of  travels,  so  many  different  recitals 
respecting  the  government  of  their  Society,  their  community  of 
goods,  their  children  even  being  taken  away  from  the  authority  and 
superintendence  of  their  parents,  as  belonging  to  the  Society  at 
large,  and  respecting  several  other  points  of  their  government,  that 
I  was  desirovis  to  judge,  myself,  of  the  truth  of  these  assertions,  and 
I  have  found  at  Bethlehem  fresh  reason  not  to  credit,  without  proof, 
the  recitals  of  travelers.  This  indisputable  truth  is,  however,  rather 
delicate  to  be  averred  by  one  who  is  writing  travels."  He  reveals 
the  correct  insight  he  had  gotten  into  the  system  of  things  by  even 
explaining  that  the  General  Economy  which  existed  prior  to  1762,  was 
an  emergency  arrangement,  though  "contrary  to  the  rules  and  usages 
of  their  Society  (i.  e.  elsewhere),  from  the  necessity  of  circumstances 
which  would  have  rendered  the  general  progress  of  their  Society 
more  slow,  and  the  situation  of  the  individual  families  more  incon- 
venient, if  their  labors  and  productions  had  been  divided."  It  is 
agreeable,  in  contrast  to  the  nonsense  published  by  some,  to  read 
among  his  statements,  this,  in  reference  to  the  arrangements  with 
the  children  in  the  time  of  the  Economy :  "The  fathers  and  mothers 
being  constantly  employed  in  labour,  could  not,  without  inconven- 
ience to  the  Community,  give  their  attention  to  the  children.  The 
Society  therefore  set  apart  some  of  the  sisters  to  take  care  of  the 
whole.  The  authority,  however,  and  the  superintendence  of  the 
parents  was  neither  taken  away  nor  diminished."  His  statements 
in  regard  to  the  alleged  enforced  surrender  of  private  property  about 

3 "  Sir. 

Permit  me,  in  the  absence  of  the  Governor,  to  introduce  to  your  acquaintance  Mr.  Lian- 
court  (formerly  Duke  de  Liancourt)  who  is  about  to  prosecute  a  tour  through  the  interior  of 
Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey.  Any  information  which  you  can  communicate  to  him,  and 
attention  that  you  may  be  pleased  to  shew,  will  confer  a  favour  on  the  Governor,  as  well  as 
on  me. 

Phila.,  15  June  1797.  I  have  the  honour  to  be, 

with  great  respect,  Reverend  Sir, 
The  Right  Rev'd  Bishop  Ettwein  Your  most  obed.  Hble  serv, 

Bethlehem  and  Nazareth.  A.  J.  Dallas." 

4  Voyage  dans  les  Etats-Unis,  translated  under  the  title  of   Travels  in  North  Afueriia. 


554  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

which  some  had  formerly  written  so  much,  are  equally  correct  and 
lucid :  "At  that  time,  even  (i.  e.  under  the  former  General  Economy) 
notwithstanding  their  community  of  goods,  the  Brethren  that 
received  any  money  from  their  families  or  friends,  had  the  predis- 
posal  of  it.  If  any  of  them  vested  their  property  in  the  common 
stock,  it  was  voluntary,  and  the  eflfect  of  a  zeal  and  disinterested 
action  of  which  there  were  few  examples.  The  Brethren  possessed 
of  any  private  property,  had  frequently  their  children  with  them ;  they 
clothed  them  better  and  the  care  which  they  took  of  their  infancy — a 
charge  considered  a  relief  to  societ}' — was  a  proof  that  at  Bethlehem 
the  children  were  not,  as  has  been  alleged,  the  property  of  the 
Community,  and  that  it  was  no  part  of  the  constitution  to  make 
members  renounce  all  private  property."  He  then  carefully  states 
that  the  system  of  that  time  was  abolished  in  1762,  and  that,  after 
that,  Bethlehem  was  established  "on  the  rules  of  the  societies 
in  Europe."  His  brief,  clear  statements  about  the  regulations  of  the 
time  at  which  he  visited  the  place  are  almost  without  exception 
entirely  correct.  This  eminent  publicist,  making  a  study  of  such 
matters,  would,  of  course,  get  a  clear  insight  into  things  more  readily 
than  untrained  observers  among  mere  tourists.  Writing  moreover 
with  a  sober  purpose,  his  foremost  desire  was  not  to  merely  tell  an 
entertaining  story,  while  he  had  no  disposition  to  distort  things  to 
the  disadvantage  of  the  Moravians,  like  some  of  the  prejudiced 
ecclesiastics  who  had  formerly  written  about  the  place.  Fifty  years 
after  he  wrote,  changes  even  greater  were  made  at  Bethlehem  than 
those  of  thirty-five  years  before  that  time,  and  yet,  after  fifty  more 
years  have  passed  since  those  greater  changes,  it  is  not  uncommon 
to  meet  with  statements  in  print  about  Bethlehem  and  the  Moravians, 
as  they  are  alleged  to  be  at  the  present  time,  which  would  have 
been  antiquated  statements  even  at  the  time  when  de  la  Rochefou- 
cauld wrote,  more  than  a  century  ago,  and  would  have  been  corrected 
by  his  narrative  of  that  time.  His  observation  about  caution  in 
accepting  narratives  written  is  even  yet  not  without  value. 

Much  of  the  intercourse  that  took  place  between  the  authorities 
at  Bethlehem  and  public  men  during  the  period  sketched  in  this 
chajiter,  had  to  do  with  the  affairs  and  aims  of  an  important  organ- 
ization that  had  been  formed,  to  which  allusion  has  not  yet  been 
made.  Although  it  existed  for  the  prosecution  of  mission  work,  and 
its  principal  operations  lay  at  a  distance  from  Bethlehem,  belonging 
rather  to  the  [general  work  of  the  Moravian  Church  than  to  the  local 


1786 i8o6.  555 

concerns  of  the  town,  its  official  seat  has  ahvays  been  at  Bethlehem 
and  so  much  of  its  history  is  interwoven  with  the  history  of  the 
town,  that  its  founding  can  not  properly  be  omitted  from  these 
pages.  This  was  the  '"Society  of  the  United  Brethren  for  Propa- 
gating the  Gospel  Among  the  Heathen."  When  its  formation  was 
first  discussed,  October  15,  1766,  it  was  at  the  instance  of  the  General 
Directory  of  the  Church  in  Europe  which  suggested  a  plan  for  placing 
the  "Pennsylvania  Heathen  Society  on  the  same  footing  as  that  in 
England."  This  recalls  the  fact  that  the  Society  for  the  Furtherance 
of  the  Gospel  founded  by  Moravians  in  England  in  1741,  which  had 
become  decrepit,  was  at  that  time  being  revived  under  a  new  organ- 
ization, and  the  fact  that  the  society  of  the  same  name  founded  in 
Pennsylvania,  August  19,  1745,  after  the  model  of  that  in  England, 
to  which  reference  was  made  in  a  previous  chapter,  was  now  also 
in  a  decrepit  state,  had  a  mere  nominal  existence  and  was  approach- 
ing its  dissolution.  The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  its  re-organization 
on  the  proposed  plan,  seemed  to  be  so  great  at  that  time  that  it 
was  postponed.  Meanwhile  its  nominal  existence — which  at  last 
amounted  to  nothing  more  than  its  appearance  as  a  factor  in  the 
finances,  in  the  quaHty  of  a  debtor  to  the  so-called  General  Diaconate 
in  the  accounts  of  1762-1771 — was  terminated  when,  in  connection 
with  the  financial  re-organization  of  1771,  its  debt  of  £459.13  was 
charged  ofif  and  not  carried  into  the  new  books  then  opened.  A 
memorandum  in  reference  to  that  debt  states  that  it  "must  be  consid- 
ered sunk,  as  the  said  Society  is  dissolved  and  the  income  as  well 
as  the  Expenses  are  now  managed  by  the  Sustentation  in  Bethle- 
hem." The  question  of  re-organizing  the  society  came  up  again 
in  1768  and  was  the  subject  of  further  correspondence  with  the 
authorities  in  Europe.  While  the  matter  was  being  delayed,  the 
disturbances  of  the  Revolution  broke  in  and,  of  course,  nothing  was 
then  done.  Therefore  a  considerable  interval  elapsed  between  the 
dissolution  of  the  old  organization  and  the  formation  of  the  new 
one.  In  1786,  while  Bishop  de  Watteville  was  in  Pennsylvania,  the 
proposition  of  1768,  was  again  discussed  with  the  result,  as  stated  in 
a  paper  in  the  hand-writing  of  Bishop  John  Ettwein,  preserved  in 
the  archives,  that  "a  proposal  and  a  rough  draft  as  a  plan  for  a 
Brethren's  Society  for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel  among  the 
Heathen"  was  sent  to  the  authorities  in  Europe  and  was  by  them 
"Kindly  received,  amended,  approved  and  recommended  for  execu- 
tion, which  was  cheerfully  done,  and  the  Stated  Rules  of  the  Society 


556  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

of  the  United  Brethren  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the 
Heathen  agreed  on  and  subscribed  in  Bethlehem  the  21st  of  Septem- 
ber, 1787,  as  printed.'"^ 

On  May  5,  1787,  the  General  Conference  of  Helpers  at  Bethlehem 
received  the  answer  to  their  letter  of  December  25,  1786,  proposing 
to  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  that  the  new  organization  be  now 
proceeded  with  and  application  be  made  to  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  for  a  charter  of  incorporation.  On  August  3  and 
again  on  September  4,  the  articles  of  constitution  worked  over  by 
the  U.  E.  C.  embodying  their  proposed  amendments  to  the  draft 
that  had  been  sent  them,  were  carefully  considered  seriatim.  It  is  to 
be  observed  here  that  the  common  supposition  that  this  constitution, 
which  was  adopted  almost  verbatim  as  then  drafted,  emanated  in 
the  first  instance  from  the  U.  E.  C.  has  been  ascertained  to  be  an 
error.  The  original  draft  was  made  by  Bishop  John  Ettwein  and, 
with  the  proposed  alterations  and  amendments  by  the  U.  E.  C,  was 
eventually  adopted.  September  14,  after  securing  the  approval  of 
the  proposed  constitution  by  the  Elders'  Conferences  of  Bethlehem, 
Nazareth,  Lititz  and  Hope,  and  of  the  majority  of  the  ministers  of 
the  city  and  country  congregations,  the  General  Board  of  Helpers 
resolved  to  call  a  meeting  on  September  21,  of  those  persons  at 
Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  who  under  the  constitution  would  be  ex- 
ofRcio  members,  to  proceed  with  the  organization.  This  meeting  was 
held  in  the  original  chapel  of  Bethlehem  in  the  old  Community 
House,  which  had  become  the  residence  of  local  clergy  exclu- 
sivelv  and  therefore,  properly  speaking,  a  Clergy  House.  After  a 
formal  opening  and  an  address,  the  constitution  was  read  and  then 
signed  bv  those  present  according  to  an  order  agreed  upon.  Then 
followed  the  election  of  a  President  and  three  Assistant  Directors ; 
the  members  of  the  General  Conference  of  Helpers — subsquently 
again  Provincial  Helpers'  Conference  and  then  Provincial  Elders' 
Conference — being  cx-officio  directors,  together  with  the  members 
of  the  similar  Executive  Board  in  North  Carolina,  until  some  years 
later,  when  a  separate  organization  was  formed  there.  The  first 
President  of  the  Society  was  Bishop  Ettwein.  president  of  the  board 


sFor  a  full  account  of  ihe  original  society  of  1745.  see  Transactions  of  ihf  Moravian 
Historical  Society  Vol.  V.  pp.  311-355-  A  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Society  for  Propagating 
the  Gospel  among  the  Heathen,  1787-1887,  compiled  by  the  late  Bishop  Edmund  de 
Schweinilz,  and  read  at  the  centennial  anniversary  of  the  new  society,  was  published  in 
1887  by  the  Board  of  Directors. 


1786 i8o6.  557 

at  Bethlehem.  The  Administrator  of  the  property  in  Pennsylvania 
of  the  Unity  or  Church  General,  John  Christian  A.  deSchweinitz, 
was  appointed  the  first  treasurer  and  Jacob  Van  Vleck  the  first  sec- 
retary; he  with  Bernhard  Adam  Grube  and  John  Frederick  Peter 
being  the  first  three  elected  assistant  directors. 

It  was  decided  that  August  21,  the  anniversary  of  the  beginning 
of  the  Moravian  missions  to  the  Heathen,  should  be  proposed,  as  the 
day  for  the  annual  general  meeting  of  the  Society.  Bishop  Ettwein 
was  commissioned  to  draft  a  petition  to  Congress  for  an  Act  of  incor- 
poration and  to  consult  with  Charles  Thompson,  Secretary  of  Con- 
gress, furnishing  him  a  copy  of  the  constitution.  Thompson 
suggested  that  the  more  proper  course  would  be  to  apply  to  the 
Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  for  incorporation,  as  the  Society  would 
be  organized  in  that  State.  It  is  interesting  to  note,  in  this  matter, 
the  federalist  conceptions  of  the  Moravian  authorities  at  that  time, 
before  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  had  been  adopted,  in 
thus  turning  at  once  to  Congress  as  the  body  to  be  addressed.  They 
were,  for  the  most  part,  of  this  political  persuasion  which  was  in 
harmony  with  the  genius  of  their  own  organization  as  then  estab- 
lished under  a  strongly  centralized  federal  government.  In  discussing 
the  question  of  applying  to  Congress  for  incorporation  at  the' 
meeting  of  September  21,  1787,  it  was  debated  whether  they  should 
wait  until  the  adoption  of  the  federal  constitution — the  Constitutional 
Convention  had  just  finished  its  work  and  in  the  following  December 
it  was  ratified  by  Pennsylvania — or  proceed  at  once  when  there  were 
yet  many  in  Congress  who  were  conversant  w^ith  Moravian  affairs 
and  friendly  disposed.  On  October  19,  it  was  decided  to  have  six  to 
eight  hundred  copies  of  the  constitution  of  the  Society  with  an  intro- 
duction by  Ettwein  printed  in  English  and  distributed  for  the  infor- 
mation of  the  members  of  the  Assembly  and  of  different  Congress- 
men and  other  public  men.  The  proposition  to  ask  the  Assembly 
at  the  same  time  for  a  grant  of  land  for  the  benefit  of  the  Indian 
missions — no  indemnification  having  ever  been  received  for  the 
improvements  abandoned  when  the  missions  had  to  be  transferred  to 
Ohio— was  deemed  open  to  objection  in  connection  with  the  petition 
for  incorporation,  unless  w^ell-informed  and  influential  members  of 
the  Assembly  should  suggest  the  expediency  of  doing  so.  The  first 
general  meeting  of  the  Society  took  place,  November  i,  1787,  and 
was  attended  by  fifty-three  members  from  Bethlehem  and  other 
places.      The  act  of  incorporation  was  passed  by  the  Assembly  of 


558  A    HISTORY    OF   BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Pennsylvania,  February  27,  1788.  Similar  incorporation  was  later 
secured  in  New  Jersey  and  New  York,  and  then  also  in  the  new 
State  of  Ohio,  where  twelve  thousand  acres  of  land  in  the  Tuscarawas 
Valley  had  been  set  apart  by  the  United  States  Government  for  the 
Christian  Indians  in  1785,  as  an  indemnification  for  the  ruin  of  the 
missions.  In  1796  the  grant  was  confirmed  and  made  over  to  the 
Society  in  trust.  In  1797  the  survey  took  place  and  in  1798  the 
patent  was  finally  sig-ned  by  the  President  of  the  United  States. 
Further  proceedings  of  the  Society  need  not  be  here  pursued.  After 
an  unbroken  existence  of  one  hundred  and  fourteen  years  on  the  new 
foundation  laid  in  1787.  it  held  its  one  hundred  and  twenty-eighth 
general  meeting  in  1901,  in  a  vigorous  and  flourishing  condition,  its 
financial  report  showing  $16,160.81  disbursed  during  the  preceding 
fiscal  year.'"' 

Numerous  interesting  communications  between  the  officers  of  the 
Societv  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  and  the  highest  officials  of  the 
Government  during  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  first 
of  the  nineteenth  century  are  on  record,  and  some  of  the  letters  that 
passed  in  these  communications  are  preserved  in  the  archives  at 
Bethlehem.  Its  existence  also  gave  occasion  to  renewed  communi- 
•cation  between  Bethlehem  and  General  Washington.  On  March  28, 
1788,  Bishop  Ettwein  wrote  a  letter  to  him,  then  at  his  home  at 
Mount  A^ernon,  and  with  it  sent  a  copy  of  the  constitution  and  rules 
of  the  Societv,  together  with  a  treatise  he  had  prepared  on  Indian 
traditions,  languages  and  customs.  Washington  wrote  a  reply  under 
date  of  Mav  2,  in  which  he  courteously  acknowledged  the  receipt 
of  these  documents  and  spoke  in  commendatory  terms  of  the  Society 
and  its  object.'^ 


6  Founded  in  1745,  existing  until  1771,  then,  after  the  Revolutionary  break,  re  organized 
in  1787,  this  Society  is  by  far  the  oldest  existing  missionary  organization  in  America ;  a  claim 
continually  made  for  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  organized, 
June  29,  1 810. 

7  This  letter  of  May  2,  1788,  reads  as  follows  : 
"  Dear  Sir, 

I  have  received  your  obliging  letter  of  the  28th  of  March,  inclosing  a  copy  of 
some  remarks  on  the  customs,  languages  &c  of  the  Indians,  and  a  printed  pamphlet  con- 
taining the  stated  rules  of  a  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  Heathen  ;  for 
which  tokens  of  polite  attention  and  kind  remembrance  I  must  beg  you  to  accept  my  best 
thanks. 

So  far  as  I  am  able  of  judging,  the  principles  upon  which  the  Society  is  founded,  and  the 
rules  laid  down  for  its  government,  appear  to  be  well  calculated  to  promote  so  laudable  and 
arduous  an  undertaking ;  and  you  will  permit  me  to  add  that   if  an  event   so   long   and   so 


1786 i8o6.  559 

Again  on  July  10,  1789,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Directors  of  the 
Society,  a  congratulatory  address  was  framed  to  be  sent  to  him  in 
view  of  his  inauguration  as  President  of  the  United  States.  It  was 
committed  to  the  Rev.  James  Birkby,  the  Moravian  pastor  in  New 
York  City,  to  present  in  person.  This  was  done  and  a  very  cordial 
answer  was  returned  by  Washington,  which  was  received  August  20, 
1789,    to    the    board    at    Bethlehem.^     The  sentiments  expressed  by 


ardently  desired  as  that  of  converting  the  Indians  to  Christianity  and  consequently  to  civili- 
zation can  be  effected,  the  Society  at  Bethlehem  bids  fair  to  bear  a  very  considerable  part  in  it. 
With  sentiment  of  esteem, 

I  am  your  most  obedient  humble  servant, 

Geo.  Washington." 
8  The  address  of  the  Directors  read  as  follows: 

"To  HIS  Excellency  George  Washington,   President  of  the   United   States  of 
America. 

The  Address  of  the  Directors  of  the  Society  of  the  United  Brethren  for  Propagating  the 
Gospel  among  the  Heathen. 

Sir, 

The  Directors  for  the  Society  of  the  United  Brethren  for  propagating  the  Gospel  among 
the  Heathen  do  in  the  Name  of  this  Society  and  in  the  name  of  all  the  Brethren's  Congre" 
gations  in  these  United  States  most  cordially  congratulate  you  on  your  being  appointed 
President  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

Filled  with  gratitude  towards  God  and  our  Saviour,  unto  whose  goodness  and  kind  inter- 
position we  ascribe  this  great  and  joyous  event,  we  rely  on  His  mercy  and  on  the  influence 
of  His  good  Spirit  when  we  expect  that  your  administration  will  prove  salutary  and  a  bless- 
ing to  that  Nation  whose  unanimous  voice  has  called  you  to  preside  over  it. 

We  embrace  this  opportunity  to  present  you  a  small  treatise  which  contains  'An  Account 
of  the  Manner  in  which  the  Protestant  Church  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  or  United  Brethren 
preach  the  Gospel  and  carry  on  their  missions  among  the  Heathen.' 

Permit  us  at  the  same  time  to  recommend  in  a  particular  manner  the  Brethren's  Mission 
among  the  Indians  in  the  territory  of  the  United  States  which  is  at  present  at  Petquotting  on 
Lake  Erie  and  in  a  very  dangerous  situation,  to  your  kind  notice  and  protection,  and  to  lay 
before  you  the  ardent  wish  and  anxious  desire  we  have  of  seeing  the  light  of  the  glorious 
Gospel  spread  more  and  more  over  this  country  and  great  multitudes  of  poor  benighted 
heathen  brought  by  it  to  the  saving  knowledge  of  Christ  our  Saviour  Who  gave  Himself  a 
ransom  for  all  and  who  will  have  all  men  to  be  saved  and  to  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth. 

We  fervently  pray  the  Lord  to  strengthen  your  health,  to  support  you  daily  by  his  Divine 
assistance,  and  to  be  Himself  your  Shield  and  great  Reward. 

Signed  in  behalf  of  the  Society  of  the  United  Brethren  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  among 
the  Heathen  and  in  behalf  of  all  the  Brethren's  Congregations  in  the  United  States. 

John  Andrew  Huebner,  Charles  Gotthold  Reichel, 

Hans  Christian  v.  Schvveinitz,      Paul  Muenster, 
Frederick  Peter,  David  Zeisberger." 

Bethlehem,  July  10,  1789.  (Bishop  Ettwein  was  in  Europe.) 

The  answer  of  Washington  long  thought  to  have  disappeared  and  known,  as  to  its  con- 
tents, only  through  copies,  was  unexpectedly  found  by  the  writer  of  these  pages  in   1892,  in 


^ 


>;\ 


K 


^    ^    .^    A    •• 


f^l 


K 


^■^'A-  yirz^  .sl-eri^^  Am. ^^ iSt^:i-^d^  ^^  .^i-JZ-^Z^^/CC ,^1^.^ 


'^^L/%^-.^^y^~tr7^ 


1786 i8o6.  561 

Washington  in  these  two  letters  were  those  which  influenced  his 
recommendations  and  poHcy  in  deaHng  with  the  Indian  problem  of 
that  time,  as  clearly  appears  upon  an  examination  of  extant  records 
relating  to  this  subject  during  the  administration  of  the  first  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States. 

Early  in  1791  and  again  in  1792,  Bethlehem  was  once  more  brought 
into  interesting  connection  with  representative  Indians  engaged  in 
negotiations  with  the  Government.  The  first  week  in  January,  1791, 
Bishop  Ettwein  was  in  Philadelphia — the  seat  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment being  then  in  that  city — to  see  President  Washington  and 
members  of  Congress  in  regard  to  the  land  grant.  Three  Seneca 
chiefs,  Cornplanter,  Half-town  and  Big-tree,  were  in  the  city  as  agents 
of  their  people,  and  by  special  request  he  met  them  on  January 
6 — Epiphany,  the  Moravian  missionary  day^ — at  the  house  of  Gover- 
nor Mifflin  and  addressed  them  "as  a  representative  of  the  Moravian 
Brethren,  in  whom  they  had  confidence."  His  account  of  this  inter- 
view awakened  much  interest  at  Bethlehem  and  recalled  the  scenes 
of  earlier  days  to  the  minds  of  many.  Yet  more'  vivid  was  the 
reminder  of  those  times  that  came  in  Alarch,  1792.  On  the  9th 
of  that  month  fifty-one  chiefs  and  other  representative  men  of  the 

a  bundle  of  receipts  in  the  archives,  enclosed  in  the  original  envelope,  with  the  endorse- 
ment of  Clement  Biddle  on  the  cover,  and  under  that  a  further  endorsement  in  the  hand- 
writing of  Treasurer  de  Schweinitz  :  "  Rec'd  at  Bethlehemj  August  20,  1789."  The  letter 
autograph  throughout,  very  neatly  written  and  beautifully  preserved,  reads  as  follows : 

"  To  the  Directors  of  the  Society  of  the  United  Brethren  for  Propagating  the  Gospel 
among  the  Heathen. 

Gentlemen : 

I  receive  with  satisfaction  the  congratulations  of  your  Society,  and  of  the  Breth- 
ren's congregations  in  the  United  States  of  America  For  you  may  be  persuaded  that  the 
approbation  and  good  wishes  of  such  a  peaceable  and  virtuous  community  cannot  be  in- 
different to  me.  You  will  also  be  pleased  to  receive  my  thanks  for  the  Treatise  which  you 
present,  and  to  be  assured  of  my  patronage  in  your  laudable  undertakings. 

In  proportion  as  the  General  Government  of  the  United  Stales  shall  acquire  strength 
through  duration,  it  is  probable  they  may  have  it  in  their  power  to  extend  a  salutary  influ- 
ence to  the  Aborigines  in  the  extremities  of  their  Territorry.  In  the  meantime  it  will  be  a 
desirable  thing  for  the  protection  of  the  Union  to  co-operate  as  far  as  the  circumstances  may 
conveniently  admit,  with  the  disinterested  endeavours  of  your  Society  to  civilize  and 
Christianize  the  savages  of  the  wilderness. 

Under  these  impressions,  I  pray  Almighty  God  to  have  you  always  in  His  holy  keeping. 

G.  Washington." 

9  See  on  Christmas,  1741,  and  note  14,  Chapter  IV.  The  last  Indian  baptism  at  Bethlehem, 
before  the  Revolution,  took  place  January  6,  1763. 

37 


562  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Six  Nations  arrived  at  Bethlehem  01  route  for  Philadelphia,  on  invita- 
tion of  Washington,  as  an  embassy  from  their  people.  They  were 
accompanied  by  the  well-known  missionary,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Kirk- 
land,  then  engaged  in  his  noble  experiment  at  Oneida.  The  names 
of  eight  of  the  chiefs  are  given.  The  principal  one  was  the  famous 
R^d  Jacket.  Cornplanter  and  Big-tree  were  again  of  the  number. 
Others  were  Farmer's  Brother,  Little  Billy,  Captain  Shanks  and  La 
Fayette's  young  Oneida,  Pierre  Jaquette,  who  died  at  Philadelphia. 
They  tarried  at  Bethlehem  until  the  12th,  when  they  proceeded  by 
canoe  down  the  Lehigh  and  the  Delaware  to  the  capital  city.  With 
solemn  formality  they  were  gathered  in  the  village  church — the  pres- 
ent Old  Chapel — while  at  Bethlehem,  and  were  addressed  by  Bishop 
Ettwein,  who  reminded  them  of  the  former  relations  of  Moravian 
missionaries  to  the  Six  Nations,  and  especially  the  several  covenants 
of  friendship  made,  beginning  with  that  by  Count  Zinzendorf  in  1742. 
The  pupils  of  the  boarding-school  were  present  and  one  of  them  read 
an  address  to  the  Indian  visitors.  Red  Jacket  responded  in  dignified 
language  to  the  Bishop  and  the  old  man,  Good  Peter,  to  the  young 
ladies.  This  was  the  last  visit  to  Bethlehem  by  Indians  in  any 
considerable  number. 

Times  and  circumstances  had  changed,  and  their  presence  did  not 
awaken  fear  and  wrath  among  people  of  the  neighborhood,  as  on  so 
many  former  occasions. '  The  Indian  question  and  others  which  had 
once  occasioned  so  much  friction  between  some  elements  of  the 
surrounding  population  and  the  Bethlehem  people  were  now  dead 
issues,  and  relations  were  becoming  normal.  Since  the  close  of  the 
Revolutionary  War,  several  of  the  Bethlehem  clergy,  particularly 
Jacob  Friis  until  his  death  in  1793,  Jacob  Van  Vleck  and  John 
Frederick  Frueauff,  had  been  doing  much  preaching  in  different 
neighborhoods  where  people  desired  gospel  ministrations, and  where, 
for  some  years,  service  in  this  respect  in  their  several  denominations 
was  very  inadequate  through  scarcity  of  preachers.  Several  such 
regular  preaching-places  were  established  in  the  Saucon  Valley 
particularly.  These  ministrations  cultivated  increasingly  friendly 
relations  and,  as  a  general  thing,  were  not  objected  to,  but  rather 
welcomed  by  the  ministers  of  other  denominations,  who  were  labor- 
ing to  serve  extensive  fields  as  well  as  they  could ;  for  it  was  under- 
stood that  it  was  not  the  intention  of  the  Bethlehem  ministers  to 
attempt  to  establish  denominational  work,  but  merely  to  be  of  assist- 
ance in  serving  the  needs  of  the  people  in  the  absence  of  a  sufficient 


1786 i8o6.  563 

number  of  pastors.  The  era  of  church  building  in  the  surrounding 
country  opened  in  the  last  decade  of  the  century,  and  there  are  occa- 
sional references  in  the  records,  interesting,  but  ni  their  meager  and 
indefinite  brevity  irritating,  to  the  participation  of  Bethlehem  minis- 
ters and  musicians  in  the  consecration  of  churches  at  various  points. 
These  were  usually  union  churches  erected  by  the  Lutheran  and 
Reformed  people  jointly.  Thus  on  August  15,  1790,  there  is  men- 
tion of  such  a  church  dedication  in  the  Drylands.  Again  on  March 
24,  1793,  the  dedication  of  the  Frieden's  Kirche  in  Saucon  is  men- 
tioned. The  Rev.  Augustus  Klingsohr  and  a  number  of  Bethlehem 
musicians  participated ;  Klingsohr  delivering  an  address  and  offering 
the  dedicatory  prayer.  The  sermons  were  preached  by  the  Lutheran 
pastor  Jaeger  and  the  Reformed  pastor  Hofmeyer.  In  the  afternoon 
Pastor  Pomp  preached,  and  the  diarist  remarks  that  his  wife  was 
"a  daughter  of  the  sainted  Brother  Henry  Antes. ""^"  In  this  instance 
some  details  of  the  occasion  are  mentioned,  even  the  texts  of  the 
several  discourses  being  recorded. 

On  September  4,  1796,  it  is  stated  that  the  musicians  of  Bethlehem 
and  many  others,  also  from  Nazareth  and  Emmaus,  were  present  at 
the  dedication  of  the  Lutheran  church  in  Allentown,  and  again, 
October  15,  1797,  Klingsohr  and  the  musicians  went,  on  invitation 
of  the  church  officers,  to  help  dedicate  a  new  house  of  worship  in 
Whitehall  Township.  Occasional  funeral  services  by  Bethlehem 
ministers  at  different  places  about  the  country  are  mentioned.  Thus 
in  March,  1796,  two  by  Frueauff  are  referred  to;  on  the  7th  "in 
Zion's  Church,  four  miles  away  in  the  Dry  Lands,"  and  on  the  26th 
in  the  "Stone  Church"  in  Saucon,  "the  first  in  that  neighborhood." 

Nothing  specially  marred  the  peace  of  Bethlehem  and  its  sur- 
roundings but  politics,  and  it  often  became  necessary  for  the  fathers 
of  the  village  to  admonish  those  who  became  affected  by  the  excite- 
ment of  election  times,  or  yielded  to  the  temptation  to  discuss  issues 
with  people  of  the  country  and  neighboring  towns,  that  they  were 
bound  by  their  signature  to  the  Brotherly  Agreement.  The  fact 
that  anything  whatever,  no  matter  how  preposterous  or  malicious, 
will  be  used  as  campaign  material  by  some  kinds  of  men,  if  it  serves 
a  purpose  in  politics,  had  its  demonstration  in  those  days  as  well  as 


10  The  Rev.  Nicholas  Pomp  was  the  second  husband  of  Elizabeth  Antes  whose  first  hus- 
band was  George  Philip  Dotterer.  Her  son,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Pomp,  Reformel  pastor  at 
Easton  for  fifty  years,  was  the  father-in-law  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Berg,  D.D.  —  McMinn,  Life 
and  Times  of  Henry  Antes. 


564  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

in  modern  times.  Thus  during  a  very  hotly  contested  and  rancorous 
campaign  in  the  autumn  of  1789,  when  Jacob  Eyerie,  of  Nazareth, 
was  candidate  for  the  Assembly,  the  case  of  a  certain  unsophisticated 
Moravian,  of  Schoeneck,  who  was  imposed  upon  by  a  fellow  who 
palmed  himself  off  as  an  English  prince  financially  stranded,  was 
made  use  of  by  some  enterprising  campaign  workers  of  the  opposi- 
tion, to  show  the  rustic  voters  of  Northampton  County  that  the 
sympathies  of  the  Moravians  were  yet  with  England,  and  that  they 
were  dangerous  people.  This  nonsense  really  created  sufficient 
hubbub  that  the  church  authorities  considered  the  expediency  of 
doing  something  to  counteract  the  impression  and  to  set  forth  that 
it  was  nothing  more  than  an  evidence  of  ^'Diinwiheit"  on  the  part  of 
the  victim  of  the  adventurer.  Subsequently,  quiet  Bethlehem  was 
made  attentive  more  forcibly  to  the  contention  and  uproar  created  in 
some  parts  by  the  experiments  in  the  exercise  of  federal  authority, 
especially  in  the  matter  of  taxation.  Thus  in  the  latter  part  of  Sep- 
tember, 1794,  the  people  were  reminded  of  Revolutionary  times  by 
the  marching  of  considerable  bodies  of  militia  through  the  place,  on 
their  way  to  the  western  part  of  the  State,  in  obedience  to  the 
summons  of  the  President,  to  forcibly  put  down  the  revolt  against 
the  excise  law  of  the  United  States,  commonly  known  as  the 
"Whiskey  Rebellion,"  and  again  early  in  December,  when  a  number 
passed  through  on  their  return  after  the  disturbance  had  been 
quelled.  Far  more  exciting  was  the  experience  made  a  few  years 
later,  at  the  time  of  the  insurrection  started  in  1798,  against  the 
"house  tax,"  and  led,  in  Northampton  and  Bucks  Counties,  by  the 
redoubtable  John  Fries,  and  sometimes  given  the  name  the  "Fries 
Rebellion."  The  actual  violence  committed  during  that  insurrection 
was  far  less  than  has  attended  many  a  strike  in  modern  times,  but 
the  nature  of  the  issue  at  that  early  stage  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government,  gave  it  more  significance  and  made  it 
memorable.  The  experience  of  Bethlehem  in  connection  with 
that  affair  came  on  March  7,  1799,  when  an  armed  mob,  headed 
by  their  hero  and  doughty  chieftain,  invaded  the  place  at  high  noon, 
for  the  purpose  of  rescuing  seventeen  of  their  fellow  insurgents,  who 
had  been  actively  engaged  in  preventing  assessors  from  counting 
W'indow-panes  in  people's  houses  in  the  interest  of  the  obnoxious 
"direct  tax,"  and  whom  a  marshal  had  the  hardihood  to  arrest. 
The  marshal  had  his  prisoners  under  guard  in  the  basement  of  the 
Sun  Inn,  intending  to  proceed  with  them  in  triumph  and  to  turn 


BETHLEHEM 
1793 
1795 


1/86 i8o6.  565 

them  over  to  the  authorities.  Perhaps  out  of  this  incident  grew  the 
modern  tales,  sometimes  heard  and  innocently  believed  by  some 
lovers  of  grim  romance,  about  old-time  dungeons  under  the  Sun 
Inn,  with  iron  doors  creaking  on  their  rusty  hinges ;  with  gyves  and 
manacles ;  with  subterranean  passages  leading  mysteriously  to  other 
parts  of  the  town,  yea  even  down  to  the  river,  and  other  adjuncts  of 
the  absurd  fiction.  After  much  flourish  and  bravado,  accompanied 
by  some  threatening  remarks  about  the  Moravian  settlements, 
because  one  of  the  county  officers  of  the  time,  helping  to  execute 
state  and  federal  laws,  was  a  Aloravian,  Fries  and  his  gang  accom- 
plished their  object  and  left  victorious  with  the  rescued  prisoners. 
The  subsequent  trial  of  the  conspirators  for  high  treason,  their 
conviction,  sentence  and  eventual  pardon  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States  need  not  be  further  mentioned  here.  It  was  again  one 
of  the  singular  vicissitudes  of  those  days  that  so  soon  after  the  Revol- 
ution, during  which  the  Moravians  were  so  much  decried  by  many  in 
the  neighborhood  as  enemies  of  the  country  and  traitors,  they  were 
now  denounced  by  the  same  turbulent  populace  for  their  loyalty, 
when  the  Government  called  upon  these  malcontents  to  also  take 
their  turn  in  paying  taxes  w^hich  they  objected  to.  On  March  17,  1799, 
a  meeting  of  all  the  men  of  Bethlehem  was  called,  at  which  a  pastoral 
letter  of  the  General  Conference  of  Helpers  was  read,  admonishing 
them  as  to  their  walk  and  conversation  in  such  disturbed  circum- 
stances and  warning  them  against  entanglement  in  political 
controversy  and  against  aspiring  to  public  olifice.  The  letter,  it  is 
recorded,  made  a  good  impression  and  had  a  salutary  effect,  together 
with  the  posting  at  the  tavern  of  the  proclamation  by  the  President 
of  the  United  States  warning  all  who  resisted  the  execution  of  the 
federal  laws  and  committed  violence.^  April  25,  the  day  of  fasting 
and  prayer  appointed  by  President  Adams,  was  solemnly  observed 
at  Bethlehem  by  several  services  and  sermons  both  in  English  and 
German.  The  President's  proclamation  was  read  and  its  various 
points  were  enlarged  on  in  one  of  the  sermons.  The  review  of  the 
year,  on  December  31,  notes  in  connection  with  reference  to  the 
condition  of  public  affairs  and  to  local  and  neighborhood  experiences, 
that  there  was  more  disposition  to  utter  a  humble  Jcsu  Miserere  than 
to  join  in  high  praises. 

An  occasion  for  sadness,  aside  from  these  public  disorders  but 
associated  with  them  in  the  minds  of  the  people  at  Bethlehem,  as  well 
as  elsewhere,  was  the  national  bereavement  that  had  spread  sorrow 


566  A   iiisioKV  oi-"  iiK'j'iiM:m':ivi,  i'knnsyf.vania. 

tlirijiij^li  the  country  just  before  tlie  close  of  the  year  1799.  < 'u 
iJeccnibcr  22,  the  diarist  oi  JJellileheni  notes:  "\Vc  received  through 
the  newspapers  the  affectiiif,^  announcement  ui  the  death  of  (leneral 
Washington  on  the  ]4tli  inst."  The  review  at  the  close  of  the  year 
has  this:  "We,  with  all  the  people  of  the  United  States,  were  very 
deeply  moved  by  the  recent  news  of  the  death  of  ( ieorge  Wash- 
ington, that  man  who  has  done  so  nnirli  for  the  good  of  tlic  country 
and  was  so  universally  loved  and  iKjnoicd."  (  )n  January  7,  1800, 
the  pr(jclamation  of  Tresiflent  Adams,  referring  to  demonstrations 
of  mourning,  was  considered  by  the  (ii'ucral  ('onlercnce  of  Helpers, 
as  the  question  had  been  raised  whether  Mcjravians  should,  like 
others,  show  this  outward  token  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  the 
honored  dead;  for  it  was  not  customary  among  tlicni  in  those  clays  to 
wear  mourning  attire  or  emblems  among  themselves  because  it  was 
not  held  to  be  consistent  with  the  idea  inculcated  that  the  departure 
of  believers  was  going  home  to  Christ  ami  therefore;  the  sui)reme 
bliss.  ]t  was  observed  that  the  words  of  the  ])roclamation  in  this 
matter  were  merely  a  reconnnendation,  leaving  it  optional,  but  (hat 
no  objection  should  be  offered  if  any  desired  [o  wear  a  badge  of 
mourning  on  the  left  arm  for  thirty  days,  as  |)roj)osed  ;  that  it  might 
indeed  be  propel"  for  those  who  fdled  public  positions  to  do  so,  and 
for  the  clergy  to  set  the  exam])le,  as  a  mark  of  res])c;ct  for  high 
authorities  and  for  those  whom  the  Nation  honored.  On  February 
22,  iSoo,  solenm  memorial  services  were  held,  agreeably  to  the 
proclamation  of  the  President.  There  was  elaborate  music  suitable 
to  the  occasion  and  a  discourse  was  delivered  by  Jacob  Van  Vlcck, 
in  which  the  character  and  pul)lic  services  of  Washingt'on  were  set 
forth  as  an  example  of  how  (iod  raises  uj)  great  men  for  great  tasks, 
and  as  a  pattern  for  patriots,  statesmen  and  citi/.ens.  Thus  the  people 
f)f  the  ])lace  joinecl  in  this  solenm  commencement  made  by  the 
Nation,  at  the  instance  of  Presidential  i)roc]amation,  in  the  ol)ser- 
vancc  of  Washington's  birl Inlay. 

At  the  Ix'ginning  of  icSoo,  I  Icl  hlelieni  entered  upon  three  years  of 
uneventful  (|iiiet.  .Some  of  its  imlustries  llourished,  others  languished 
and  a  few  (lisa])peare(l  entirely.  The  new  order  of  things  at  large 
and  the  cotu'se  which  the  general  (levi'loi)ment  of  business  was  taking 
were  not  aus|)icious  for  the  pros])erity  of  tln'  various  trades  of  the 
])laci',  carried  on  in  the  old  manner.  Especially  was  this  the  case 
with  those  which  the  authorities  were  trying  to  render  profital)lc 
for  the  diaconv   of  the    lirethren's    I  louse.     That    establishment    was 


1/86 iSo6.  567 

retrograding.  Loyalty  and  zeal  for  its  maintenance  were  so  much 
on  the  decrease  among  the  remaining  inmates  that  their  finances 
were  becoming  a  steady  drain  upon  the  resources  of  the  (General 
Board  of  Wardens  in  Europe,  who,  under  the  existing  system  of 
mutual  support  among  the  diaconies  of  the  Unity — a  system  which 
the  authorities  did  not  yet  wish  to  abandon — were  contributing 
considerable  sums  from  year  to  year  out  of  the  surplus  of  the  more 
profitable  of  them  in  Europe  to  cover  the  deficits  of  those  which 
were  running  behind.  There  was  a  steady  decrease  in  the  number 
of  single  men  in  Ijethlehem,  from  considerably  more  than  a  hundred 
at  the  close  of  the  Revolution  to  only  thirty-eight  above  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  together  with  twenty-two  boys  and  young  men  between 
the  ages  of  fourteen  and  twenty-one,  on  December  31,  1806,  when 
the  entire  population  of  Bethlehem,  including  seventy-nine  boarders 
among  the  pupils  of  the  girls'  school,  amounted  to  only  593.  At  the 
end  of  1798,  the  total  had  been  601,  including  fifty-one  boarders  in 
the  school;  therefore  a  decrease  in  the  actual  population  of  the 
village,  of  thirty-six  from  1798  to  1806.  Fortunately  for  the  peace 
of  mind  of  those  who  were  in  control,  tliis,  in  itself,  caused  no 
uneasiness  or  dissatisfaction,  for  such  were  the  system  and  aims  ot 
that  time,  that  numerical  growth  was  not  sought  and  infleed  was  not 
necessarily  an  evidence  of  prosperity  in  those  respects  in  which  this 
was  desired.  As  to  the  financial  situation,  it  would  have  to  become 
much  worse  before  bankruptcy  stared  the  Brethren's  House  in  the 
face,  so  long  as  that  arrangement  of  pooling  accounts  was  main- 
tained. 

The  special  services  of  December  31,  1800,  with  which  a  completed 
century  was  closed,  when  a  more  extended  and  comprehensive 
retrospect  than  at  the  close  of  ordinary  years  was  compiled,  were 
marked  by  a  more  cheerful  tone  than  prevailed  at  the  close  of  the 
preceding  year.  In  other  respects,  things  had  been  gotten  into 
smoother  and  more  satisfactory  working  order  in  the  village,  and 
no  special  disturbance  is  recorded  during  the  first  six  years  of  the 
new  century  embraced  in  this  chapter.  As  to  poHtics  and  connection 
with  public  business,  the  place  again  even  dispensed  with  the  pres- 
ence of  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  a  few  years;  a  conference  of 
ministers  in  1802,  having  gone  so  far  as  to  declare  that  none  should 
reside  in  any  of  the  church-villages.  This  was  receded  from 
several  years  later;  even  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  in  Europe 
expressing  the  view  that  this  exceeded  what  the  Tk-neral  .Synod  harl 


568  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

enacted  on  the  subject  and  was  hardly  an  expedient  measure.  This 
was  one  of  the  moves  in  which  the  hand  of  the  Rev.  John  Gebhard 
Cunow  appeared,  and  which  met  the  decided  dissatisfaction  of  many 
at  Bethlehem.  Apart  from  these  features  of  the  situation  there  was 
little  stir  on  the  surface  of  village  life  more  conspicuous  than  that 
occasioned  by  the  various  official  changes,  as  reviewed  early  in  this 
chapter,  up  to  1806 — in  order  to  present  them  all  in  connection — the 
death  of  one  after  another  leading  man  or  notable  woman,"  the 
most  conspicuous  being  that  of  Bishop  Ettwein  on  January  2,  1802, 
as  alreadv  mentioned,  and  the  occasional  arrival  of  accessions  to 
various  branches  of  official  service  or  lines  of  industry  from 
Europe.^- 


11  Besides  the  deaths  referred  to  in  this  chapter,  a  few  of  the  many  others  from  the  close 
of  the  last  chapter  to  1806,  may  be  noted  because  of  the  special  prominence  of  the  individ- 
uals or  particular  interest  attaching  to  them  :  1785,  Henry  Van  Vleck  ;  1786,  Judith  Bene- 
zet  Otto,  widow  of  Dr.  John  Frederick  Otto  who  died  at  Nazareth;  1789,  Timothy  Hors- 
field.  Jr.,  the  apothecary,  son-in-law  of  William  Parsons;  also  the  wife  of  Bishop  Ettwein, 
while  he  was  in  Europe;  1790,  Immanuel  Nitschmann,  secretary  and  musical  director, 
Barbara  Fenstermacher,  who  as  the  widow  of  Michael  Leibert  had  been  a  zealous  patroness 
of  the  second  Moravian  school  in  Germantown,  and  Jost  Jansen,  inn-keeper  during  the 
Revolution ;  1791,  Herman  Loesch  the  miller,  Gottlieb  Lange  the  saddler  who  did  work  for 
the  American  army,  Marcus  Kiefer  the  master  smith  associated  with  the  tribulations  of  the 
first  Indian  war;  1792,  Daniel  Kliest  the  expert  lock-smith,  and,  in  Lancaster  County,  John 
Okely,  long  .so  prominent  and  useful,  who  in  1788  severed  connection  and  left  after  a  strange 
course  of  procedure  to  the  detriment  of  the  community  in  pursuit  of  his  own  plans,  with 
controversy,  litigation  and  at  last  complete  estrangement;  1793,  Christian  Frederick  Oerter 
the  famous  book-keeper,  Abraham  Boemper  the  silver- smith  Anna  Margaret  Jungmann, 
m.n.  Bechtel,  of  Indian  mission  fame  ;  1795,  Matthew  Weiss,  celebrated  far  and  wide  as  a 
dyer,  aged  87  years;  1797,  John  Christian  Hasse,  book-keeper  in  the  Administrator's  office 
and  conspicuous  during  the  Revolution,  whose  later  years  were  saddened  by  his  own  faults 
and  frailties;  1798,  the  venerable  widow  and  Deaconess  Catherine  Huber,  the  last  of  the 
Georgia  colonists  excepting  the  missionary  Zeisberger,  and  referred  to  as  the  oldest  woman 
(95  years)  in  Moravian  official  circles  in  America  or  Europe ;  1801,  John  George  Stoll,  saw- 
miller  and  inn-keeper  at  the  Crown;  1803,  Ferdinand  Philip  Jacob  Detmers,  formerly 
warden,  Bethlehem,  Nazareth,  Lititz;  1805,  John  Schropj),  the  warden,  James  Cruickshank, 
steward,  boarding-school  and  assistant  apothecary,  and  Charles  Cist,  printer  of  Philadelphia 
and  pioneer  in  anthracite  coal  trade,  who  died  on  a  journey  up  the  country.  Many  other 
interesting  names  might  be  mentioned  on  a  broader  basis  of  selection.  More  complete  in- 
formation in  reference  to  these  and  others  whose  decease  has  been  referred  to,  may  be  found 
in  the  official  register  of  deaths  preserved  in  the  Moravian  "church  books." 

12  The  lists  of  the  arrivals  during  these  years,  containing  also  the  names  of  many  destined 
for  other  places  in  Pennsylvania  and  North  Carolina,  are  not  always  entered  accurately  and 
completely  in  the  diaries,  and  could  only  be  given  in  full,  as  in  earlier  years,  by  laborious 
examination  of  catalogues  and  biographies.     With   few  exceptions   those   who  located  at 


1/86 i8o6.  569 

In  1803,  after  years  of  discussion  and  planning,  active  operations 
were  commenced  at  a  more  prominent  building  enterprise  than 
any  that  have  been  referred  to  in  this  chapter;  one  which,  in  view 
of  the  numerical  and  financial  situation  of  Bethlehem  at  that  time, 
was  a  surprising  undertaking.  This  was  the  erection  of  a  new  church 
which  was  said,  and  doubtless  correctly,  to  have  been,  at  the  time  of 
its  completion,  the  largest  church  in  Pennsylvania ;  and  it  is  doubtful 
whether  a  more  spacious  house  of  worship  was  to  be  found  else- 
where in  the  country.  The  idea  of  building  such  a  large  village 
church — "Landkii'cJic" — with  a  capacity  sufificient  for  an  entire  town 
and  its  environs  for  many  years  to  come,  did  not  have  the  character- 
istic chapel  or  "prayer  hall" — Bctsaal — of  the  Moravian  settlement 
compound  as  a  model,  like  the  church  of  that  time,  now  the  Old 
Chapel.  The  great  churches  of  many  European  villages,  where 
a  whole  neighborhood  has  one  church  and  does  not  think 
of  having  more,  were  in  mind.  This  began  to  be  dis- 
cussed long  before  the  Revolution.  Even  as  earlv  as  Novem- 
ber, 1754,  the  statement  in  a  report  from  Herrnhut  that  the 
attendance  on  general  communion  occasions,  when  the  people 
of  the  whole  manor  assembled,  was  too  large  for  the  capacity  of  the 

Bethlehem  will  be  found  mentioned  in  the  diaries  of  the  Congregation  and  the  Brethren's 
House.  They  usually  arrived  in  companies,  but  there  were  no  large  colonies  as  in  earlier 
years — never  beyond  12  to  15  at  one  time.  The  more  considerable  companies  were  single 
men,  as  a  rule.  Very  few  single  women  came.  To  assist  those  who  may  wish  to  pursue 
research  in  connection  with  this  subject,  or  trace  individuals,  the  year  and  month  of  the 
arrival  of  these  little  companies  of  Moravian  immigrants,  as  found  noted  from  the  close  of 
the  Revolution  to  the  end  of  the  century,  with  a  few  conspicuous  names  of  ministers  and 
laymen  of  the  several  parties  who  figured  at  Bethlehem  or  elsewhere  in  Pennsylvania,  are 
herewith  given,  in  addition  to  those  already  mentioned  in  this  chapter,  without  attempting  a 
complete  enumeration.  November,  1783,  John  Meder,  John  Augustus  Klingsohr,  Samuel 
■Gottlieb  Kramsch,  Dr.  John  Lewis  (surgeon  N.  C,  died  at  Bethlehem,  1788),  Elizabeth 
Lewis,  John  Frederick  Moehring;  November,  1784,  Charles  Gotthold  Reichel,  George 
Godfrey  Mueller;  October,  178S,  John  Frederick  Frueauff  with  four  single  men;  August, 
1791,  John  Molther,  Gottfried  Sebastian  Oppelt,  Ernst  Gehbe,  Benedict  Benade,  and  other 
single  men,  and  in  October,  Christian  Godfrey  Peter,  John  Christopher  Eilerts,  Benjamin 
Mortimer,  Christian  Thomas  Pfohl,  Nils  Tillofsen,  and  the  teachers  Christina  Oliver  and 
Mary  Wade;  November,  1795,  the  largest  company,  including  Christian  Frederick  Schaaf, 
Andrew  Benade,  the  surgeon  Rudolphi,  Conrad  Kreuzer,  Christian  Gottlob  Paulus,  David 
Moritz  Michael,  the  musician ;  July,  1796,  with  Cunow,  John  Caspar  Freitag  (the  Doctor 
John  Eberhard  Freitag  came  in  1790,  as  already  stated,  with  Ettwein),  and  John  Christian 
Ebbecke;  November,  1797,  John  Frederick  Stadiger  with  three  single  men;  October,  1799 
five  single  men,  escorted  by  Godfrey  Haga;  November,  1800,  Joseph  Zaeslein,  Ernst  Lewis 
Hazelius,  John  Henry  Schultz,  Frederick  Bourquin. 


570  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

old  Berthelsdorf  church,  called  forth  the  remark  in  a  conference  at 
Bethlehem,  that  in  process  of  time  a  church  large  enough  to  seat 
fifteen  hundred  persons  would  have  to  be  built  for  the  gathering 
of  people  from  the  outlying  places  and  of  the  Indian  converts  who 
might  be  living  in  the  vicinity,  on  special  occasions.  All  of  the  men 
who  participated  in  that  conference  had  been  gathered  to  their  fathers 
and  all  Indians  had  long  disappeared  from  the  neighborhood,  before 
this  ambitious  project  was  really  consummated,  fifty  years  later. 
When  Bishop  Nathanael  Seidel  went  to  the  General  Synod  in  Europe 
in  1769,  he  laid  before  that  body  the  desirabihty  of  building  such  a 
church  at  Bethlehem.  It  was  discussed  and  generally  approved,  but 
the  scheme  was  postponed  in  favor  of  the  enlargement  of  the  Sisters' 
House.  Then,  while  the  matter  was  yet  resting,  the  Revolution  came 
on  and  further  steps  could  not  be  thought  of.  When  Christian 
Heckewelder  first  broached  the  idea,  in  1785,  of  building  a 
new  store  "on  the  vacant  lot  opening  on  the  square" — the 
place  at  which  it  was  eventually  built,  the  Eagle  Hotel  site — it  is 
recorded  that  the  project  to  build  a  new  church  was  re-opened  and 
the  opinion  prevailed  that  this  should  take  precedence.  Further 
deliberations  followed  at  intervals  until  Bishop  Ettwein  went  to 
Europe  in  1789,  to  attend  the  General  Synod.  He  was  authorized 
to  agitate  the  subject  anew.  He  took  with  him  a  map  of  Bethlehem, 
drafts  of  several  eligible  sites  and  a  plan  of  the  proposed  church. 
His  fond  hope  was  that  the  enterprise  might  be  proceeded  with 
during  the  years  1790  and  1791,  and  might  progress  far  enough  to  at 
least  have  the  corner-stone  laid  at  the  celebration  of  Bethlehem's 
jubilee,  June  25,  1792.  The  drafts  and  plans  were  discussed  with 
much  interest  at  the  Synod,  the  committee  on  American  affairs 
reported  in  favor  of  the  undertaking,  plans  for  raising  the  necessary 
money  were  considered,  and  the  official  sanction  which  was  necessary 
under  the  system  of  that  time  was  formally  given  by  the  Unity's 
Elders'  Conference.  Decided  differences  of  opinion  in  regard  to  the 
building  site  began  to  develop  after  Bishop  Ettwein's  return.  His 
favorite  spot  was  the  so-called  timber  yard,  the  locality  between  the 
present  main  building  of  the  Parochial  School  and  Cedar  Street,  now 
occupied  by  the  remodeled  boys'  school  house  and  the  janitor's 
house.  His  plan  was  to  open  a  new  street  from  that  spot  down  to 
the  present  Main  Street  and  the  large  open  square — Plats — of  that 
time,  which,  with  Cedar  Street  northward,  and  the  walks  through 
the  cemetery  eastward,  would,  as  he  argued,  provide  approaches  to 


1786 i8o6.  571 

the  church  from  those  directions  in  which  the  town  would  naturally 
extend,  while  access  from  the  various  choir  houses  southward  would 
be  very  convenient.  Another  site  in  view  was  the  garden  south  of 
the  Community  or  Clergy  House,  where  at  present  the  parsonage 
west  of  the  Widows'  House  stands.  This  place  was  favored  by  the 
fathers  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  for  it  was  thought  that 
there  it  would  round  out  a  symmetrical  group,  fronted  and  flanked 
right  and  left  by  the  several  other  institutional  buildings,  and  pre- 
sent an  imposing  and  picturesque  appearance  from  the  southern 
approach  to  the  town  across  the  river.  The  third  site  proposed  was 
the  large  space  west  of  the  old  Community  House,  then  yet  occupied 
by  the  two  log  houses  and  the  water-tower,  all  of  which  were 
thought  to  have  outlasted  their  usefulness,  to  be  in  a  state  of  decay, 
and  unsightly  in  appearance.  It  was  proposed  to  demolish  these 
and  build  the  new  church  there,  fronting  the  square  or  Plats ;  front- 
ing also  what  those  who  were  having  the  bridge  in  mind,  considered 
would  then  become  the  Main  Street  of  the  town ;  the  thoroughfare 
between  the  bridge  and  the  hotel,  store  and  mills,  more  traveled 
than  before,  when  traf^c  grew  with  the  prospective  development  of 
facilities.  That  this  site  was  ultimately  chosen  was  to  some  extent 
a  compromise  on  the  part  of  those  who  advocated  the  other  two, 
between  which  there  was  the  most  decided  contention ;  and  the 
favorite  plan  of  some  to  have  that  space  eventually  thrown  into  the 
Plats  and  remain  a  park  was  waived.  The  argument  against  the 
timber-yard  site  was  mainly  that  it  would  not  display  the  church 
sufficiently,  and  would  become  pent  up. 

Ettwein  argued  against  the  garden  site  most  decidedly  and  to 
some  extent  also  against  that  which  was  finally  selected,  chiefly  on 
account  of  misgivings  as  to  the  security  of  the  foundation,  in  view 
of  the  precarious  nature  of  the  limestone  formation  along  that  entire 
slope,  to  which  he  had  given  careful  attention.  He  pointed  out 
evidences  of  cavernous  places  in  the  rock,  of  sliding  and  settling 
layers  and  a  treacherous  condition  generally,  increasing  towards  the 
descent  southward.  This  had  led  the  master  masons  to  strengthen 
the  walls  of  the  connecting  section  of  the  Sisters'  House  and  those 
of  the  chapel,  built  in  1751,  with  buttresses.  It  had  caused  much  diffi- 
cultv  with  the  foundation  of  the  Widows'  House  and  produced  a 
crack  in  the  walls  of  the  Brethren's  House.  x\lthough,  as  he  records, 
his  opinion  on  this  point  was  ridiculed  by  some  and  not  much  heeded 
by  any,  the  unexpected  labor  and  expense  required  to  secure  a  satis- 


572  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

factory  foundation  when  finally  the  church  building  was  commenced, 
justified  his  views,  and  as  for  the  garden  site  across  the  way  to  the 
south  of  the  clergy  house,  which  he  most  strongly  opposed,  some 
who  are  very  familiar  with  the  premises  in  modern  times  have 
observed  singular  evidences  of  the  precarious  condition  of  things 
beneath  the  surface,  of  which  he  was  so  firmly  persuaded.  The  matter 
dragged  until,  in  February,  1792,  it  seemed,  after  further  discussion 
in  the  several  boards,  as  if  an  agreement  would  at  last  be  reached 
to  let  the  question  of  the  site  be  discussed  by  the  men  of  the  village 
in  common  council.  Then  the  bridge  building  project  was  suddenly 
thrust  forward  and  another  postponement  of  the  church  building 
ensued. 

In  a  letter  to  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  in  March,  1792, 
Bishop  Ettwein,  referring  to  the  question  that  had  been  raised  anew 
as  to  whether  a  large  church  was  really  needed,  expressed  the  belief 
that  if  there  could  always  be  a  strong  preacher  at  Bethlehem,  as  well 
as  at  Lititz,  many  people  from  the  surrounding  neighborhoods  would 
be  attracted  to  the  churches  of  these  places.  Amid  the  religious 
conditions  and  doctrinal  tendencies  of  those  times,  he  attached  great 
importance  to  the  idea  of  making  the  Moravian  churches  centers  at 
which  to  gather  as  many  people  as  possible  to  hear  sound  evangelical 
preaching.  He  refers  also  to  the  inconvenient,  round-about 
entrances  to  the  Old  Chapel,  of  which  he  was  often  ashamed  when 
the  numerous  visitors  at  Bethlehem  during  the  summer,  who  wished 
to  attend  services,  had  to  be  conducted  into  the  place.^-''  Meanwhile 
the  new  building  for  the  boarding-school,  the  bridge,  the  extension 
of  the  Widows'  House,  the  new  store,  a  new  market  house  and  other 
minor  improvements  were  completed  and  .the  church  building  enter- 

13  The  present  north  facade  and  entrance  to  the  Old  Chapel  are  modern.  At  that  time,  it 
was  entered  through  the  eastern  doorway  at  the  front  of  the  Clergy  House  and  by  doors  at 
the  east  side,  one  from  the  first  floor  of  the  bell-turret  house,  another  opening  from  the  lawn 
in  front  of  it  into  the  basement  under  the  chapel,  from  which  an  inside  stairway  ascended. 
There  was  also  a  door,  made  use  of  commonly  by  aged  and  invalid  women,  opening  from 
the  upper  floor  of  the  iiell-turret  house  into  a  small  gallery  at  the  north  end.  As  the  interior 
of  the  buildings  was  then  arranged,  access  to  the  chapel  through  that  doorway  could  be  had 
from  the  remotest  parts  of  the  Sisters'  House  without  going  out  of  doors.  The  congrega- 
tion was  for  the  most  part  seated  facing  westward.  The  simple  table  which  served  all  the 
purposes  of  the  officiating  minister— there  was  no  regular  pulpit — was  placed  centrally  at  the 
west  side,  where  he  stood  or  sat  facing  the  congregation  eastward,  with  the  ofiicial  men  and 
women  seated  on  special  benches  against  the  west  wall,  to  his  right  and  left  respectively, 
also  facing  the  congregation.  Various  oil  paintings  representing  Scripture  scenes,  especially 
from  the  life  of  Christ,  some  of  which  are  yet  preserved,  were  hung  about  the  walls. 


1786 i8o6.  573 

prise  was  indefinitely  postponed.  Finally  a  new  start  was  made  in 
1802,  when  the  development  of  the  provisions  for  water  distribution, 
the  construction  of  a  new  octagonal  stone  reservoir,  from  which  the 
first  flow  began  on  September  i  of  that  year,  and  the  consequent 
abandonment  of  the  old  wooden  water-tower,  opened  the  subject  of 
building  a  church  once  more.  The  long  delay  had  worn  out  the 
energy  of  controversy  about  the  location  of  the  edifice.  The  timber- 
yard  and  garden  sites  were  given  up  by  their  respective  advocates 
and  gradual  agreement  to  settle  upon  the  water-tower  site  had  been 
reached.  Bishop  Ettwein  did  not  live  long  enough  to  see  the  actual 
beginning  of  operations,  for  on  the  second  day  of  that  year  he 
entered  into  rest.  The  arrival  of  Bishop  Loskiel  in  July,  awakened 
new  activity.  In  accordance  with  the  common  disposition  of  people, 
what  he  said  found  more  hearing  and  what  he  did  was  more  accept- 
able, because  he  was  a  new  man,  than  anything  that  emanated  from 
one  who  had  been  with  them  longer,  even  if  he  said  or  did  the  same 
things. 

The  first  flow  of  water  from  the  new  reservoir  seemed  to  be 
emblematic  of  the  new  spirit  of  progressive  action,  for  on  that  very 
day,  September  i,  1802,  a  general  council  was  held  to  take  those 
steps  forward  that  depended  now  upon  the  action  of  such  a  meeting. 
Careful  preparatory  work  had  been  done.  Like  the  interesting  asso- 
ciation between  hotel  and  store,  to  which  reference  has  been  made, 
the  process  of  things  which  was  now  culminating  reveals  a  similar 
connection  between  water-works  and  church,  giving  room  for  fancy 
to  play  on  the  significance  of  "the  well  of  Bethlehem,"  that  wonder- 
ful spring,  as  an  emblem  of  the  spiritual  water  of  life  dispensed ;  the 
purpose  for  which  the  church  was  to  stand.  A  committee  had  been 
wrestling  with  the  water  problem.  It  consisted  of  John  Gebhard 
Cunow,  the  administrator ;  John  Schropp,  the  warden ;  William 
Boehler,  Jr.,  Joseph  Horsfield,  John  Christian  Reich,  and  Anton 
Schmidt.  They  canvassed  the  subject  of  a  new  water-tower  or 
reservoir  and  a  new  church  together,  and  the  undertaking  of  the 
latter  enterprise  was  strongly  favored.  Cunow  and  some  others 
conceived  the  idea  of  combining  them  by  planning  the  church  with 
a  massive  tower  at  the  west  end,  to  be  utilized  for  water  distribution 
and  belfry  jointly,  but  this  idea  was  evidently  too  startlingly  unique 
to  find  acceptance.  The  unanimous  sentiment  of  that  meeting  of 
September  i,  settled  the  question  of  proceeding.  The  very  important 
matter  of  raising  money  was  at  the  same  time  discussed.     This  point 


574  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

and  others  involved  were  given  consideration  by  a  conference  held 
by  thirty-six  ministers  in  the  chapel  of  the  Sisters'  House,  in  Octo- 
ber. It  was  decided  to  solicit  direct  subscriptions,  first  from  the 
Bethlehem  people,  then  from  the  people  of  Nazareth,  Lititz  and  the 
other  Moravian  settlements  and  congregations  in  America,  then  also 
from  brethren  and  friends  in  Europe.  The  larger  part  of  the  cost 
was  to  be  covered  by  instituting  a  tontine  plan  Hke  that  which  had 
been  adopted  at  Zeist,  in  Holland.  Considerable  amounts  were,  in 
course  of  time,  made  available  under  this  plan,  which,  although 
opposed  by  Cunow  and  some  others,  was  adopted  on  a  limited  scale. 
Some  of  the  annuities,  however,  ran  on  very  long  before  the  sums 
thus  advanced  ceased  to  draw  interest,  for  certain  of  the  beneficiaries 
were  very  tenacious  of  life.  It  is  interesting  to  note  how  very 
modern  they  were  in  1802,  in  under-estimating  the  probable  cost  of  a 
church.  It  was  expected  that  it  could  be  built  for  about  $11,000. 
It  eventually  cost  more  than  five  times  that  amount,  including  the 
organ. 

The  Building  Committee  consisted  of  John  Gebhard  Cunow,  the 
administrator;  John  Schropp,  the  warden;  John  David  Bishop, 
William  Boehler,  Jr.,  Matthew  Eggert,  George  Huber,  and  Samuel 
Steup,  with  the  Rev.  Andrew  Benade,  principal  of  the  boarding- 
school  and  regular  preacher,  and  at  that  time  the  most  energetic 
advocate  of  the  enterprise  among  the  clergy.  PreUminary  steps  to 
clear  the  building  site  and  commence  excavations  were  taken  directly 
after  the  council  of  September  i,  1802.  Before  the  middle  of  Sep- 
tember the  families  who  occupied  the  old  log  houses  had  been  pro- 
vided quarters  elsewhere.  The  water-tower  house  was  demolished 
at  the  end  of  the  month.  James  Cruickshank,  the  last  occupant 
who  tarried  in  the  other  one,  next  to  the  Clergy  House,  moved  out, 
the  middle  of  October,  and  before  the  end  of  that  month  the  second 
of  these  old  structures  had  also  disappeared.  Further  than  this, 
little  seems  to  have  been  done  at  the  spot  during  the  winter.  On 
November  19,  Warden  Schropp  contracted  for  the  quarrying  of  the 
stone  at  the  "Stcin-Rutsch,"  i.  e.  rock-slide — the  German  words  were 
later  anglicized,  with  their  meaning  lost,  into  "stone  ridge" — on  the 
mountain  side  across  the  river  from  the  large  island.  During  that 
uncommonly  cold  winter,  the  most  of  the  stone  was  conveyed  across 
the  river  on  the  ice.  Christian  Nagel,  George  Savitz,  John  Hillman 
and  Jacob  Schneider  were  the  quarrymen.  John  Cunius,  of  Reading, 
was  the  architect  and  superintendent  of  construction.     His  plans  and 


1786 i8o6.  575 

specifications  were  accepted,  January,  1803.  Contracts  were  made 
with  Francis  Weiss,  of  Lehighton,  and  William  Nyce,  up  the  Dela- 
ware, in  the  Alinnisinks,  for  pine  and  oak  timber;  with  BalzerStaehle, 
to  furnish  the  choice  white  oak  for  the  frame-work  of  the  large 
belfry,  and  with  Daniel  Wagner  and  John  Green  &  Co.,  of  Easton, 
for  pine  boards.  Adam  Lehn  and  Nicholas  Woodring,  of  Easton, 
were  employed  as  master  masons.  March  19,  1803,  at  a  special 
meeting  of  men  and  boys,  it  was  agreed  that  the  excavation  of  the 
cellar  should  be  undertaken  by  volunteers,  gratuitously.  The  next 
day  a  large  number  of  them  set  to  work  at  this  task  and  continued 
from  day  to  day — the  residents  of  the  Sisters'  House  furnishing  fore- 
noon and  afternoon  lunch  as  their  contribution  to  the  effort — until  in 
two  weeks  it  was  accomplished.  Then  preparations  were  made  for 
starting  the  great  foundation  walls,  six  feet  thick,  with  the  best  stone 
blasted  out  of  the  mountain  side  and  mortar  so  excellent,  from  the 
pit  in  which  it  had  lain  during  the  winter,  that  when  it  now 
becomes  necessary  to  apply  the  chisel  and  hammer  to  it,  little 
difference  between  the  hardness  of  the  stone  and  the  joints  is 
perceptible.  April  13,  the  masons  began  their  work.  The  entire 
force,  including  the  "tenders,"  numbered  about  twenty,  nearly  all 
of  them  men  from  out  of  town. 

April  16,  the  corner-stone  was  laid  at  the  north-east  corner,  not 
as  a  mere  ornamental  block  set  into  the  wall  above  the  ground,  but 
down  at  the  bottom,  a  foundation  stone,  after  the  manner  of  former 
times.  At  ten  o'clock  the  people  assembled  in  the  Old  Chapel,  where 
a  preliminary  service  was  conducted  and  a  brief  address  was  delivered 
by  Bishop  Loskiel,  who  also  read  the  document  which  was  to  be 
deposited  in  the  stone.  It  contained  the  names  of  National,  State  and 
Church  dignitaries,  catalogues  of  the  several  divisions  of  the  mem- 
bership and  lists  of  the  pupils  in  the  boarding-school.  Coins  of  the 
United  States,  which  were  then  a  new  thing — the  first  copper  having 
been  coined  in  1792  and  the  first  silver  and  gold  in  1794  and  1795 — 
were  also  deposited.  After  this,  the  lead  box  into  which  the  articles 
were  placed  was  sealed.  Then  all  proceeded  in  decorous  order  to  the 
building  site,  where  they  formed  in  a  square,  while  the  trombonists 
performed  a  chorale.  A  hymn  was  sung,  accompanied  by  stringed 
instruments,  and  in  the  last  verse  by  the  trombones  also.  The  Bishop, 
with  other  officials,  gathered  about  the  stone  and  when  the  conse- 
crating formula  had  been  spoken  by  him  while  he  grasped  the  stone, 
preparatorv    to    lifting    it,    he,    with    the    assistance    of    Cunow    and 


576  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA, 

Schropp,  placed  it  in  position.  After  this  the  leaden  box  was  put 
into  the  cavity  in  the  stone  and  during  the  singing  of  another  hymn 
all  of  the  clergy  who  participated  performed  the  ceremony  of  striking 
the  stone  with  the  hammer.  Thereupon  followed  prayer  by  the  offici- 
ating Bishop,  after  which  a  closing  hymn  was  sung  and  the  assembly 
was  dismissed  with  the  benediction.^* 

At  the  close  of  the  year  the  walls  were  laid  up  to  the  eaves,  and 
the  woodwork  had  progressed  correspondingly.  William  Boehler, 
Jr.,  was  master-carpenter  and  John  Frederick  Bourquin,  a  very  pro- 
ficient cabinet-maker  and  joiner,  did  the  finer  work,  such  as  the 
paneling  around  the  galleries,  the  carving  at  the  door-ways  and  the 
like,  and  built  the  pulpit.  Stephen  Eastwick  and  Levick  Palmer,  of 
Philadelphia,  did  the  plastering  and  stucco-work  and  rough-cast  the 
exterior  of  the  edifice  after  its  completion,  excepting  the  block-work 
around  the  windows,  which  was  not  done  until  after  1830.  The 
building  committee  unfortunately  became  involved  in  controversy 
and  litigation  with  these  Philadelphia  mechanics.  Before  the  end 
of  1804,  the  entire  building  had  finally  been  enclosed.  May  7,  1805, 
the  vane  was  mounted  on  the  belfry,  in  which  was  hung  the  bell 
received  from  London  in  April ;  that  now  hanging  in  the  belfry  of 
the  West  Bethlehem  Chapel.  Although  much  work  remained  to  be 
done  inside,  the  church  then  stood  complete  in  its  original  external 
shape,  which  is  familiar  from  extant  pictures  and  which  many  have 
wished  it  yet  had.  The  annexes  at  each  end  had  a  flat  roof,  covered 
with  sheet  copper.  A  graceful  turret  stood  in  the  center  of  each, 
while  a  balustrade  ran  around  the  three  outside  edges.  Trouble  was 
experienced  with  leaking,  which  damaged  the  interior,  and  in  1816 
this  unique  design  was  destroyed  by  running  out  the  gable  roof  of 
the  central  body  of  the  building  to  both  ends.  There  have  always 
been  those  who  could  not  be  convinced  that  this  course,  put  through 
by  the  determination  of  several  men,  was  the  only  way  to  overcome 
the  trouble,  for  there  are  many  flat  roofs  in  the  world  that  do  not 

14  A  copy  of  the  document  that  was  deposited  in  the  stone  is  preserved  in  the  archives. 
The  aged  widow  Salome  Gold,  a  daughter  of  David  Weinland,  master  of  the  violoncello 
and  successor,  in  1790,  of  Frederick  Beitel  as  farmer  general  at  Bethlehem — she  died  in 
1891  in  the  95th  year  of  her  age — was  among  the  school  children  who  were  present  on  that 
occasion.  When  more  than  ninety  years  old  she  retained  a  vivid  recollection  of  the  cere- 
mony and  gave  the  writer  a  description  of  it,  stating  exactly  where  the  children  stood,  where 
the  trombonists  were  stationed,  what  hymns  were  sung,  and  how  the  different  officials  looked. 
Her  most  striking  impression  was  of  Cunow  who  wore  "  a  long  blue  coat  with  a  cape"  and 
of  whom  the  little  girls  "  were  very  much  afraid." 


I 


l*^-^ 


1786 i8o6.  579 

try  were  making  their  way  towards  the  place,  everything  was  soon 
astir  and  before  eight  o'clock  the  street  in  front  of  the  church  was 
thronged.     The  first  service  of  the  day  was  a  brief  one  in  the  Old 
Chapel   at   eight    o'clock.      It   was   intended   to   be   a  formal   leave- 
taking    of    that    second    sanctuary    of    the    village,    which,    although 
occupied   only  lifty-five   years,   was   rich   in   venerable   associations. 
Bishop  Loskiel  officiated.     At  the  close,  the  assembled  membership 
passed    in    two    processions  into  the   new   church,  which  was  sur- 
rounded by  great  crowds  inspecting  the   exterior  of  the  structure 
and  awaiting  their  arrival.     One  procession,  headed  by  the  Bishop 
and  clergy  and  the  various  church  officers,  consisted  of  the  male 
portion  of  the  congregation.      Following   the   church    officers    came 
the  school  boys,  then  the  older  boys  and  single  men,  and  finally  all 
the  men  of  the  village.     They  entered  at  the  north-east  door.     The 
other  procession,  which  passed  in  at  the  south-east  door,  was  headed 
by  the  wives  of  the  clergy  and  other  women    in    official    position. 
They  were  followed  by  the  school  girls  and  their  teachers,  and  back 
of  them  came  all  the  women  of  the  congregation.     The  moment  the 
doors  swung  open  and  the  ministers  entered  the  silent  and  empty 
building,  they  were  greeted  by  a  burst  of  music  from  the  organ  and 
trombones  like  that  which  announces  the  midnight  hour  at  the  New 
Year  Eve  vigils,  and  the  chorale  was  the  same — "Nun  daiikct  alle 
Gott."     While  the  congregation  filed  in  and  took  seats,  a  large  choir, 
with  elaborate  orchestral  accompaniment,  sang  the  second  part  of 
the    hundredth    Psalm:    "Enter  into   His  gates  with  thanksgiving, 
and  into  His  courts  with  praise :  be  thankful  unto  Him  and  bless  His 
Name.     For  the  Lord  is  good;  His  mercy  is  everlasting;  and  His 
truth  endureth  to  all  generations."     When  the  sound  of  the  chorus 
ceased,  the  congregation  raised  the   solemn  hymn :   "Hciligcr  Hcrr 
und   Gott'' — chorale   No.    519   in   the    Moravian   collection — the   first 
verse  of  which,  in  English  translation,  is  incorporated  in  the  church 
litany.     Thereupon  all  fell  on  their  knees  and  Bishop  Loskiel  dedi- 
cated the  finished  edifice  to  the  worship  of  the  Triune  God  with  a 
prayer  of  thanksgiving,  confession  and  supplication,  imploring  the 
Divine  blessing  upon  the  house,  upon  all  the  future  assemblies  of 
the  people  within  its  walls  and  especially  upon  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel  within  it  during  the  coming  years.     This  was  followed  by  a 
brief  address,  in  which  gratitude  for  the  completion  of  the  structure 
after  so  many  years  of  waiting,  and  cordial  recognition  of  the  ser- 
vices of  those  who  had  directed  the  work,  all  who  had  labored  at  it 


580  A   HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

and  all  who  had  contributed  to  the  building  fund  was  expressed. 
Then  this  first  service  closed.  Apart  from  the  elaborate  music,  no 
outward  pomp  and  circumstance  attended  the  occasion.  The  ritual, 
as  will  be  observed,  was  extremely  simple,  but  it  is  recorded  that  all 
present  were  profoundly  impressed.  It  had  been  the  desire  that  this 
first  service  should  be  exclusively  for  members  of  the  congregation 
and  of  other  Moravian  congregations  who  had  come  to  Bethlehem, 
but  the  pressure  about  the  doors  was  so  great  that  this  could  not 
be  strictly  adhered  to.  The  next  service,  at  which  the  first  sermon 
was  preached  in  German  by  Bishop  Loskiel,  was  understood  to  be 
open  to  all  who  could  find  entrance.  Not  a  spot,  even  of  standing 
room,  remained  unoccupied  in  any  part  of  the  building  into  which 
people  could  crowd.  Its  seating  capacity,  with  the  loose  benches 
of  that  time  placed  for  close  sitting,  was  fifteen  hundred.  It  was 
estimated  that  about  a  thousand  more  were  present.  At  this  service 
the  pulpit  was  used  the  first  time  and  a  special  prayer  of  dedication,  in 
view  of  this,  preceded  the  sermon,  which  was  based  on  the  words, 
"Behold  the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men" — Rev.  21 :3.  At  the 
conclusion  of  this  service,  the  metrical  version  of  the  Te  Deum 
Laudamus  which,  both  in  German  and  in  English  translation,  is  yet 
used  in  the  Moravian  Church,  was  sung.  The  English  sermon  was 
preached  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  by  the  Rev.  Andrew 
Benade,  Principal  of  the  boarding-school  and  associate  minister.  The 
text  was,  I  Kings,  9:13.  At  this  service  anthems  with  English  text 
were  sung  by  the  choir.  The  crowd  was  not  so  great  as  in  the  morn- 
ing, for  many  from  distant  neighborhoods  left  at  noon  and  the  most 
of  the  country  people  who  had  assembled  were  German.  At  the 
evening  service,  when  few  excepting  Moravian  visitors  were  present 
with  the  congregation,  the  Rev.  John  Herbst,  Head  Pastor  at  Lititz, 
preached  in  German;  his  text  being  2  Tim.  2:19. 

The  second  day's  festivities  took  place  on  Tuesday,  May  20.  At 
half-past  eight  there  was  morning  prayer — a  choral  service  with  a 
brief  address  by  Bishop  Loskiel.  At  ten  o'clock  the  first  adminis- 
tration of  baptism  in  the  new  church  took  place.  The  candidate 
was  a  young  woman  named  Sarah  Rothrock.  At  three  o'clock  there 
was  lovefeast.  The  collection  of  hymns  and  anthems  sung  by  the 
congregation  and  choir  was  arranged  by  Bishop  Loskiel.  In  the 
evening  the  Holy  Communion  was  celebrated.  Wednesday,  the 
2 1  St,  the  first  funeral  was  held  in  the  church  by  the  associate  min- 
ister, Benade.     It  was  that  of  Anna  Catherine  Hanke.    In  the  even- 


I 


"**---- 4..,^-U-^^i^ 


GEORGE    HENRY    LOSKIEL 


ANDREW    BENADE 


CHARLES    GOTTHOLD    REICHEL 


JACOB    VAN VLECK 


JOHN    DAVID    BISHOP 


k 

^-                      -SSIm^'      ■■nrHtiiir-— '                        _. 

JM 

^s; 

f  ^■'^IrIIP^**^  4>- 


•  *»  .'Ji.S'Jsaw-i 


j«^ir^i^ 


BETHLEHEM 
1805 
1810 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


The  Beginning  of   Modernizing   Movements. 
1807 — 1825. 

The  period  embraced  in  this  chapter  extends  over  the  most 
extreme  efiforts  to  maintain  without  modification  the  close  regime 
under  which  Bethlehem,  like  all  other  Moravian  villages,  was 
brought  by  the  re-organization  completed  in  1786.  This  period 
was  one  of  decadence  in  some  main  elements  of  the  system  that  had 
been  gradually  developed  after  1769.  This  system  was  not  only 
proving  inadequate,  even  in  Europe,  to  preserve  its  theoretical 
ideals  of  internal  village  life,  but  in  America  was  becoming  clearly 
an  impossible  thing.  The  people  were  no  longer  unique  in  a  united 
religious  purpose  had  in  view  as  the  reason  for  the  existence  of  the 
settlement,  and  in  enthusiastic  loyalty  to  this  purpose.  They  had  no 
desire,  therefore,  to  remain  unique  in  the  minor  external  features  of 
regulation  and  custom  that  had  in  course  of  time  become  fixed  in  con- 
nection with  the  former  purpose.  However  peculiarly  interesting  or 
quaintly  pretty  many  such  things  might  seem  to  the  casual  observer, 
people  of  the  place  who  were  living  in  touch  with  the  times  and  their 
surroundings,  in  the  affairs  of  business  and  in  social  relations,  had  no 
taste  for  posing  as  an  attractive  curiosity  for  the  diversion  of  visi- 
tors. Various  things  which  seemed  very  odd,  particularly  to 
untraveled  and  not  well-read  Americans,  because  diiiferent  from  pre- 
vailing ways,  were,  amid  European  surroundings,  not  at  all  striking, 
just  as  many  other  village  customs  and  regulations,  domestic 
arrangements,  modes  of  dress  and  the  like,  prevailing  also  outside 
of  Moravian  circles  in  Germany  and  other  countries,  would,  if  trans- 
planted to  America,  have  appeared  very  singular  to  such ;  for  narrow 
provincialism  in  all  countries  regards  everything  as  queer  that  is 
different  from  its  own  customs  and  habits.  In  modern  times  more 
people  travel  and  more  cosmopolitan  views  prevail ;  for  even  those 
who  do  not  travel  have  the  customs  and  habits  of  other  people 
thrust  upon  their  attention  through  the  more  general  intermingling 

583 


584  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

of  varieties,  so  that  those,  both  in  the  city  and  the  country,  who  find 
all  ways  of  people  that  are  different  from  their  own  so  strikingly 
absurd  or  amusing,  constitute  a  relatively  much  smaller  part  of  the 
population  than  was  the  case  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  years  ago. 
While  modern  conditions  tend  to  eliminate  eccentricities  and  modify 
sharp  contrasts  in  the  customs  and  manners  of  society  generally, 
they  at  the  same  time  broaden  views  and  make  people  more  tolerant 
of  differences.  Not  so  many  things  are  now  regarded  as  outlandish 
as  formerly,  for  well-informed  people  are  more  numerous.  This 
fact  is  not  confined  to  the  ways  of  society  and  to  domestic  habits, 
but  extends  also  to  ecclesiastical  matters.  It  is  the  person  of  narrow 
training  and  contracted  horizon  who  is  impressed  by  the  oddity  of 
organization,  terminology,  ritual  and  custom  in  churches  other  than 
that  in  which  he  has  been  brought  up. 

The  system  which  governed  the  Moravian  villages  also  naturally 
produced  this  same  kind  of  narrowness  to  a  striking  degree  among 
their  people,  besides  fostering  a  certain  characteristic  self-com- 
placency and  a  kind  of  egotism  that  was  siii  generis.  Therefore, 
while  so  many  people  elsewhere  regarded  their  ways  as  peculiar  and 
in  some  respects  absurd,  they,  in  turn,  especially  in  matters  more 
strictly  ecclesiastical,  lived  in  the  happy  indulgence  of  this  narrow 
egotism  which  had  its  origin  in  the  idea  of  earlier  times  that  a  Mora- 
vian congregation  was  one  of  culled  out  people ;  an  idea  fostered 
unduly  by  the  exclusive  system  which  had  been  instituted.  That  a 
degree  of  general  culture  prevailed  that  was  far  above  the  common 
country  surroundings  is  an  undeniable  fact.  That  a  degree  of 
decorum  and  good  manners  marked  even  the  plainest  laboring 
classes  of  the  community,  far  beyond  that  to  be  commonly  met  with 
among  the  same  order  of  people  in  traveling  the  country,  was  a 
characteristic  of  the  Moravian  village  of  those  days  that  never  failed 
to  impress  the  stranger  who  entered  its  gates. 

The  general  cultivation  of  good  music,  as  one  of  the  refinements, 
reached  a  stage  at  Bethlehem  hardly  to  be  found  anywhere  else  in 
the  country.  It  attracted  many  to  the  place.  Some  of  the  leading 
compositions  of  the  masters  which  during  the  preceding  decade  had 
been  more  generally  introduced  to  the  music-loving  public  in  Euro- 
pean cities,  were  brought  to  Bethlehem  and  rendered,  at  least  in 
part,  before  their  production  had  been  attempted  anywhere  else  in 
America.  A  conspicuous  instance  was  the  first  rendition  of  Haydn's 
oratorio,  "The  Creation"  in  181 1.    That  musicians  from  the  cities  or 


i8o7 1825.  585 

visiting  tlie  United  States  from  Europe  were  drawn  to  Bethlehem  was 
natural,  and  during  the  years  now  under  review  the  records  of  the 
place  frequently  refer  to  such  visits  by  performers  of  note,  and  to  con- 
certs in  which  they  had  the  satisfaction  of  rendering  music  of  a  high 
order  to  an  audience  by  taste  and  training  capable  of  appreciating 
it.  The  pleasing  and  impressive  character  of  the  services  of  the 
sanctuary  heightened  by  this  assiduous  cultivation  of  music,  which 
fills  such  an  important  place  in  the  general  liturgicum  of  the  Mora- 
vian Church,  was  one  of  the  most  notable  things  in  Bethlehem ;  and 
in  those  days,  as  well  as  in  modern  times,  it  was  a  common  thing 
for  people  to  visit  the  place  at  the  seasons  of  high  festivals  for  the 
purpose  of  enjoying  the  music. 

The  visitor  could  not  fail,  furthermore,  to  be  impressed  by  a  pre- 
vailing friendliness  and  disposition  to  accommodate,  and  by  a  style 
of  intercourse  among  the  people  that  bore  evidence  of  a  relation  not 
merely  as  fellow-citizens,  but  as  brethren,  on  a  religious  as  well  as 
a  social  ground,  existing  between  them.  The  church  routine  main- 
tained and  the  nature  of  the  services  and  sermons  suggested  the 
prevalence  of  deep  piety  as  one  of  the  characteristics  of  the  place. 
But  with  all  this  which  appeared  on  the  surface,  there  was  much 
beneath  and  behind  it  that  was  far  from  ideal.  In  many  cases,  reli- 
giousness was  largely  a  matter  of  conventional  habit,  and  among 
the  population  born  and  bred  in  the  place  and  trained  to  all  of  its 
external  ways,  there  were  persons  enough  whose  real  character  and 
life  were  by  no  means  superior.  There  was  that  in  the  religious 
training  of  the  time  which  tended  to  produce  a  refined  type  of 
hypocrisy  among  some  kinds  of  people.  The  conspicuous  appear- 
ance of  fraternal  relations  did  not  have  beneath  it  a  greater  measure 
of  cordial  good  will  between  man  and  man,  in  many  cases,  than  pre- 
vails between  well-disposed  fellow-citizens  and  neighbors  in  other 
villages.  The  common  rivalries,  jealousies  and  bickerings  of  people 
existed  among  many  Moravians  in  Bethlehem  just  as  they  did 
among  people  elsewhere  and  as  they  do  among  many  of  them  in 
modern  times,  when  there  is  less  show  of  fraternity  in  mode  of 
address  and  general  habit  of  speech.  Indeed,  after  the  harmonious 
enthusiasm  of  former  times  had  disappeared,  many  of  the  more 
pettv  disturbances  of  cordial  relations  were  aggravated  by  the  close 
regime  under  which  men  had  to  deal  with  each  other  at  such  short 
range,  were  crowded  into  such  intimate  contact  with  one  another's 
perversities,  frailties  and  foibles,  and  felt  each  other's  angularities 


586  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

more  forcibly  in  the  contracted  relations  in  which  they  had  to  jostle 
each  other  in  struggling  for  the  elbow-room  more  easily  afforded 
by  the  larger  freedom  of  modern  times.  The  spirit  of  chronic  criti- 
cism and  fatUt-finding,  referred  to  in  the  previous  chapter  as  one  of 
the  unpleasant  products  of  the  old  Moravian  village  system,  grew 
with  the  increased  stringency  by  which  those  who  were  trying  to 
maintain  it  in  its  extreme  character  sought  to  correct  irregularities 
and  abuses.  The  general  system  was  entering  upon  an  ordeal  of 
severe  strain  at  the  opening  of  the  period  of  which  this  chapter 
treats.  This  came  partly  through  the  growing  determination  of 
many  to  be  rid  of  the  burden  of  antiquated  rules  and  methods  which 
they  would  no  longer  endure,  and  partly  through  controversy  in 
matters  of  finance  and  property,  in  which  the  struggle  was  not  so 
much  with  inflexible  regulations  as  with  domineering  men.  An 
acute  condition  of  things  in  both  features  of  the  ordeal  was  brought 
on  in  connection  with  the  several  chief  events  of  this  period,  as  will 
appear  in  their  narration. 

The  deputies  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  who  arrived  in 
Bethlehem  in  July,  1806,  as  stated  in  the  preceding  chapter — the 
Rev.  John  Renatus  Verbeek  and  the  Rev.  Charles  von  Forestier — 
closed  their  official  labors  in  America  by  convening  a  conference 
of  ministers  at  Bethlehem  which  was  in  session,  September  14  to  16, 
1807,  and  on  September  28,  they  left  to  return  to  Europe.  No 
material  changes  of  organization  or  supervision  were  made  during 
their  stay,  the  policy  of  that  time  being  to  endeavor  to  tone  up  and 
strengthen  the  existing  system.  Several  things  of  importance 
resulted,  however,  from  their  visit,  which  had  to  do  partly  with 
retrogression  and  decay  and  partly  with  plans  for  the  future  which 
had  life  and  progress  in  view.  Of  the  first  sort  was  the  termination 
of  the  once  promising  organization  and  institutions  of  Hope,  New 
Jersey,  which  had  sunk  under  a  burden  of  debt  with  no  prospect 
of  recuperation.  This  settlement,  besides  the  disadvantage  of 
unhealthy  surroundings,  was  too  weak  to  survive  the  dead- 
ening system  of  the  time,  as  Bethlehem,  Nazareth,  Lititz  and 
Salem,  N.  C,  did.  After  arranging  for  the  disposition  of 
the  mill,  farm,  store  and  other  appurtenances  of  the  estab- 
lishment ;  for  locating  and  utilizing  various  ofBcials,  artisans  and 
laborers  of  the  place,  and  for  measures  to  get  rid  of  the  prop- 
erty, the  deputies  formally  made  the  melancholy  announcement 
at  Hope  on  May  26,  1807,  that  the  place  would  be  abandoned  as  a 
church-village.     Some  of  the  people  were  given  a  home  and  employ- 


i8o7 1825.  587 

ment  at  Bethlehem,  others  at  Nazareth,  at  Lititz  and  at  Salem.  The 
services  of  Easter  Sunday,  April  17,  1808.  terminated  the  history  of 
the  place  as  a  Moravian  settlement.  Occasional  services  were  sub- 
sequently held  there  by  Moravian  ministers,  it  being  regarded  as  a 
mere  preaching-place,  but  even  these  did  not  continue  long.  An 
ofifer  by  the  Messrs.  Kraemer  and  Horn  of  $48,000  for  the  main 
body  of  the  property  had  been  submitted  to  the  lot  with  an  affirma- 
tive result  and  was  definitely  accepted  on  September  19,  1807.  There- 
upon the  sale  was  made  and  the  place  ceased  to  be  the  property  of 
the  Moravian  Church.  A  residue  that  was  leased  was  finally  sold 
in  February,  1835,  for  $9000  to  Abraham  Bininger,  of  Camden,  X.  Y. 
Another  move  inaugurated  at  the  same  time  under  the  direction 
of  Verbeek  and  Forestier  had  a  more  cheering  character,  even 
though  its  early  years  were  attended  by  circumstances  that  caused 
disagreeable  disturbances,  starting  the  first  active  revolt  against 
the  narrow,  rigid  system  of  the  time.  This  was  the  establishment 
of  a  Theological  Seminary  to  take  the  place  of  the  importation  of 
all  regularly  educated  ministers  from  Europe,  which  was  no  longer 
feasible.  This  enterprise  had  been  particularly  advocated  by  the 
Rev.  Jacob  Van  Vleck  while  he  was  principal  of  Nazareth  Hall  and 
was  laboring  to  elevate  the  standard  of  his  teaching  force  by  secur- 
ing classically  educated  men  from  Europe,  and  by  the  Rev.  Christian 
Lewis  Benzien,  of  Salem,  N.  C.  The  project  had  been  discussed 
for  some  time  without  results  ;  difficulties  seemed  to  have  blocked 
the  way,  and  Van  Vleck  was  making  arrangements  in  the  summer 
of  1807,  to  send  his  subsequently  distinguished  son,  William  Henry, 
to  Europe  with  the  deputies  of  the  governing  board,  to  pursue  his 
theological  studies,  when  the  question  was  re-opened.  A  letter 
from  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  cordially  favoring  and  encour- 
aging the  undertaking  was  received  in  August.  They  proposed  to 
appropriate  the  necessary  amount  from  the  general  educational  fund 
of  the  Unity  for  the  support  of  young  Van  Vleck  and  also  of  another 
candidate,  eventuall}'  a  well-known  bishop,  executive  official  and 
musician,  Peter  Wolle,  son  of  a  West  India  missionary  of  the  same 
name,  thev  having  both  completed  the  course  of  study  at  Nazareth 
Hall.  Tt  was  stipulated,  however,  that  the  institution,  if  founded, 
should  not  be  a  tax  on  that  treasury  beyond  these  appropriations 
at  the  beginning.  Then  it  was  decided,  on  September  8.  to  take  this 
important  step  in  a  modest  way  with  these  two  students  as  the  first 
class.     A  general  scheme  and  a  curriculum  were  elaborated  by  Ver- 


588  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

beek  and  Forestier.  Ernst  Lewis  Hazelius,  who  had  arrived  in  1800 
and  was  employed  at  advanced  teaching  in  Nazareth  Hall — the  most 
gifted  and  best  educated,  both  classically  and  theologically,  among 
the  men  available — was  appointed  as  professor,  to  be  assisted  by 
the  other  theologically  educated  and  most  capable  of  the  teachers, 
John  Christian  Bechler,  who,  like  Rondthaler  and  Seidel,  mentioned 
in  the  previous  chapter,  had  come  over  from  Europe  in  1806.  It 
was  arranged  to  combine  the  institution  with  Nazareth  Hall.  On 
September  26,  a  proposition  was  made  by  Jacob  Van  Vleck  and  con- 
curred in  by  the  General  Helpers'  Conference  to  add  a  third  student 
to  the  class.  This  was  Samuel  Reinke — the  venerable  bishop,  well- 
remembered  by  many — a  son  of  the  Rev.  Abraham  Reinke  and  a 
grandson  of  the  Rev.  Abraham  Reinke,  Sr.,  who  fifty  years  before 
figured  prominently  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth.  Young  Reinke 
had  been  a  fellow-pupil,  at  Nazareth  Hall,  of  Van  Vleck,  who  entered 
in  1799,  and  of  Wolle,  who  entered  in  1800.  He  was  employed  at 
this  time  in  the  store  at  Nazareth,  but,  as  Principal  Van  Vleck 
stated,  did  not  like  the  place,  did  not  seem  adapted  for  mercantile 
Hfe  and  undoubtedly  would  soon  be  useful  as  a  teacher. 

On  October  2,  1807,  with  these  three  students,  Hazelius  and  Bech- 
ler commenced  their  work  and  the  Moravian  College  and  Theo- 
logical Seminary  had  its  humble  beginning.  In  1809  difficulties 
arose  in  connection  with  this  institution.  Besides  the  lack  of  clear- 
ness in  the  relations  held  to  it  by  the  General  Conference  of  Helpers 
and  the  Elders'  Conference  at  Nazareth  respectively,  which  caused 
misunderstandings,  it  soon  became  evident  that  the  former  body 
would  not  be  able  to  enforce  the  kind  of  supervision  and  regulations, 
in  all  minute  details,  which,  under  the  system  of  the  time,  they 
thought  they  must  exercise.  The  dominant  spirits  among  them,  the 
Rev.  John  Gebhard  Cunow  seconded  by  the  Rev.  Andrew  Benade, 
were  disposed  to  press  such  supervision  to  an  extent  which  Professor 
Hazelius  chafed  under  as  offensively  pragmatical  and  a  species  of 
petty  tyranny.  Strained  relations  developed  which,  with  a  different 
kind  of  men  in  control,  might  easily  have  been  restored,  but  which  at 
last  issued  in  a  complete  rupture.  Hazelius  had  taken  some  unneces- 
sary liberties,  was  hasty  and  indiscreet  in  issuing  a  manifesto  and 
enlisting  co-operation,  and  in  general  seemed  too  ambitious  to  head 
a  premature  crusade.  A  variety  of  objectionable  features  in  the 
official  regbne  of  the  time,  extraneous  to  the  points  in  contention, 
were  merged  in  a  body  of  grievances  in  which  common  cause  was 


i8o7 1825.  5S9 

made  by  some  leading  men  at  Nazareth  with  whom  the  Professor 
was  personally  very  popular  and  who  w'armly  espoused  his  cause. 
Then  that  most  flagrant  of  all  offences  in  those  days,  "insubor- 
dination," an  offence  which  officials  of  Cunow's  way  of  thinking  could 
condone  less  than  any  other,  put  the  General  Conference  to  the 
necessity  of  asserting  themselves.  Involved  in  it  all  was  the  inquisi- 
torial meddling  of  the  authorities  in  men's  private  affairs,  which  so 
many  could  no  longer  brook,  and  the  unbearable  supervision  of 
offfcialdom  in  the  matter  of  contracting  marriages,  with  the  appli- 
cation of  the  lot  not  yet  relaxed,  against  the  excessive  use  of  w^hich, 
in  all  kinds  of  matters,  an  almost  irresistible  opposition  had  begun  to 
appear.  Some,  particularly  Cunow,  insisted  upon  it  with  an  insensate 
determination  to  enforce  every  letter  of  the  oppressive  regulations 
regardless  of  consequences.  Other  men  in  the  general  board  were 
not  in  sympathy  with  his  extreme  views  and  were  disposed  to  accom- 
modate some  things,  not  only  in  the  interest  of  peace  but  also  in 
the  interest  of  common  sense  and  in  the  line  of  modifications  in  the 
system  that  were  imperatively  demanded.  They  were  placed  in  a 
difffcult  position  by  the  supposed  necessity  of  preserving  collegiate 
relations  and  of  standing  together. 

The  situation  w^as  rendered  very  trying  for  Bishop  Loskiel,  who 
was  constrained  to  act  contrary  to  his  personal  inclinations,  but 
especially  for  Jacob  Van  Vleck,  who  was  a  man  of  more  liberal  views 
than  Cunow  and  Benade,  and,  unlike  them,  was  disposed  to  be  gen- 
erous and  conciliatory.  He  was  for  a  while  placed  in  the  perplexing 
situation  of  being  a  member  of  the  General  Board  of  Helpers  and 
at  the  same  time  President  of  the  Elders'  Conference  at  Nazareth 
which  disputed  some  points  of  control  over  the  young  divinity 
school  with  the  General  Board.  Furthermore,  he  stood,  as  Head 
Pastor  at  Nazareth,  in  relations  of  a  kind  which  did  not  trouble 
Cunow  and  Benade,  to  the  men  of  that  place  who  were  siding  with 
Hazelius,  while  he  felt  a  warm  interest  in  the  latter  as  the  leading 
man  in  his  educational  corps,  too  valuable  to  be  alienated  for  insufft- 
cient  reasons.  He  was  also  most  interested  in  the  new  institution 
which  he  had  so  strongly  plead  for  and  to  the  prosperity  of  which 
he  attached  so  much  importance.  Thus  strangely  the  Theological 
Seminary  became  the  storm  center  where  the  disturbed  elements 
began  the  agitation  that  was  to  break  forth  and  clear  the  heavy 
atmosphere. 

It  was  the  beginning  of  movements  that  issued,  during  the  next 
decade,  in  the  first  breach  made  in  the  close  regime  of  the  time,  and 


590  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

therefore  has  a  proper  place  here  as  reveahng  the  genesis  of  develop- 
ments yet  to  be  narrated.  Things  even  went  so  far  that  some  of 
the  men  at  Nazareth — among  whom  William  Henr\-,  Jr.,  founder 
of  the  gun-factory;  Dr.  Schmidt,  Christian  Senseman,  the  store- 
keeper, and  PVederick  Beitel,  son  of  the  former  wagon-master  and 
farmer-general  at  Bethlehem  took  the  lead — had  the  temerity  to 
hold  a  meeting,  without  official  sanction  or  authority,  and  even 
to  elect  a  chairman  and  secretary,  in  order  to  give  formal  expres- 
sion to  their  views  on  the  situation  as  also  on  various  related 
matters.  The  fathers  of  the  General  Conference  stood  aghast 
at  this  unprecedented  act  of  "insubordination."  A  document 
drawn  up  by  Benade,  discussed,  amended  and  adopted  by  the 
General  Conference,  was  sent  to  Nazareth  to  be  read  to  these 
daring  men.  Their  radical  step  had  gone  so  far  that  Jacob  Ya.n 
Vleck  and  the  Elders'  Conference  at  Nazareth  felt  officially  bound 
to  concur  in  calling  them  to  account.  Quite  unabashed  they 
returned  answer,  in  which  they  expressed  their  sentiments  concerning 
Cunow  and  Benade  against  whom,  particularly  the  former,  strong 
feeling  prevailed.  Cunow  had  even  been  accused  bv  some  of 
persistently  harrying  Professor  Hazelius  for  the  purpose  of  discour- 
aging him  and  thus  frustrating  the  plan  of  the  new  institution, 
because  he  had  been  overruled  when  it  was  decided  to  locate  it  at 
Nazareth  instead  of  Bethlehem,  where  he  wished  to  have  it  under  his 
eye.  A  new  sensation  was  caused  a  few  weeks  later  by  the  discovery 
that  the  document  written  by  Hazelius,  discussing  the  system  and 
methods  of  the  time,  had  been  copied  and  sent  to  Bethlehem,  Lititz, 
Philadelphia,  Lancaster,  New  York  and  even  Salem,  N.  C.  Now  all 
the  members  of  the  General  Conference  of  Helpers,  including  the 
Rev.  John  Herbst,  of  Lititz,  who  had  not  attended  the  previous 
meeting,  assembled  at  Bethlehem  to  draw  up  another  manifesto  to 
be  sent  to  all  of  these  places.  But  they  had  more  to  reckon  with 
than  they  supposed.  Early  in  June  they  had  before  them  a  copy  of 
a  paper  signed  by  twenty-seven  men  of  Nazareth  which  was  to  be 
sent  to  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  setting  forth  not  only  their 
views  on  the  contention  between  the  Board  of  General  Helpers  and 
the  Professor  at  Nazareth,  but  also  a  list  of  grievances  under  the 
existing  system  of  government  and  a  strong  protest  against  various 
harassing  restrictions  and  particularly  against  the  excessive  use  of 
the  lot.  This,  as  it  then  entered  into  the  machinery  of  government, 
had  far  less  the  character  of  great  faith  in  God  than  of  great  lack 


i8o7 1825.  59^ 

of  faith  in  men.  Instead  of  being,  as  it  once  was  before  it  was 
reduced  to  system,  a  simple-hearted  way  of  occasionally  seeking 
guidance  in  perplexities,  in  the  belief  that  the  result,  being  inde- 
pendent of  human  will  or  judgment,  was  therefore  to  be  taken  as 
Divinely  overruled  and  directed,  it  had  become  a  complicated  system 
of  perfunctory  ofticial  mechanism  by  which  either  the  responsibility 
of  judgment  and  choice  was  evaded,  or  objections  of  people  to  the 
results  of  official  action  were  supposed  to  be  silenced  because  these 
results  did  not  then  rest  on  the  will  or  judgment  of  any  man  or 
body  of  men.  Next  to  its  employment  in  ultimately  deciding  the 
question  of  a  proposed  marriage,  which  was  becoming  intolerable 
to  many,  its  use  in  making  up  the  personnel  of  boards  and  confer- 
ences was  most  strongly  objected  to.  The  simple,  fervent  piety 
requisite  to  an  acceptable  emplo}'ment  of  such  a  method  did  not 
exist.  In  the  absence  of  this  it  became  a  grievous  yoke  and  even 
seemed  to  many  sheer  mockery,  in  view  of  the  theory  under  which 
it  was  used  and  the  phraseology  employed  in  connection  with  it ; 
especially  when  they  were  unable  to  credit  those  officials  who  insisted 
upon  its  full  retention,  with  the  exalted  spirit,  thoughts  and  purposes 
which  belonged  to  the  practice. 

If  the  situation  of  that  time  is  analyzed  it  is  not  surprising  that 
intelligent  independence  of  thought  was  emboldened  to  take  this 
initiative  at  Nazareth  rather  than  at  Bethlehem.  At  the  latter  place 
where  those  who  dominated  the  official  policy  of  the  time  lived,  their 
constant  presence,  their  connection  with  the  village  boards  and 
their  consequent  personal  touch  with  all  local  affairs  rendered  it  more 
difficult  to  make  any  such  attempt.  Besides  this,  when  the  asso- 
ciations of  the  two  places  as  educational  centers  are  had  in  mind,  it 
is  easy  to  understand  how  opinion  and  purpose  would  more  readily 
develop  and  acquire  force  in  the  academic  atmosphere  of  Xazareth 
Hall  than  in  that  of  the  girls'  school  at  Bethlehem. 

In  1809,  while  these  complications  were  at  their  height,  a  new 
man  appeared  upon  the  scene  who,  although  he  assumed  a  cautious 
attitude,  was  inclined  to  side  with  the  liberal  party  at  Nazareth  and 
Bethlehem.  This  was  Charles  Frederick  Seidel,  who  came  from 
North  Carolina  as  Principal  of  Nazareth  Hall  and  associate  minister 
there,  when  Jacob  \'an  AHeck  became  Head  Pastor.  He  was  a  man 
of  varied  accomplishments,  engaging  personality  and  specially 
gifted  as  a  preacher.  The  general  ]:)opularity  he  enjoyed  among  the 
people  added  force  to  the  awakening  and  stirring  tendency  that  had 


592  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

set  in,  and  led  to  his  soon  being  looked  upon,  notwithstanding  his 
cautious  course,  as  at  variance  with  the  position  and  policy  repre- 
sented by  Cunow  and  Benade  who  evidently  also  regarded  him  as 
not  fully  in  sympathy  with  them.  The  whole  matter  between  them 
and  Hazelius,  in  reference  to  the  lot  and  other  things,  with  the 
memorial  of  the  citizens  of  Nazareth  and  various  questions  growing 
out  of  the  trouble,  were  referred  to  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference. 
Their  opinions  and  decisions  were  received  in  July,  1810.  While 
they  sustained  the  position  taken  by  the  Board  of  General  Helpers 
on  the  main  questions,  they  did  not  approve  the  course  pursued  at 
the  beginning  towards  Hazelius.  They  thought  that  it  unnecessarily 
irritated  relations  and  brought  on  trouble  which  might  have  been 
averted.  A  protracted  succession  of  interviews,  personal  reconcili- 
ations and  readjustments  with  the  representative  men  at  Nazareth 
followed,  and  matters  settled  down  for  the  time  being;  but  the 
entering  wedge  had  been  inserted,  and  not  withdrawn,  for  cleaving 
and  shattering  the  strait-jacket  in  which  the  old  system  held  men  and 
things.  The  scene  of  disturbance  was  afterwards  shifted  to  Beth- 
lehem with  new  elements  entering  into  the  contention. 

As  to  the  Theological  Seminary,  that  and  the  Moravian  Church 
lost  Hazelius,  who,  in  later  years,  arose  to  influence  and  honor  in 
the  Lutheran  Church,  into  which  he  was  followed  by  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Zaeslein  who  had  come  to  Pennsylvania  with  him  in  1800.  His 
colleague,  Bechler,  continued  in  charge  of  the  work,  but  felt  little 
encouragement  to  persevere  in  it.  The  young  institution,  which 
needed  much  fostering  care,  received  a  serious  blow  from  these 
unfortunate  disturbances.  The  first  three  students  completed  their 
studies.  Only  two  constituted  the  next  class,  Charles  Anthony  Van 
Vleck,  a  younger  brother  of  WilHam  Henry,  and  George  Benjamin 
Miller,  a  son  of  the  Rev.  George  Godfrey  Miller  and  a  grandson 
of  John  Levering  who,  with  his  wife  Susanna,  a  daughter  of  John 
Bechtel,  had  been  conected  with  the  early  schools  of  the  Church. 
Young  Miller  became  disaffected  under  the  methods  of  tutelage  that 
were  so  irksome  to  ever  increasing  numbers  of  young  men.  He  fol- 
lowed his  former  teacher  Hazelius  into  the  Lutheran  Church,  notwith- 
standing the  efiforts  made  by  his  uncle,  Abraham  Levering,  at  this 
time  warden  at  Lititz,  and  John  Christian  Ebbecke,  of  Nazareth,  to 
persuade  him  to  be  reconciled.  He,  in  later  years,  became  con- 
spicuous as  the  honored  President  of  Hartwick  Seminary.  It  may  be 
added  in  this  connection  that,  a  few  years  later,  yet  another  gifted 


I 


I     i! 


■Jlft-^'^  ^^ 


BETHLEHEM,    1810 


I 


'if 


i8o7 ICS25.  595 

the  Brethren's  House  at  Bethlehem,  by  putting  it  under  new  manage- 
ment and  introducing  various  retrenchments  and  reforms.  On 
February  22,  181 1,  Thomas  Christian  Lueders  arrived  in  Bethlehem 
from  Europe,  to  take  charge  of  the  establishment  as  chaplain  and 
w^arden,  and  co-operate  with  the  Rev.  John  Frederick  Stadiger,  the 
warden  of  the  Congregation  since  1808,  in  the  effort  to  rehabilitate 
some  of  the  industries  and  get  the  finances  into  better  shape.  Prior 
to  this,  from  August,  1808,  John  Jacob  Kummer,  the  successor  of 
Jacob  Frederick  Loeffller,  had  been  at  the  head  of  the  establishment 
of  the  single  men,  assisted  by  Jacob  Christian  Luckenbach,-^  who 
put  forth  loyal  efforts  to  maintain  the  several  industries  yet  carried 
on  by  it,  and  who  subsequently  took  charge  of  one  of  the  branches, 
that  of  tin  and  copper  work,  on  his  ovi^n  account  and  built  it  up  into 
a  permanent  business. 

The  Rev.  John  Gebhard  Cunow,  in  his  capacity  as  Administrator 
of  the  Unity's  estates  in  Pennsylvania  and  agent  of  the  General 
Wardens  of  the  Unity,  did  not  favor  these  further  efforts.  He 
being,  under  the  interlocked  organization  of  officialdom  at  that 
time,  a  member  also  of  the  two  village  boards,  the  Conference  of 
Elders  and  the  Board  of  Supervisors — Aufseher  CoUegiuin — as  well  as 
a  member  and  the  dominant  personality  of  the  General  Helper's 
Conference,  and  therefore  to  be  met  and  reckoned  with  everywhere, 
made  his  disapproval  felt  in  an  obstructive  way.  It  was  not 
long,  therefore,  before  he,  on  the  one  hand,  and  Stadiger 
and  Lueders,  on  the  other  hand,  were  at  issue  on  various  points 
in  the  complicated  situation.  In  this  connection  other  changes 
in  the  official  personnel  may  be  noted,  so  that  a  proper  association 
of  officials  and  events  may  be  preserved  in  the  course  of  things  now 
to  follow.  Bishop  Loskiel,  disheartened  by  the  difficulties  of  the 
situation  in  which  he  labored  in  the  midst  of  prevailing  disaffection, 
and  broken  in  health,  was  relieved  of  his  duties  in  May,  181 1,  and 
after  some  months  of  retirement,  received  a  call  to  return  to  Europe  : 
first  to  the  head  of  the  work  at  Gnadenfrei  in  Silesia,  and  then,  after 
the  death  of  Bishop  Jeremiah  Risler,  to  a  seat  in  the  Unity's  Elders' 
Conference.  Before  he  was  ready  to  start,  the  war  with  England 
broke  out,  rendering  ocean  travel  precarious  and  detaining  him. 
Meanwhile  his  physical  infirmities  increased.  An  opportunity  to  sail 
on   the   ship   George   JVashington  for   Liverpool,   in   July,    1812,   was 


3  Son-in-law  of  ihe  missionary   John    Heckewelder,    and    father  of  the  late    Henry  B., 
Reuben  O.,  and  J.  Edward  Luckenl;ach. 


596  A    HISTOKV    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSVLVANIA. 

considered  but  let  pass.  When  another  opportunity  occurred  in 
September,  Dr.  Rudolphi,  who  was  then  at  Bethlehem,  strongly 
dissuaded  him  from  attempting  the  journey.  Amidst  the  sympathies 
of  all,  he  resigned  himself  to  quietly  await  the  outcome  of  his 
ailments.  He  departed  this  life  at  Bethlehem  on  February  23,  1814, 
and  his  remains  were  laid  to  rest  in  the  cemetery  where  the  dust  of 
so  many  revered  men  already  reposed,  and  where  "Tschoop"  and 
other  notable  converts  of  that  race  lay  buried  which,  before  he  came 
to  America,  had  awakened  his  special  interest  and  led  him  to  write 
the  valuable  book  through  which  he  has  chiefly  become  known,  his 
"History  of  the  Missions  of  the  Brethren  Among  the  Indians  of 
North  America." 

He  was  suceeded,  in  May,  181 1,  as  President  of  the  General 
Helpers'  Conference  and  Head  Pastor  at  Bethlehem,  by  Bishop 
Charles  Gotthold  Reichel,  previously  at  the  head  of  affairs  at  Salem, 
North  Carolina.  The  Rev.  Andrew  Benade  remained  Principal  of  the 
boarding-school  and  associate  minister  at  Bethlehem  until  January, 
1813,  when  he  went  to  Lititz  to  succeed  the  Rev.  Jacob  Van  Vleck 
as  Head  Pastor;  Van  Vleck,  who  had  been  transferred  to  that 
position  from  Nazareth  in  181 1,  now  following  in  office  Bishop  John 
Herbst,  who  died  a  short  time  after  his  consecration  to  the  episco- 
pacy and  transfer  from  Lititz  to  Salem.  The  Rev.  Lewis  Huebener, 
in  January,  181 3,  followed  Benade  as  Principal  and  associate  minister 
at  Bethlehem,  but  died,  greatly  mourned  by  school  and  congregation, 
in  December  of  the  same  year.  Cunow  then  filled  the  place  ad  interim 
until  the  close  of  181 5,  when  Bishop  Reichel  assumed  the  Principal's 
duties  until  February,  1816.  The  Rev.  Christian  Frederick  Schaaf 
remained  at  Bethlehem,  devoting  himself  to  pastoral  labor  among 
the  married  people  of  the  place  and  engaging  in  various  other  duties. 
The  men  who  figured  principally  in  the  interminable  deliberations 
and  debates  which  finally  issued  in  a  solution  of  the  Brethren's 
House  problem  and  then,  in  connection  with  various  related 
questions,  which  enlisted  the  active  participation  of  prominent 
laymen  at  Bethlehem,  ran  out  on  other  lines  and  brought  a  subse- 
quent crisis,  were,  besides  Bishop  Reichel,  as  President  of  the 
General  Conference  of  Helpers  and  Head  Pastor  at  Bethlehem, 
Cunow,  as  Administrator,  Benade,  of  Lititz,  and  Abraham  Reinke,  of 
Nazareth,  as  members  of  the  General  Conference,  besides  the  two 
wardens,  Stadiger  and  Lueders.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  two 
last  named  were  the  only  principal  parties  to  these  official  discussions 


JOHN    SCHROPP  (2nd)  JOHN    FREDERICK    STADIGER 

LOUIS   DAVID    DE  SCHWEINITZ 
WILLIAM    HENRY   VAN  VLECK  JOHN    CHRISTOPHER    BRICKENSTEIN 


i8o7 1825.  601 

quent  history  associated  with  it,  of  a  kind  that  got  on  record.  As 
already  stated,  its  school  character  did  not  become  entirely  obsolete, 
for,  besides  affording  dwellings  for  various  successive  occupants,  it 
was  in  part  made  use  of  at  various  periods  by  a  section  of  the  boys' 
school  of  the  village,  in  its  latter  years  by  part  of  the  town-school 
for  girls  for  a  while,  and  at  one  time  also  by  a  primary  school  for 
girls.  While  the  regular  day-school  for  girls  was,  during  the  most 
of  the  period  prior  to  1858,  appended  to  the  Young  Ladies'  Semi- 
nary— the  history  of  which  has  long  been  before  the  public  in  the 
well-known  "Souvenir" — the  boys'  school  of  Bethlehem,  from  the 
Revolutionary  period  up  to  1823,  had  an  irregular  and  at  intervals 
obscure  and  unsatisfactory  character.  It  was  at  times  somewhat 
neglected,  left  in  charge  occasionally  of  unsuitable  and  incompetent 
persons  for  whom  some  kind  of  employment  had  to  be  found,  and 
filled  such  an  unimportant  place  that  the  records  contain  very  little 
concerning  it.  Then  again  times  came  when  the  authorities  and 
citizens  of  the  village  were  stirred  to  improve  it  and  render  it  more 
efficient ;  re-organization  took  place  and  more  competent  teachers 
were  put  in  charge.  Much  of  its  unsatisfactory  character  at  some 
periods  was  due  to  the  fact  that,  because  of  the  lack  of  resources 
from  which  to  properly  salarize  men,  many,  even  of  the  more  com- 
petent teachers,  had  to  combine  this  with  other  duties,  or  were 
employed,  as  a  mere  temporary  make-shift,  while  sojourning  at 
Bethlehem  recruiting  their  health  or  awaiting  appointment  to  other 
positions.  The  provisions  for  the  education  of  boys  at  Bethlehem 
lost  much  of  their  earlier  importance  after  the  re-establishment  of 
Nazareth  Hall  in  1785,  for  then  the  few  boys  who  were  to  receive  a 
more  thorough  education  were  sent  to  that  institution,  either  as 
boarders  or  as  "day-scholars"  living  with  relatives  at  Nazareth.  This 
disadvantage  under  which  the  majority  of  the  Bethlehem  boys  who 
could  not  be  sent  to  the  Hall  were  placed,  continued  for  some  years, 
even  after  the  people  of  the  village  began  to  discuss  the  need  of 
remedying  it.  The  charge  occasionally  made,  at  one  period,  was 
perhaps  not  entirely  groundless,  that  the  clerical  officials  and  a  few 
leading  men  who  controlled  the  situation,  because  they  either 
enjoved  ex-oMcio  privileges  at  Nazareth  Hall  or  were  financially  able 
to  send  their  sons  to  that  institution,  were  not  disposed  to  properly 
bestir  themselves  in  the  interest  of  those  who  were  less  fortunate. 
The  chief  difficulty,  however,  lay  in  the  fact  that  so  many  of  the 
people  of  Moravian  villages  were  not  trained  to  pay  for  what  they 


602  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

received  or  wanted,  and  many  were  willing  to  be  satisfied  with  an 
ordinary  common-school  like  those  of  neighboring-  villages  if  some- 
thing better  meant  increased  expense  for  them.  The  former  superior 
advantages,  under  which  people  were  accustomed  to  regard  them- 
selves as  mere  beneficiaries,  had  ceased  under  financial  pressure, 
and  the  modern  large  benefits  of  the  principle  established  in  the 
financial  settlement  of  1771,  that  the  cause  of  education  should  have 
the  benefit  of  a  part  of  the  estate  that  fell  to  the  share  of  Bethlehem, 
did  not  begin  to  be  substantially  realized  until  a  period  long  subse- 
quent to  that  covered  by  this  chapter. 

As  a  rule,  during  the  entire  time  from  the  re-organization  after 
the  Revolution  up  to  the  building  of  the  first  modern  school-house 
for  boys,  the  school  was  kept  in  two  divisions,  one  for  the  little  boys 
and  another  for  those  who  were  older ;  sometimes  together  in  one 
building  and  again  separate  at  different  places.  During  most  of  the 
time  one  of  these  divisions  was  domiciled  in  the  stone  house  on  Main 
Street.  For  a  number  of  years  the  older  boys  had  their  school-room 
in  the  Brethren's  House.  For  some  years  after  the  erection  of  the 
new  church,  the  south-west  room  of  that  edifice  was  used  as  a 
school-room.  At  various  times  an  evening  school  was  kept  during 
the  winter  months  for  boys  who  had  to  work  at  trades  as  regular 
apprentices,  or  at  ordinary  labor.  Besides  the  common-school 
branches  and  regular  religious  instruction,  music,  both  vocal  and 
instrumental,  always  entered  into  the  school  plan,  and  there  were  at 
all  times  proficient  instructors  having  boys  in  training  to  recruit 
the  musical  ranks  in  the  service  of  the  Congregation.  Among  those 
who  served  as  teachers  of  t<he  common  branches  and  of  music,  from 
the  close  of  the  Revolution  to  the  completion  of  the  church — besides 
the  chaplains  of  the  Brethren's  House  and  sundry  of  their  assistants, 
Whose  names  were  given  in  the  preceding  chapter—were  John  Chris- 
tian Till,  John  George  Weiss,  Abraham  Levering,  John  Caspar  Frei- 
tag,  Paul  Weiss,  and  especially  John  Christopher  Eilerts.  During 
the  first  decade  of  the  new  century,  Matthew  Eggert  and  David  Peter 
Schneller  were  conspicuous,  both  serving  for  a  number  of  years,  at 
intervals.  In  i8ti;  appears  the  name  of  Benjamin  Haven,  the  mis- 
sionary, and,  in  1812,  that  of  Adam  Haman,  who  taught  until  1815. 
In  1813,  Samuel  Reinke  took  charge  of  the  first  class,  but  after  a 
few  months  had  to  resign  on  account  of  illness.  The  same  year 
David  Moritz  Michael,  an  accomplished  performer  on  the  violin  and 
other  instruments,  became  the  musical  instructor  of  the  bovs.     The 


i8o7 1825.  60 


o 


successor  of  Reinke  was  Jacob  Rauschenberger,  until  September, 
1814,  when  he  was  called  as  minister  to  Gnaclenhuetten,  Ohio.  Then 
John  Beck,  later  the  famous  school-master  of  Lititz,  Charles  Joseph 
Levering,  John  Caspar  Freitag,  the  former  teacher,  who  at  this 
time  closed  his  discouraging  labors  as  minister  of  the  dying  congre- 
gation at  Gnadenhuetten  on  the  Mahoning,  and  William  Henry  Van 
Vleck  were  all  under  discussion  as  teacher  of  the  first  class,  the 
second  being  yet  in  charge  of  Haman.  A  temporary  arrangement 
was  made  until,  in  January,  1816,  Van  Vleck  was  called  to  Bethle- 
hem as  pastoral  overseer  of  the  single  men  and  boys  and  secretary 
of  the  General  Helpers'  Conference. 

While  Thomas  Christian  Lueders  was  the  last  superintendent  of 
the  Brethren's  House,  W'illiam  Henry  Van  Vleck  was  the  last  of  the 
succession  of  men  who  were  appointed  to  the  special  pastoral  care 
of  the  single  men — Briicdcrpflcger — at  Bethlehem.  He  took  the  boys' 
school  in  hand  and  again  brought  it  up  to  a  better  standard.  Now 
John  Christian  Till  again  appears  upon  the  scene  as  a  sc'hool-master, 
in  addition  to  his  duties  as  organist  of  the  church,  which  he  assumed 
in  July,  1813,  after  the  death  of  John  Frederick  Peter.  He  suc- 
ceeded Haman  in  181 5  in  charge  of  the  second  class  of  boys.  He 
also  taught  the  evening  school  for  a  while.  He  dropped  out  of  the 
corps  of  pedagogues  in  1819,  but  remained  organist  until  1841,  when 
he  was  succeeded  by  Ernst  F.  Bleck — likewise  famous  both  as 
organist  and  teacher — of  whom  there  will  be  more  to  record.  At 
the  time  when  William  Henry  Van  Vleck  commenced  his  duties, 
Eilerts.  the  former  proficient  school-master,  who  Avas  evidently  fond 
of  little  children,  was  devoting  his  attention  to  a  primary  school. 
Van  Vleck  was  called  to  duties  elsewhere  in  August.  181 7.  but  the 
boys'  school  did  not  again  retrogade. 

A  new  impetus  was  given  to  educational  activity  in  Bethlehem 
generallv  bv  the  accession  to  the  Elders'  Conference  of  the  village, 
in  Februar}-.  181 6,  of  the  scholarly  and  devoted  new  Principal  of  the 
Young  Ladies'  Seminary,  the  Rev.  Henry  Steinhauer.  Although 
his  career  \vas  brief,  ending  with  his  lamented  death,  July  22,  1818. 
the  impress  of  his  presence  remained,  extending  beyond  the  par- 
ticular institution  he  had  been  called  to  direct.  Another  man.  already 
mentioned,  who  joined  the  the  corps  of  leaders  at  Bethlehem  on  Sep- 
tember 28,  181 7,  devoted  special  attention  to  fostering  the  school 
work.  This  was  the  Rev.  Charles  Frederick  Seidel.  who  was  called 
from  Nazareth  to  become  the  associate  pastor  and  regular  preacher 


604  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

of  Bethlehem.  One  of  his  duties,  in  tliis  position,  was  the  special 
oversight  of  the  day-schools  of  the  place.  The  death  of  Steinhauer 
also  unexpectedly  brought  him  into  his  first  connection  with  the 
Young  Ladies'  Seminary  as  Principal,  temporarily  until  1819. 

In  1818  there  were  special  deliberations  by  the  Congregation 
Council  on  improving  the  boys'  school.  A  special  committee  was 
appointed  to  secure  the  best  possible  teacher.  Daniel  Steinhauer, 
a  man  of  superior  attainments,  who  had  come  from  England  to  visit 
his  brother,  the  Principal,  during  his  illness,  was  engaged  tempo- 
rarily. In  1819,  John  Jacob  Kummer  removed  to  Bethlehem  from 
North  Carolina,  and  soon  after  his  arrival,  negotiations  began  with 
(him  to  take  charge  of  the  first  class ;  and  thus  another  of  the  more 
prominent  old-time  school-masters  of  Bethlehem  took  a  place  in  the 
succession.  David  Peter  Schneller,  a  veteran  in  the  service,  was 
associated  with  him  some  time  as  teacher  of  the  second  class. 

Among  the  important  steps  forward  in  1817,  was  that  which 
brought  a  special  School  Board  into  existence.  At  a  meeting  of 
parents,  masters  and  guardians,  on  November  11,  1817,  to  discuss 
measures  for  improving  the  boys'  school,  a  committee  of  seven  was 
appointed  to  thoroughly  consider  the  subject  and  report.  January 
21,  1818,  a  general  meeting  was  held  to  hear  the  report,  which  went 
into  the  subject  exhaustively  under  the  three  heads  of  general  prin- 
ciples, financial  resources,  and  management.  It  recommended  the 
creation  of  a  School  Board  of  seven,  the  associate  minister  as  general 
School  Inspector,  the  Warden  of  the  Congregation  and  the  Prin- 
cipal of  the  Seminary  to  be  ex-officio  members,  and  the  other  four  to 
be  elected  by  the  voting  members  of  the  Congregation.  The  first 
election  was  held  on  March  10,  181 8.  and  resulted  in  the  choice  of 
Samuel  Luckenbach,  John  Frederick  Ranch,  Joseph  Rice  and  Samuel 
Steup.  Seidel  became  president  and  Ranch  secretary  of  the  board. 
The  needed  increase  of  revenue  had  been  provided  for  by  arranging 
with  the  Young  Ladies'  Seminary  to  let  half  of  the  former  sum — 
£80  Pa. — agreed  upon  for  accommodating  the  day-school  for  girls 
in  that  institution,  and  now  considered  rather  high,  go  to  the  benefit 
of  the  boys'  school,  besides  slightly  increasing  the  tuition  fees.  Thus 
a  needed  additional  amount  of  $200  was  secured.  The  four  mem- 
bers of  the  board  chosen  at  the  next  election,  March,  1819,  were 
Charles  David  Bishop,  John  Frederick  Ranch,  Joseph  Rice  and 
Owen  Rice,  Jr.  On  October  18,  1819,  a  special  winter  evening  school 
for  apprentices  and  other  boys  who  could  only  attend  iti  the  evening 


i8o7 1825.  605 

was  commenced,  eighteen  young  men  having  arranged  to  take  turns 
as  instructors  in  various  branches. 

In  1821,  the  subject  of  building  a  suitable  school-house  for  boys 
began  to  be  discussed  during  the  incumbency  ol  John  Frederick 
Ranch,  Joseph  Rice,  Owen  Rice,  Jr.,  and  Charles  Schneller  as  the 
elected  members  of  the  board.  In  July,  1822,  there  were  several 
joint  meetings  of  the  Elders'  Conference,  the  Board  of  Supervisors 
and  the  Board  of  School  Directors  on  further  improving  the  school, 
which  then  consisted  of  upwards  of  thirty  boys.  A  new  teacher  of 
the  second  class,  Charles  William  LilUencron,  supposed  to  be  a 
specially  capable  man,  was  chosen,  but  his  term  of  service  was  brief, 
for  in  August,  1823,  he  left  Bethlehem  to  return  to  Sweden,  his 
native  coimtry.  At  the  same  time  the  building  of  the  new  school 
house  was  determined  by  a  meeting  of  voting  members  in  Congre- 
gation Council,  on  July  5,  several  members  having  expressed  their 
willingness  to  advance  the  necessary  money  at  four  per  cent,  interest 
and,  together  with  others,  to  make  considerable  contributions  out- 
right. It  was  decided  to  build  a  two-story  brick  house,  forty  by 
thirty-three  feet  in  dimensions,  at  an  estimated  cost  of  $1800 — this 
was  exceeded  somewhat — and  to  use  the  second  story  as  a  concert 
hall  so  long  as  it  was  not  required  for  school  purposes.  Plans  were 
drawn,  a  building  committee  consisting  of  Charles  David  Bishop, 
John  Jacob  Jundt  and  John  Frederick  Ranch  was  elected,  and  on 
July  26.  1822,  it  was  commenced.  It  was  completed  soon  after  the 
following  New  Year  and,  on  January  12,  1823,  was  dedicated  with  a 
brief  service  and  a  musical  performance  in  the  concert  hall.  This 
is  the  building  on  Cedar  Street  fronting  south  on  the  green,  after 
1858  used  for  many  years  as  a  dwelling  for  the  Superintendent  of 
the  Parochial  School,  and  in  1890  remodeled  to  be  used  again  for 
school  purposes.  When  the  school  was  re-organized  in  this  new 
building,  Jacob  Kummer  was  teacher  of  the  first  class  and  David 
Peter  Schneller,  re-employed  after  LilHencron  left,  had  charge  of  the 
second  class,  while  the  religious  instruction  was  in  charge  of  the 
pastors,  and  special  instructors  in  vocal  and  instrumental  music  were 
employed. 

To  complete  this  cursory  survey  of  the  school  situation  at  Beth- 
lehem up  to  the  epoch  associated  with  the  completion  and  occupa- 
tion of  the  new  school-house  for  boys,  it  may  be  added  that  the 
principalship  of  the  Young  Ladies'  Seminary  passed  out  of  the  hands 
of  Seidel  in   1819  into  t'hose  of  the  Rev.  John  Frederick  FrueaufT, 


6o6  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

who,  in  1821, was  succeeded  temporarily  by  the  Rev.  Lewis  David 
deSchweinitz  until,  in  1822,  Seidel  was  appointed  Principal  again  and 
filled  the  position  until  1836.  The  women  who  taught  in  that  insti- 
tution in  1823,  when  the  new  period  of  the  boys'  school  opened  with 
two  regular  teachers,  were  seventeen  in  number,  including  several 
who  left  in  that  year  and  others  who  entered.  Some  of  them  merely 
taught  music  and  others  fancy  needle  work,  plain  sewing,  or  other 
special  things,  and  did  not  belong  in  the  ranks  of  regular  tutoresses ; 
yet  the  contrast  between  the  two  institutions  was  thus  very  great. 
The  faculty  of  the  Seminary  corresponded  in  number  rather  to  those 
of  Nazareth  Hall  and  the  Bethlehem  boys'  school  combined. 

The  mention  of  two  new  names  among  the  clergy  and  executive 
officials  of  Bethlehem,  FrueaufT  and  de  Schweinitz,  leads  back  to 
the  more  general  course  of  events  after  the  closing  of  the  Brethren's 
House.  The  financial  difficulties  of  the  time,  together  with  the 
growing  revolt  against  the  prevailing  regime  which  appeared  openly 
in  the  complications  of  1809,  and  could  not  again  be  suppressed, 
finally  brought  on  the  most  acute  crisis  of  the  period  embraced  in  this 
chapter.  A  proper  connection  of  afifairs  leading  to  this  crisis  requires 
a  reference  to  discussions  prior  to  the  closing  out  of  the  Brethren's 
House  diacony.  In  September,  181 1,  the  General  Board  of  Wardens 
in  Europe,  replying  to  a  communication  of  the  Elders'  Conference 
of  Bethlehem  on  the  financial  situation,  decidedl}^  favored  the 
proposed  sale  of  a  thousand  acres,  or  about  one-fourth  of  the  land 
which,  in  the  settlements  of  1771,  the  Bethlehem  Diacony  acquired 
from  the  previously  existing  General  Diacony  of  the  Unity.  The 
title  deeds  were  held,  as  explained  in  a  previous  chapter,  by  the 
so-called  Proprietor  in  fee  simple,  but  as  a  trust  for  the  Bethlehem 
Congregation,  although  no  formal  declaration  of  trust  w^as  issued. 
The  active  business  connected  with  all  land  thus  held,  was  transacted 
by  the  so-called  Administrator  under  power  of  attorney  from  the 
Proprietor.  Hence  it  will  be  seen  that,  while  the  Bethlehem  Congre- 
gation claimed,  of  course,  to  be  the  real  owner  of  the  land  held  for 
it  by  the  nominal  Proprietor,  sales  or  conveyances  of  any  kind  had 
to  be  made  by  the  Administrator,  acting  for  the  Proprietor.  At  the 
same  time,  in  accordance  with  the  diacony  combine  between  all  the 
congregations  of  the  Unity,  with  the  General  Wardens  in  Europe 
standing  financially  at  the  head  of  the  whole — the  arrangement  estab- 
lished in  1775 — such  a  proposed  sale  was  subject  to  the  approval  of 
these  General  Wardens,  whose  agent  at  Bethlehem  was  the  afore- 
said  Administrator. 


i8o7 1825.  607 

That  diacony  combine  involved  reciprocal  obligations  between  the 
whole  and  each  of  its  parts ;  hence  between  the  Wardens  of  the 
Unity  and  the  Bethlehem  diacony,  as  well  as  each  of  the  special 
choir  diaconies.  They  were  each  under  obligation  to  help  the  whole 
and  the  whole  likewise  to  help  each  of  them.  It  was  under  this 
arrangement  that  the  European  General  Wardens  of  the  whole 
were  furnishing  such  considerable  sums,  from  year  to  year,  to  help 
the  diaconies  at  Bethlehem  out  of  trouble,  for  which  in  the  last 
instance  they  would  have  to  be  responsible.  Therefore,  it  was  a 
natural  and  proper  arrangement  tjhat  such  a  proposed  sale  of  Beth- 
lehem land  should  be  subject  to  their  concurrence;  although,  if  the 
Bethlehem  Congregation  had  chosen  to  break  faith  and  take  a  revol- 
utionary step,  and  the  Proprietor  through  the  Administrator  had 
been  Willing  to  co-operate  in  making  the  required  deeds,  the  General 
Wardens  could  not  have  prevented  such  a  sale,  but  would  have 
been  helpless,  beyond  legally  pressing  their  claims  against  Bethlehem 
if  they  had  ckosen  and  found  means  available  to  do  so.  The  only- 
persons  who  could  effectually  thwart  the  will  of  the  Bethlehem 
authorities  in  such  a  case  were  the  Proprietor,  Jacob  Van  Vleck,  of 
Salem,  N.  C.,  and  the  Administrator,  Cunow,  or  really,  under  his 
power  of  attorney,  the  latter  alone.  The  object  of  the  proposed 
sale  of  land,  which  the  General  Wardens  approved,  was  to  pay  ofif 
all  indebtedness  at  Bethlehem  and  stop  the  heavy  drain  for  interest 
on  loans.  At  the  beginning  of  181 2,  when  the  letter  of  approval  from 
the  Wardens  of  the  Unity  was  first  under  consideration  in  a  meeting 
of  the  General  Conference  of  Helpers  at  Bethlehem,  the  uncovered 
liabilities  of  the  Congregation  were  reported  as  amounting  to 
$12,541.63^4  and  the  debt  on  the  church  building  was  $37,105,835^. 
It  was  calculated  that  the  sale  of  the  thousand  acres  would  extinguish 
this  and  put  a  balance  into  the  treasury.  Cunow,  the  Administrator, 
strongly  opposed  the  project  and  induced  his  colleagues  in  the 
General  Helpers'  Conference  to  take  an  adverse  position. 

It  was  argued  that  there  was  no  necessity  for  such  a  step  because 
the  income  of  the  Bethlehem  diacony  for  the  previous  fiscal  year 
had  met  current  expenses  and  interest,  with  a  prospect  of  improve- 
ment ;  that  the  situation  was  not  as  bad  as  represented  because  the 
land  assets  were  booked  too  low,  had  greatly  increased  in  value  and 
would  at  a  proper  valuation  cover  the  apparent  excess  of  liabilities 
together  with  the  church  debt ;  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  safely 
and  at  the  same  time  profitably  invest  the  money  of  those  who  held 


6o8  A    HISTUKY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

the  notes  of  the  Bethlehem  warden,  which  would  have  to  be  redeemed 
if,  by  such  a  sale  of  land,  the  obligations  of  the  Bethlehem  diacony, 
then  serving  as  a  sort  of  bank  for  many  persons,  were  paid  off — the 
stocks  of  corporations  being  an  insecure  investment  in  those  times 
of  war.  It  was  proposed  to  cover  the  apparent  excess  of  liabilities 
b}-  adding  $3.10  per  acre  to  the  valuation  of  the  Bethlehem  land, 
which  increase  would  yet  leave  it  booked  below  its  real  value.  The 
congregation  authorities  at  Bethlehem  declined  to  recede  from  their 
purpose,  and  controversy  ensued.  In  January,  1813,  Cunow  declared 
his  opposition  more  clearly  and  emphatically  in  a  pro  vicmoria,  in 
which  he  set  forth  his  conviction  that  such  a  sale  of  a  large  tract 
would  violate  the  agreements  of  1771 ;  that,  in  any  case,  the  concur- 
rence of  the  owner  in  law,  the  Proprietor,  must  be  had  through  the 
Administrator  and  they  could  not  be  ordered  to  act  against  their 
will ;  that  the  Bethlehem  Congregation — and  on  this  point  the  subse  ■ 
quent  contention  turned — really  held  the  land  only  on  perpetual 
lease  and  could  not  sell  it ;  that  the  Bethlehem  diacony  only  had  a 
stipulated  right  to  the  revenues  of  the  land,  to  meet  its  own  neces- 
sities and  its  obligations  to  the  Sustentation  Diacony  controlled  by 
the  General  Helpers'  Conference ;  the  surplus  above  this  was  at  the 
disposal  of  the  General  Wardens  of  the  Unity,  according  to  a 
resolution  of  the  General  Synod.  In  the  following  April,  he  secured 
the  endorsement  of  his  colleagues  in  the  General  Helpers'  Con- 
ference to  a  letter  he  had  written  to  the  General  Wardens  of  the 
Unity,  so  presenting  the  matter  as  to  persuade  them  to  withdraw,  for 
the  time  being,  their  concurrence  in  the  proposd  sale.  This  aroused 
much  indignation  in  Bethlehem  against  him  and  those  who  stipported 
him,  and,  together  with  other  causes  of  irritation,  produced  a  state 
of  disaffection  that  was  disturbing  to  the  internal  peace  of  the  village. 
Although  no  steps  were  further  attempted  until  181 5,  contention 
increased  and  grew  bitter. 

Circumstances  attending  the  closing  of  the  Brethren's  House,  and 
the  position  taken  by  Cunow  that  the  situation  must  be  controlled 
by  repression  through  a  stricter  enforcement  of  regulations  and 
exercise  of  discipline,  aggravated  things  until  at  last  an  official  and 
personal  rupture  took  place  between  him  and  the  Bethlehem  officials. 
In  September,  1815,  the  question  of  181 1,  in  reference  to  selling  land 
to  clear  ofif  indebtedness  was  again  agitated.  Cunow  had  been 
mainly  instrumental  in  bringing  about  the  assumption  of  the 
liabilities  of  the  Brethren's  House  by  the  Bethlehem  diacony,  and 


i8o7 1825.  609 

it  was  thought  that,  in  view  of  this,  he  would  cease  to  obstruct  the 
measure.  At  that  time  the  debts  of  the  Congregation  diacony 
amounted  to  $26,463.94,  and  those  of  the  defunct  Brethren's  House 
diacony  to  $15,672.74,  which  made  a  burden  of  $42,136.68,  that 
was  being  carried  and  drawing  interest,  besides  the  church-building 
debt.  Some  strongly  objected  to  the  large  credit  system  that  had 
been  instituted  both  by  the  Bethlehem  treasury  and  by  the  Susten- 
tation  Diacony,  while  Cunow  favored  and  fostered  this  kind  of  a 
banking  arrangement  by  which  loans  were  taken  from  individuals. 
The  result  of  the  renewed  agitation  was  that  Cunow^  went  to  Europe 
early  in  1816,  to  personally  present  all  the  features  involved  in  the 
situation,  as  he  viewed  them,  to  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  and 
particularly  to  urge  his  arguments  on  the  question  of  selling  land 
upon  the  Unity's  Wardens  in  that  board.  Decided  differences  of 
opinion  had  now  arisen  between  him  and  some  of  his  colleagues  in 
the  Conference  of  Helpers,  especially  in  the  matter  of  enforcing  the 
yet  unaltered  regulations  of  the  old  system  in  all  details,  which  some 
of  them,  like  the  Elders'  Conference  at  Bethlehem,  regarded  as  no 
longer  possible.  They  had  also  broken  away  from  him  in  his  view 
that  the  Bethlehem  land,  as  an  inherited  trust,  could  only  be  held 
on  perpetual  lease  and  could  not  be  sold,  a  view  in  which  he  w^as 
not  sustained  by  the  General  Wardens  of  the  Unity  after  a  second 
consideration  of  the  whole  subject.  The  Unity's  Elders'  Conference, 
after  hearing  his  presentation  of  matters  and  considering  a  written 
statement  sent  by  his  colleagues,  brought  about  an  adjustment  of 
differences  for  the  time  being,  and  took  measures  to  institute  more 
particular  inquiry  into  the  demoralization  of  discipline  at  Bethlehem 
set  forth  by  Cunow,  while  the  larger  questions  involved  were  left 
to  be  dealt  with  by  the  General  Synod  of  the  Church  which,  after  the 
lapse  of  seventeen  years,  it  was  now  proposed  to  convene.  Cunow 
returned  to  Bethlehem  and  a  truce  was  effected  even  with  the  boards 
of  the  Bethlehem  Congregation,  and  in  April,  1817,  he  was  formally 
invited  by  the  Elders'  Conference  and  the  Board  of  Supervisors  to 
again  attend  their  sessions  and  to  again  participate  in  conducting 
services,  neither  of  which  things  he  had  done  for  a  considerable  time. 
Meanwhile  the  agitations  at  Bethlehem  and  the  other  church 
villages,  extending  over  a  wider  range  of  subjects,  were  at  last  given 
opportunitv  to  issue  in  some  regular  action  in  the  direction  of  desired 
changes  and  reforms.  February  16,  181 7,  a  circular  of  the  General 
Conference  of  Helpers  convoking  a  Provincial  Conference  in  June» 

40 


6lO  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

preparatory  to  a  General  Synod  to  be  held  at  Herrnhut  in  1818,  was 
publicly  read  at  Bethlehem.  It  was  the  hrst  such  convocation  in  ten 
years  and  the  first  since  1768  in  which  lay-deputies  participated,  and 
which  in  its  organization  and  methods  deserved  to  be  called  a  Synod. 
It  consisted  of  two  sections,  one  representing  the  exclusive  settle- 
ments of  the  Church — Bethlehem,  Nazareth  and  Lititz — and  the 
other  representing  the  town  and  country  congregations.  The  ses- 
sions of  both  were  held  at  Bethlehem  and  were  presided  over  by 
Bishop  Charles  Gotthold  Reichel.  He  yet  filled  a  position  very  try- 
ing under  the  circumstances,  as  President  of  the  General  Helpers' 
Conference  and  Head  Pastor  at  Bethlehem,  but  was  soon  to  vacate 
these  offices  and  return  to  Europe.  The  section  of  the  Synod  which 
represented  the  church-villages  consisted  of  twelve  ministers  as  ex 
officio  members,  composing  the  Elders'  Conferences  of  the  several 
places,  together  with  eight  women  of  these  Conferences  also  entitled 
to  ex  officio  seats,  and  thirteen  lay  delegates  elected  by  the  voting 
membership.  The  delegates  from  Bethlehem  were  Christian  Eggert, 
Sebastian  Goundie,  Joseph  Oerter,  John  Frederick  Rauch,  Jacob 
Rice,  Owen  Rice,  Jr.,  and  John  Christian  Till.  Goundie  and  the  two 
Rices  represented  more  particularly  the  desire  for  reform  in  business 
regulations  and  property  conditions,  and  the  two  last  named  were 
from  among  the  younger  citizens  of  the  place ;  Owen  Rice  being  at 
that  time  thirty  and  Jacob  Rice  only  twenty-four  years  old.  All  of 
them  were  men  who  were  au  fait  in  all  the  important  matters  that 
came  under  consideration,  so  far  as  the  various  interests  of  the  vil- 
lage were  concerned,  and  each  of  them  was  selected  as  a  specialist 
in  some  department.  The  section  representing  the  exclusive  church 
villages  began  its  sessions  on  June  9,  continued  until  the  21st, 
adjourned  to  August  4  and  finally  finished  its  work  on  August  6. 
The  other  section,  representing  the  city  and  country  congregations, 
consisted  of  eighteen  ministers  and  eleven  delegates  and  held  ses- 
sions from  June  26  to  28.  The  former  had  fifty-five  and  the  latter 
eleven  sittings. 

Prior  to  the  convening  of  this  Conference  or  Synod,  it  was  pro- 
posed by  some  of  the  leading  laymen,  not  only  at  Bethlehem,  but 
also  at  Nazareth  and  Lititz,  to  have  preliminary  meetings  of  voting 
communicant  members  to  discuss  and  formulate  points  to  be  brought 
forward.  The  Conference  of  General  Helpers  would  have  quietly 
let  this  take  its  course,  but  Cunow  interposed  strenuous  objections 
to  the  exercise  of  this  liberty  and  constrained  his  colleagues  to 
express  disfavor.     As  all  sensible  men  appreciated  the  desirability  of 


i8o7 1825.  611 

preserving  amicable  relations  just  then,  such  formal  meetings  which 
would  have  accomplished  much  preparatory  work  and  expedited 
business  were  not  held. 

Among  the  vexed  questions  of  the  time,  the  official  discussions 
that  preceded  the  Synod  reveal  those  which  were  most  prominent. 
One  was  the  modification  of  the  use  of  the  lot  in  connection  with 
appointments  to  office  and  in  routine  government,  and  its  total 
abolition  in  connection  with  finally  deciding  the  question  of  proposed 
marriages  in  the  church  settlements.  Another  was  legal  incorpor- 
ation, advocated  by  some  to  enable  the  Church  general  and  the 
Congregation  or  village  to  hold  and  convey  real  estate.  The  chief 
motive  was  not  fear  of  dishonesty  on  the  part  of  the  Proprietor,  who 
held  the  title  in  fee  simple,  but  the  desire  to  escape  from  further 
experience  of  arbitrary  domination  on  the  part  of  the  Administrator. 
The  wish  was  that  the  Congregation  might  be  in  a  position  to  control 
its  own  property.  A  third  was  that  of  abolishing  the  so-called  "Lease 
System"  under  which  residents  of  the  village  could  only  hold  posses- 
sion of  real  estate  on  ground  rent.  There  was  a  strong  desire  on 
the  part  of  many  to  own  the  ground  on  which  their  houses  stood  as 
well  as  the  buildings. 

Related  to  this  was  a  long-standing  grievance  at  Bethlehem  and 
Nazareth  which  it  was  decided  to  have  removed  if  the  Lease  System 
were  retained.  This  was  the  old  "limitation  clause"  in  the  house 
leases  which  those  at  Lititz  and  Salem,  as  it  seems,  did  not  have 
attached.  The  leases  contained  a  proviso  to  which  the  builder  of  a 
house  agreed,  that  if  he  vacated  either  by  voluntarily  removing  or 
by  forfeiting  his  right  to  live  in  the  place  under  the  agreement  which 
he  had  signed,  and  received  a  quit  notice ;  or  if  the  heirs  of  a 
deceased  house-owner  were  not  members  of  the  Church,  and  the 
Administrator,  representing  the  owner  of  the  ground,  had  to  buy  the 
house — as  frequently  happened — in  order  to  keep  control  of  the 
premises,  and  disagreement  arose  about  the  price,  a  valuation  was 
to  be  put  upon  it  by  three  disinterested  men,  but  this  valuation  must 
not  exceed  a  maximum  sum  named  in  the  lease.  This  was  the  "lim- 
itation clause."  It  was  designed  originally  to  be  a  safeguard  against 
collusion  to  extort  an  exorbitant  sum,  but  was  now  regarded  as 
very  unjust  to  many  owners  of  houses  because  the  leases  were  old 
and  the  figure  named  did  not  nearly  represent  the  value  of  the  houses, 
as  property  was  now  rated.  It  was  desired  that  this  limitation  clause 
should  be  omitted. 


6l2  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Another  wish  strongly  expressed,  especially  by  many  who  were 
engaged  in  business,  was  that  the  principle  of  the  Church  which 
restrained  members  from  resorting  to  the  civil  courts  in  complica- 
tions with  other  members,  to  collect  debts  or  get  redress  for  injuries, 
might  be  modified.  The  Conference  of  .General  Helpers  had  to 
admit  that  the  character  and  relations  of  citizens  of  the  church-vil- 
lages were  so  far  from  the  ideal  pre-supposed  by  the  old  require- 
ment that  only  the  church  authorities  be  resorted  to  in  such  mat- 
ters, that  the  position  was  no  longer  tenable.  It  was  acknowledged 
that  these  authorities  could  no  longer  adec^uately  deal  with  offenders, 
for  there  were  those  who  would  not  be  amenable  to  moral  suasion 
and  some  for  whom  the  threat  of  expulsion  had  lost  its  former  efifect. 
It  was  admitted  also  that  the  laws  framed  and  the  courts  instituted 
to  protect  the  persons  and  property  of  people  were  a  product  of 
Christian  civilization,  and  therefore  the  words  of  Scripture  about 
brother  going  to  law  with  brother,  in  the  days  when  this  meant  an 
appeal  by  Christians  to  heathen  magistrates,  did  not  invariably  apply. 

Another  change  desired  by  the  great  majority  was  that  the  regu- 
lations which  restrained  men,  regardless  of  their  personal  convic- 
tions, from  performing  militia  service  at  the  call  of  the  Government 
be  abolished.  This  troublesome  matter,  which  had  occasioned  so 
much  hardship,  odium  and  expense  during  the  Revolution,  had  now 
come  into  some  prominence  again  during  the  second  war  with  Eng- 
land. So  far  as  can  be  ascertained  only  one  Moravian,  Joseph  Rose, 
among  those  who  had  joined  militia  companies,  was  called  out  into 
service — September  25  to  December  24,  1814,  in  camp  at  Marcus 
Hook — but  much  irritation  was  occasioned  by  the  effort  to  enforce 
the  inhibition,  because  there  were  at  this  time  far  fewer  at  Bethlehem 
and  Nazareth  than  in  former  times  who  had  scruples  in  the  matter, 
and  far  fewer  who  were  disposed  to  pay  money  for  themselves  or 
others,  in  preference  to  merely  turning  out  to  drill.  The  question 
referred  to  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  whether  a  man  could  be 
held  to  necessarily  forfeit  membership  if  he  voluntarily  joined  the 
mihtia,  was  answered  in  the  negative.  The  General  Helpers'  Con- 
ference finally  agreed  that  it  was  not  prohibited  by  Scripture  ;  that 
they  could  not  prevent  a  man  from  doing  what  the  Government 
called  upon  him  to  do  as  a  public  service,  and  in  reference  to  which 
the  laws  of  Christianity  gave  him  personal  liberty ;  that  the  old  rule 
could  no  longer  be  strictly  maintained.  All  agreed  to  this  position 
excepting  Cunow,  who  appealed  to  the  letter  (,)f  the  synod^cal  enact- 


i8o7 1825.  613 

ment  not  yet  repealed,  and  urged  that  discipline  be  exercised  upon 
all  who  transgressed.  In  December,  1814,  the  board  received 
answers  from  the  Elders"  Conferences  of  the  three  church-villages  to 
their  question  on  this  point.  The  answer  from  Bethlehem  was :  it 
is  impossible  to  further  continue  the  arrangement  to  combine  in  pay- 
ing for  substitutes,  and  the  question  of  drilling  ought  to  be  left  to 
the  option  of  the  individual.  That  from  Nazareth  was :  nothing  can 
be  done  in  the  matter.  The  young  men  who  are  so  inclined  simply 
go  to  drill,  rule  or  no  rule,  and  liatly  refuse  to  stand  the  expense  of 
maintaining  what  they  call  an  antiquated  regulation  that  ought  to  be 
considered  obsolete.  From  Lititz,  where,  as  formerly,  narrower  con- 
servative views  in  such  matters  yet  prevailed,  and  Benade,  the  sup- 
porter of  Cunow  in  uncompromising  adhesion  to  the  old  system,  was 
at  the  head  of  affairs,  came  the  opinion  that  militia  service  was  con- 
trary to  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Church  and  that  the  rule 
requiring  the  payment  of  fines  instead  of  going  to  drill  should  be 
enforced.  Nevertheless,  the  tendency  to  break  away  from  it  carried 
the  day,  relief  from  the  regulation  was  afforded  in  1818,  by  a  revision 
of  the  synodical  enactment  on  the  subject,  in  response  to  the  request 
of  1817,  and  then  this  ceased  to  be  a  trouble  to  the  people. 

It  may  be  added  here  that,  beyond  the  renewed  dififaculties  about 
the  requirements  of  the  militia  law — but  to  a  far  less  degree  than 
during  the  Revolution — and  the  general  financial  and  economic 
effects  which  were  experienced  in  the  country  generally,  Bethlehem 
felt  nothing  of  the  War  of  181 2,  but  on  February  2.2,  181 5,  engaged 
in  a  special  celebration  of  Washington's  birthday  in  vie\v  of  the 
ratification  of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent.  There  was  a  general  illumina- 
tion of  the  town  in  the  evening,  during  which  two  choirs  of  trom- 
bonists, one  stationed  at  the  open  windows  in  the  organ  loft  of  the 
church  and  the  other  in  front  of  Sebastian  Goundie's  house,  alter- 
nated in  performing  festive  chorales.  On  April  13,  solemn  services 
were  held  in  observance  of  the  Peace  Jubilee  proclaimed  l)y  the 
President. 

Turning  back  from  this  digression  in  connection  with  the  final 
reference  to  the  subject  of  militia  service,  two  more  prominent  mat- 
ters are  found  figuring  in  the  discussions  of  1817.  One  was  the 
desire  to  have  the  so-called  monopolies  in  the  various  branches  of 
trade  and  industry  in  the  village  abolished,  or  at  least  to  have  the 
regulations  so  relaxed  that  what  was  1)elieved  would  be  a  legitimate 
and  beneficial  competition  in  business  might  liecomc  possil^le.  and  a 


6l4  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

larger  measure  of  liberty  which  was  believed  to  be  a  natural  right 
ot  the  citizens  in  the  matter  of  establishing  trades  might  be  enjoyed. 
What  was  originally  intended  to  be  a  protection  to  those  who  leased 
one  after  another  of  the  ^'Branchen"  from  the  Congregation  Diacony 
— regulating  the  number  of  trades  so  that  each  one  might  be  assured 
a  living  by  means  of  it,  and  adjusting  the  supply  to  the  demand — had 
become,  in  the  opinion  of  many,  a  system  of  oppressive  restriction. 
In  some  cases  it  was  looked  upon  as  a  petty  tyranny  exercised  by 
the  village  fathers.  There  were  frequent  jealousies  and  contentions 
and  occasional  charges  of  partiality,  unfair  discrimination,  protec- 
tion of  favorites,  barring  out  those  who  happened  not  to  stand  in 
the  good  graces  of  the  village  authorities  or  to  enjoy  the  prestige 
of  influential  connections.  Young  men  were  sometimes  compelled, 
under  the  rigid  arrangements,  to  betake  themselves  to  an  occupation 
not  to  their  liking,  in  order  to  merely  gain  a  livelihood,  because  there 
was  declared  to  be  a  scarcity  in  that  particular  line  and  ample  pro- 
vision in  the  other  which  they  preferred,  and  there  was  no  appeal 
from  the  decision.  It  not  infrequently  happened  that  a  young  man 
had  served  a  full  apprenticeship  at  a  trade  or  had  devoted  some 
years  to  learning  a  certain  business — perhaps  almost  under  coercion 
and  quite  contrary  to  his  inclinations,  because  just  then  apprentices 
happened  to  be  needed  in  those  particular  places — which  he  was 
afterwards  not  permitted  to  follow  except  by  consenting  to  transfer 
his  residence  to  another  church  settlement,  where  there  was  need  of 
one  to  ply  his  particular  trade,  or  by  going  out  to  hunt  a  location 
for  himself. 

The  contagion  of  progress  and  expansion  was  in  the  atmosphere. 
General  activity  in  opening  up  new  trade  and  traf^c  and  starting  all 
manner  of  internal  improvements  spread  through  the  States  after 
the  second  war  with  England.  Some  energetic  and  enterprising 
men  of  Bethlehem  foresaw  that  the  place  had  a  future  and  even  then 
believed  that  there  was  trade  enough  for  several  mercantile  estab- 
lishments, room  for  another  hotel,  prospect  of  success  in  starting  new 
manufacturing  industries,  warrant  in  laying  foundations  for  larger 
operations  generally  than  the  village  regulations  then  made  possible 
or  those  in  control  who  preferred  to  see  all  things  remain  in  the 
narrow,  beaten  track,  could  contemplate  with  peace  of  mind.  Hence 
the  growing  desire  to  have  the  church-village  system  so  relaxed  and 
modified  that  there  might  be  freer  action  in  business  afifairs. 

Yet  another  feature  of  the  existing  system,  one  already  referred 
to,  was  given  special  consideration,  and  the  strongly-felt  need  of  a 


i8o7 1825.  615 

remedy  for  various  hampering  and  even  oppressive  effects  of  it  that 
had  been  experienced  was  put  into  formal  propositions.  This  was 
the  interUnked  organization  of  official  bodies  under  the  close  regime 
of  the  previous  three  decades  which  created  too  much  identity 
between  the  general  executive  body,  the  General  Helpers'  Confer- 
ence, on  one  hand,  and  the  local  village  boards  on  the  other,  and 
gave  too  much  opportunity  for  one  little  group  of  men  or  even  one 
man  like  the  Administrator  to  exercise  a  dominant  influence  in  all 
of  them.  To  a  very  great  extent,  as  has  been  observed,  interviews 
of  the  General  Helpers'  Conference  with  the  Bethlehem  Elders' 
Conference  had  been  really  but  interviews  with  themselves.  For 
some  time  merely  the  Wardens  of  the  Congregation  and  the  Breth- 
ren's House  did  not  hold  double  official  positions.  Therefore,  when 
— as  was  often  the  case — only  the  Bethlehem  contingent  of  the  Gen- 
eral Board  was  in  session  deliberating,  and  they  wished  to  have  an 
interview  with  the  Bethlehem  Elders'  Conference,  they  merely  had 
to  call  in  the  two  wardens — and  after  1814  only  the  one  warden — in 
order  to  become  a  joint  body,  and  could  then  have  the  interview 
with  themselves  as  thus  augmented.  Some  were  beginning  to  regard 
it  as  oppressive  and  some  looked  upon  it  as  almost  grotesque  to 
have  Cunow  as  Administrator  discuss  with  Cunow  as  a  member  of 
the  General  Helpers'  Conference,  then  with  Cunow  as  a  member  of 
the  Bethlehem  Elders'  Conference  and  finally  with  Cunow  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  village  Board  of  Supervision,  whether  the  Bethlehem 
people  might  do  something  to  which  Cunow  in  all  these  capacities 
was  opposed.  Some  were  also  beginning  to  think  that  when  the 
President  of  the  General  Helpers'  Conference  had  occasion  to  com- 
municate with  the  President  of  the  Bethlehem  Elders'  Conference 
on  points  of  controversy  between  the  two  boards,  these  Presidents 
ought  to  be  two  different  men,  especially  when,  as  one  and  the  same 
man,  he  was  to  so  great  an  extent  dominated  at  both  ends  by  the 
Administrator. 

This  desire  for  the  re-construction  of  organization  extended  to 
three  other  features.  One,  purely  local,  was  the  constitution  of  the 
Gemeinrath  or  Common  Council  of  the  village,  which,  under  the 
existing  system,  as  was  pointed  out  in  the  preceding  chapter,  con- 
sisted so  largely  of  ex  officio  members  and  of  certain  predetermined 
classes  of  citizens  and  functionaries,  for  the  time  being,  who  held 
their  places  to  a  great  extent  by  the  choice  and  appointment  of  the 
Elders'  Conference,  that  it  was  very  much  of  a  close  corporation. 
The  number  in  it  whose  membership  expressed  the  free  choice  of 


6l6  A    HISTORV    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

the  people  was  next  to  nothing,  and  that  nian_\-  looked  upon  it  as  a 
"packed"  body  made  up  by  the  Elders'  Conference  is  not  surprising. 
That  some  refused  to  be  comforted  under  their  close  grip  by  the 
extensive  use  of  the  lot  in  making  choice  from  candidates  is  also  not 
surprising,  for  there  were  many  ways  of  controlling  and  restricting 
the  foregoing  election  of  candidates,  and  the  regulations  of  the  time 
even  permitted  the  Elders"  Conference  to  ignore  a  candidate  occa- 
sionally in  drawing  names  or  settling  the  question  yes  or  no,  if  to 
their  minds  there  was  sufBcient  reason  for  doing  so.  The  movement 
at  this  time  was  in  favor  of  not  merely  reducing  the  ex  officio  mem- 
bership of  the  Council  and  the  number  of  positions  which,  as  such, 
were  necessarily  represented  in  it  by  their  incumbents  selected  by 
the  Elders'  Conference,  but  to  again  have  it  consist  of  all  the  adult 
male  population  who  were  communicant  members  in  good  standing, 
as  was  the  case  under  the  more  democratic  organization  of  fifty  years 
before. 

Another  feature  in  which  re-construction  was  advocated  was  the 
standing  of  the  General  Conference  of  Helpers  administering  the 
affairs  of  all  the  American  settlements,  congregations  and  missions, 
and  its  relation  to  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference  in  Europe.  There 
was  a  strong  desire  to  restore  more  authority  and  freedom  of  action 
to  this  board ;  to  give  it  more  of  the  character  of  an  Executive 
Board  supervising  the  whole  as  an  integral,  organized  body  of  work, 
instead  of  being  only  a  conference  of  the  agents,  appointed  in  the 
three  settlements  Ijy  the  U.  E.  C.  to  act  for  them  in  the  care  of  these 
places  as  merely  individual  congregations,  together  with  the  few  city 
and  country  congregations  which  yet  existed.  It  was  a  move 
towards  the  creation  of  a  proper  Provincial  organization  with  a  Pro- 
vincial Executive  Board  and  a  Provincial  Synod.  Yet  another 
feature^  that  came  under  discussion  lay  even  closer  to  the  central  and 
fundamental  character  of  the  whole  system.  Tt  was  desired  that  in 
the  composition  of  the  U.  E.  C.  there  might  be  provision  for  one 
member  from  America  or  at  least  one  thoroughly  conversant, through 
previous  residence  in  the  country,  with  the  American  situation  ;  and 
for  giving  the  Elders'  Conference  of  the  American  church  settle- 
ments a  vote  in  hel])ing  to  fill  vacancies  in  the  general  governing 
body  in  Europe. 

Numerous  lesser  matters  at  the  same  time  received  attention,  and 
the  opportunity  was  embraced  to  formally  seek  release  from  the 
obligation  to  conform  to  various  antiquated  requirements  in  ritual 
and  church  routine,  some  of  which  were  utterlv  foreign  to  the  genius 


i8o7 1825.  617 

of  the  age  and  the  country  and  were  distasteful  and  burdensome  to 
most  people.  A  few  such  observances  had,  without  formal  abolition, 
become  obsolete,  while  sticklers  for  punctihous  conformity,  among 
those  in  control,  harassed  the  people  by  urging  the  letter  of 
the  regulations  in  all  particulars  and  reproaching  them  with  insubor- 
dination and  unfaithfulness.  One  minor  feature  of  the  general 
struggle  came  to  prominence  in  181 5,  which  was  interesting  and 
somewhat  amusing.  It  showed  how  the  martinet  is  more  easily 
baffled  by  women  than  by  men;  how  the  stern  regulator  of  customs 
is  at  his  wdts'  end  when  he  encounters  rebellion  in  the  domain  of 
feminine  attire ;  how  even  Moravian  women  of  nearl\-  a  century  ago 
knew  how  to  make  short  work  of  a  matter  by  an  application  of  what 
has  been  said  to  be  the  woman's  way — to  jump  to  a  conclusion  and 
then  argue  from  the  conclusion.  For  some  time  there  had  been  a 
growing  sentiment  among  the  women  at  Bethlehem,  Nazareth,  and 
even  at  Lititz,  against  the  old  regulation  that  required  them  to  wear 
the  uniform  "ScJuieppel  Hanbe"^  to  church,  or  on  all  formal  or  dress 
occasions,  in  the  exclusive  settlements— it  was  not  obligatory  in  the 
city  and  country  congregations —  and  here  and  there  one  ventured 
to  discard  it  and  don  a  more  popular,  conventional  style  of  in-door 
head  covering,  in  quite  extensive  use  outside  of  Moravian  circles  in" 
those  days,  distinguished  from  the  other,  in  Moravian  parlance,  as 
the  "Englische  Haube.''  Quietly,  plans  for  an  open  rebellion  were 
formed,  with  Nazareth  again  the  headquarters  of  venturesome  pro- 
gress. Suddenly,  in  February,  181 5,  the  General  Helpers'  Confer- 
ence received  a  message  from  the  women  at  Nazareth  that,  while 
they  intended  to  further  respect  the  principle  of  uniform  head-attire 
among  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor  alike  in  the  sanctuary,  and  the 
several  colors  worn  with  it  distinguishing  the  choir  divisions,  they 
did  not  propose  to  longer  wear  the  Schncppcl  Haubc,  but  had  agreed 
together  and  concluded  to  appear  in  church  the  following  Sunday 
Avearing  the  Englische  Haubc.  They  did  not  first  ask  the  fathers 
whether  thev  approved ;  did  not  give  them  an  opportunity  to  first 
examine  the  law,  discuss  the  question,  perhaps  write  to  the  Unity's 
Elders'  Conference  for  counsel  and  then  return  answer.  They  simply 


sSchneppel—Sc/ine/>f>chen,6\mm\i\\w&  of  Schnfppe,  nozzle,  lip  or  peak,  and  I/anbe,  cap. 
Schneppel-Haitbe  or  Miitze,  a  close  fitting  cap  with  a  peak  in  front.  One  variety  of  it  seems 
to  have  been  associated  in  former  times  —  not  among  Moravians  —  with  mourning  attire. 
Some  portraits  in  the  archives  at  Bethlehem  display  the  Schijeppcll/aitbe  of  former  times. 
Women  in  old  Moravian  settlements  in  Germany  submit  to  a  somewhat  modernized  form  of 
it  even  yet. 


6l8  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

served  notice  on  the  Conference  of  what  they  had  concluded  to  do. 
Here  was  a  problem  that  embarrassed  the  fathers  more  than  all  the 
conflicts  with  Bethlehem  business  men.  This  gentle  audacity  took 
them  by  surprise.  It  was  a  coup  de  main  that  left  them  little  else  to  do 
than  to  unconditionally  surrender.  They  meekly  asked  the  sisters 
who  had  official  seats  in  the  Elders'  Conferences  of  the  three  church 
villages  to  ascertain  for  them  the  general  sentiment  and  opinion 
among  the  women  and  kindly  report.  Those  at  Bethlehem,  speak- 
ing for  all,  reported  at  a  sitting  in  March,  and  very  likely  with  a 
twinkle  in  their  eyes,  that  the  sentiment  against  the  Schneppel  Haube 
was  very  general;  that  many  had  already  adopted  the  change  at  all 
of  the  places  on  all  occasions  excepting  in  church,  and  that  the  move- 
ment would  evidently  prevail.  Thereupon  it  was  recorded  that  inas- 
much as  many  had  introduced  this  change  without  consulting  the 
several  Elders'  Conferences,  the  General  Helpers'  Conference  did 
not  see  what  it  could  do  in  the  matter,  but  the  Elders'  Conferences 
were  to  be  urged  to  seriously  consider  how  the  growing  spirit  of 
insubordination  might  best  be  coped  with.  Thus  came  the  gradual 
discarding  of  the  Schneppel  Haube  and  the  adoption  of  the  Englische 
Haube  as  a  transition  to  finally  wearing  what  each  one  pleased. 

Meetings  of  the  voting  members  were  held  at  Bethlehem,  August 
22  and  23,  to  settle  the  question  of  representation  at  the  approaching 
General  Synod.  Under  the  arrangement  then  yet  existing,  there  was 
no  election  of  deputies  of  the  churches  jointly  as  a  Province  of  the 
Unity  by  the  Synod,  but  representatives  were  chosen  by  the  several 
church-settlements  as  such.  It  was  decided  on  the  22nd,  that  Bishop 
Reichel,  who  was  going  to  Europe  to  remain,  and  Cunow,  who  had 
to  attend  the  Synod  anyhow,  might  be  two  of  the  Bethlehem  depu- 
ties. Then  a  third  should  be  elected  representing  the  laity  and  the 
parties  most  sharply  at  issue  with  the  Administrator.  This  election, 
which  took  place  on  the  23d,  resulted  in  the  choice  of  Owen  Rice, 
Jr.  February  15,  1818,  the  credentials  furnished  the  deputies  were 
publicly  read  in  the  church  and  delivered  to  them  in  the  presence  of 
the  congregation.  March  5,  they  started  on  their  journey  to  Europe 
— Bishop  Reichel  and  his  wife,  Cunow  and  his  wife,  and  Owen  Rice. 
The  important  General  Synod  was  in  session  from  the  beginning  of 
June  to  the  end  of  August.  On  December  6,  Cunow  and  his  wife 
and  Owen  Rice  got  back  to  Bethlehem.  Five  davs  later  came  the 
Rev.  Lewis  David  deSchweinitz,  who  had  attended  from  North  Caro- 
lina. With  him  came  Bishop  Christian  Gottlieb  HuefYel  to  succeed 
Bishop  Reichel   as   President   of  the   Executive   Board,   but   not   as 


i8o7 1825.  619 

Head  Pastor  at  Bethlehem.  Herein  one  of  the  desired  changes 
already  appeared.  These  two  positions  were  no  more  to  be  filled 
by  the  same  man  unless  some  emergency  made  it  unavoidable.  The 
board  over  which  he  came  to  preside  was  now  no  longer  to  bear  the 
lengthy,  unwieldy,  although  ingeniously  thought-out  title:  "Confer- 
ence of  Helpers  in  General  of  the  Congregations  and  Stations  in 
Pennsylvania  and  the  adjacent  Parts,"  which  in  these  pages  has  been 
abridged  into  General  Helpers'  Conference — it  was  constructed  to 
accord  with  the  rationale  of  the  close  regime  which  suppressed  the 
idea  of  a  Provincial  body  with  an  official  head — but  was  to  be  called 
the  Pennsylvania  Province  Helpers'  Conference  and  was  to  have 
more  character  as  a  central  body,  differentiated  somewhat  more  from 
the  local  boards  of  Bethlehem.  For  convenience  it  will  henceforth 
be  called  the  Provincial  Board.  It  was  to  consist  of  five  members : 
the  Presiding  Bishop  appointed  by  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference ; 
the  Administrator,  also,  of  course,  an  appointee  of  that  body,  and 
the  Head  Pastors — Gemeinhclfcr — of  Bethlehem,  Nazareth  and  Lititz. 
The  Administrator  was  not  to  be  necessarily  a  member  of  the  two 
Bethlehem  boards,  although  this  was  not  forbidden  if  circumstances 
rendered  it  unavoidable.  It  was  also  decided  that  the  Principal  of 
the  Seminary  for  Young  Ladies  should  devote  himself  more  entirelv 
to  his  particular  work,  as  a  rule,  and,  when  possible,  another  man 
should  fill  the  position  of  associate  minister  and  preacher. 

New  statutes  for  the  exclusive  church  settlements  in  Pennsylvania, 
formulated  by  the  Preparatory  Synod  in  1817,  submitted  to  the  Gen- 
eral Synod,  amended  in  some  particulars  and  then  enacted  by  that 
body,  together  with  a  new  code  of  detailed  instructions  for  the  gov- 
erning boards  of  these  villages,  were  made  operative  in  January, 
1819.  On  the  28th  of  that  month  all  of  the  revisions  and  re-con- 
structions authorized  by  the  Synod  were  publicly  communicated  and 
the  new  statutes  were  adopted  and  signed  at  Bethlehem.  Not  all 
that  was  desired  was  gained,  but  the  reforms  were  sufficient  to  arrest 
the  growing  disaffection,  prevent  revolutionary  measures  and  make 
it  possible  to  continue  the  exclusive  church-village  plan  a  number 
of  years  longer.  The  most  objectionable  uses  of  the  lot,  sufficiently 
treated  of  in  the  preceding  pages  were  abolished  and  the  Gemeinrath  or 
Common  Council  now  again  consisted  of  all  male  communicants  of 
the  village,  of  voting  age  and  in  good  standing.  Various  hampering 
restrictions  long  objected  to,  and  methods  of  procedure  that  had 
caused  irritation  were  set  aside,  and  the  way  to  the  introduction  of 


620  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

sonic   desirable   external   improvements   was   opened   by   the   revised 
instructions  adopted  lor  the  village  boards  to  work  under. 

The  Rev.  John  Frederick  Frueauff  was  installed  as  Head  Pastor 
for  the  time  being,  while  the  Rev.  C.  F.  Seidel  continued  to  fill  the 
position  of  associate  minister  and  regular  preacher.  The  position  up 
to  this  time  occupied  by  the  Rev.  Christian  Frederick  Schaaf  in  the 
pastoral  corps,  as  special  spiritual  overseer  of  the  choir  of  married 
people,  ceased  to  be  a  separate  one.  It  was  added  to  the  functions 
of  the  Head  Pastor.  Schaaf  left  for  Salem,  N.  C,  in  April,  1819, 
after  more  than  twenty  years  of  labor  at  Bethlehem,  the  longest 
continuous  term  of  service  among  Moravian  ministers  of  the  place. 
Besides  his  particular  function,  as  stated,  he  had  been  variously 
useful,  in  connection  with  the  church  music,  the  management  of 
the  book  depository,  the  publication  of  a  new  hymn  book  and  in 
keeping  records  for  the  Elders'  Conference  and  for  the  General 
Board.  He  had  also  filled  the  position  of  Head  Pastor  at  one 
interval  and  served  as  a  member  of  the  General  Board.  He  repre- 
sented eminently  the  old  regime  and  the  paternal  idea  of  government, 
but  not  in  their  harsh,  forbidding  features  like  some  other  men.  It 
was  in  a  kind  and  fatherly  way  that  he  thought  he  must  do  his  full 
duty  b}-  supervising  every  man's  household  and  having  a  hand  in 
the  management  of  all  domestic  matters.  He  was  a  friend  of  the 
children  and  there  are  people  yet  living  who  remember  good  "Pappy 
Schaaf,"  as  he  was  affectionately  called  at  Salem  in  the  later  years 
of  his  life,  who  always  had  with  him  a  "mint  cake,"  or  other  tempting 
thing  to  bestow  upon  the  little  boy  or  girl  who  could  promptly  give 
him  the  answer  to  a  catechism  question  or  correctly  repeat  for  him 
a  verse  from  the  hymn  book. 

During  the  last  years  of  his  service  at  Bethlehem  he  was  actively 
associated,  as  one  of  the  leaders,  with  several  features  of  church 
routine  and  with  new  movements  wdiich  were  among  the  brighter 
things  of  the  time.  He  took  much  pains  to  help  foster  singing  among 
the  children  and  to  render  their  participation  in  various  services 
attractive.  On  September  7,  1814,  the  first  reference  occurs  in  the 
records,  after  the  building  of  the  new  church,  to  the  children  entering 
at  the  close  of  morning  prayer  to  greet  the  parents  by  singing 
benisons  on  the  morning  of  their  covenant  festival,  as  had  long  been 
the  practice  in  the  old  place  of  worship.  At  that  time  they  quietly 
entered  at  the  east  end  of  the  church,  slipped  up  the  stairs  and 
suddenly  appeared  in  the  corner  galleries  on  either  side  of  the  pulpit, 
the  bovs  on  the  north  and  the  girls  on  the  south  sifle.     In  those  davs 


i8o7 1825.  621 

the  beautiful  outdoor  close  of  evening  prayer  on  the  festival  clays 
ot  the  children — before  1818,  the  little  boys  on  June  24,  and  the  little 
girls  on  August  17,  and  after  that  year  combined  on  the  last  named 
date — took  place  at  the  west  end  of  the  church  where  the  children 
assembled  on  the  terrace,  while  the  choir  and  orchestra  were  stationed 
at  the  open  windows  at  the  rear  of  the  organ  and  the  trombonists  in 
the  center.  This  arrangement  continued  for  about  seventy  years 
after  the  church  was  built. 

Another  of  the  conspicuous  occasions  for  which  the  children  were 
particularly  trained  to  sing  in  public  was  the  general  Congregation 
Festival  or  anniversary.  This  occasion,  which  began  to  be  observed 
in  1762,  to  commemorate  the  organization  of  Bethlehem  completed 
June  25,  1742,  and  was  more  distinctly  and  formally  estabUshed 
as  a  feature  of  the  annual  routine  in  1781,  during  the  sojourn  of 
Bishop  John  Frederick  Reichel  at  Bethlehem,  was  called  the  Gemein- 
fest,  or  Congregation  Festival,  because  it  was  a  general  festival  for 
the  entire  congregation  and  not  for  any  particular  choir  division  of 
the  membership,  or  an  occasion  of  a  memorial  character  for  the 
communicant  membership  exclusively,  like  the  services  associated 
with  August  13,  and  November  13.  The  observance  of  such  a  general 
Congregation  Festival  on  the  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the 
settlement,  organization  of  the  congregation,  first  communion 
occasion  or  consecration  of  the  church  has  always  been  a  prominent 
custom  of  Moravian  congregations  everywhere.  The  General  Synod 
of  1818,  among  other  measures  intended  to  foster  more  historic 
churchly  consciousness,  made  the  attempt  to  have  the  significant 
date,  May  12 — "dcr  MaJirische  Kirchcntag,"  the  Moravian  Church-Day 
— uniformly  adopted  by  all  as  the  day  of  the  Congregation  Festival, 
in  viev^  of  corner-stone  laying  and  arrival  of  the  "Moravian 
Churchmen"  at  Herrnhut  in  1724,  the  first  distinct  organization 
under  the  statutes  of  1727,  and  the  Anglican  recognition  of  1749,  all 
associated  with  this  date.  This  movement,  although  May  12  deserves 
far  more  notice  by  Moravian  Churches  as  a  memorial  day  than  it 
receives,  did  not  prove  to  be  popular,  for  it  deprived  the  occasion 
of  its  local  anniversary  character  in  each  particular  congregation. 
The  change  was  made  at  Bethlehem,  but  in  1826  the  festival  was 
restored  to  the  25th  of  June,  the  experiment,  like  in  other  congre- 
gations, not  proving  satisfactory,  as  was  reported  to  the  next 
General  Svnod  in  1825.  Since  then  its  character  as  a  purely  local 
Anniversarv  Festival,  commemorating  the  organization,  has  been 
more  distinctly  recognized  as  its  specific  meaning. 


622  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

In  those  days  of  much  musical  culture  in  Bethlehem,  the  greatest 
of  all  children's  services,  that  of  Christmas  Eve,  was  naturally  the 
most  conspicuous  in  this  particular  and  was  usually  preceded  by 
some  weeks  of  practice  at  which  Brother  Schaaf  was  commonly 
present  to  lead  the  singing  with  his  violin,  as  in  former  years  Father 
Grubc  had  so  often  done,  and  to  encourage  the  children  to  do  their 
best. 

Schaaf  was,  moreover,  one  of  those  at  Bethlehem  who  caught  the 
spirit  of  the  years  which  followed  the  war  of  1812,  in  the  domain  of 
religious  effort — for  it  was  not  only  in  trade  and  traffic  that  new 
energies  were  stirred,  but  also  in  evangelization,  particularly  in 
special  efforts  to  inculcate  scriptural  knowledge  among  old  and 
young.  It  was  the  period  in  which  mainly  the  movements  started 
that  took  shape  in  such  final  great  organizations  as  the  American 
Bible  Society — that  of  Philadelphia,  now  the  Pennsylvania  Bible 
Society,  having  existed  since  1808 — the  Amerian  Sunday-School 
Union,  the  American  Tract  Society,  and  the  American  Home  Mission 
Society.  The  Sunday-school  movement  of  that  time  particularly 
interested  men  like  Schaaf,  and  it  was  chiefly  through  his  efforts 
and  those  of  Mary  Allen,  one  of  the  leading  women  of  her  time  at 
Bethlehem,  in  culture  and  piety,  and  particularly  in  efforts  for  the 
benefit  of  the  young,  that  the  first  Sunday-school  was  commenced  at 
Bethlehem  in  1816.  Its  purpose  and  methods  were  those  which  had 
been  adopted  a  quarter  of  a  century  before  by  Robert  Raikes  at 
Gloucester,  England,  had  become  very  popular  in  that  country  and 
at  this  time  were  becoming  so  in  some  parts  of  the  United  States, 
Both  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia  they  were  enlisting  the  interest 
of  many  in  the  Unions  that  were  elaborating  extensive  plans  of  organ- 
ized effort.  While  the  name  Sunday-school  adopted  in  English 
speaking  Chistendom  and  the  popular  interest  in  the  work  were 
comparatively  new,  the  idea  and  the  methods  were  far  from  being 
so.  It  belongs  to  that  kind  of  movements  which  cannot  be  said  to 
have  had  their  distinct  beginning  anywhere  or  at  any  exact  time,  or 
to  have  been  originated  by  any  particular  person ;  that  kind  of 
undertakings  which  have  often  been  thought  of  and  started  by  differ- 
ent persons  at  different  places.  The  Sunday-school  work  of  modern 
times  is  commonly  traced  back  to  the  efforts  of  Raikes,  because  the 
movement  started  by  him,  rode  forward  on  a  popular  tide,  in  some 
churches  carried  the  interest  of  clergy  and  people  with  it,  attracted 
wide  attention  as  meeting  a  need  of  the  time,  spread,  became  general 
and  attained  organized  permanence.   Wherever  the  English  language 


i8o7 1825.  623 

and  English  associations  and  traditions  prevailed,  people  naturally 
viewed  this  rapidly  growing  new  branch  of  Christian  activity  as  the 
outcome  of  what  Raikes  commenced ;  learned  to  associate  his  name 
with  it  as  founder,  and  in  course  of  time  became  accustomed  to  speak 
of  him  as  the  father  of  Sunday-schools ;  generally  assuming  that  such 
a  thing  never  existed  and  such  an  idea  never  was  thought  of  before 
his  day;  for  comparatively  few  persons  have  the  inclination  or  take 
the  trouble  to  historically  investigate.  .  The  Sunday-schools  that 
existed  in  England  and  America  before  that  time,  although  num- 
erous, were  sporadic,  did  not  constitute  the  starting-point  of  great 
popular  and  permanent  activities,  were  not  epoch-making,  have  to 
be  hunted  for  in  the  by-ways  of  history  and  are  therefore  not  known 
by  the  most  of  people  to  have  existed. 

The  similar  work  in  Germany  and  Holland  is  usually  not  taken 
into  account  simply  because  it  did  not  bear  the  English  name 
Sunday-school.  In  Pennsylvania  there  had  been  many  Sunday- 
schools  in  colonial  days,  some  in  Lutheran  and  Reformed  country 
churches,  others  started  by  Quakers,  Mennonites  and  Tunkers,  and 
by  the  Sabbatarian  Brethren,  at  Ephrata.  All  were  conducted  with 
the  idea  of  giving  instruction  in  reading,  moral  training  and  discipline 
and  particularly  information  out  of  the  Bible  and  on  the  essentials  of 
Christianity  to  children  who  were  neglected  or  in  various  ways  were 
prevented  from  enjoying  either  the  privileges  of  secular  schools  or 
the  benefits  of  provisions  made  by  such  churches  as  then  existed  for 
the  special  religious  nurture  of  the  children.  The  last  named  object 
was  one  to  which,  in  those  days,  far  more  attention  was  paid  among 
the  German  population  than  among  the  masses  of  English  speaking 
people. 

As  for  the  Moravians,  the  general  idea  and,  in  the  main,  even  the 
methods  of  Robert  Raikes  were  as  exactly  like  those  of  much  of 
their  early  located  and  itinerant  work  among  neglected  children  in 
Pennsylvania  as  such  efforts,  at  different  times  and  places  and  by 
different  people  under  varying  circumstances,  could  possibly  be.  In 
connection  with  the  modern  era  of  spreading  interest  in  such  efforts 
under  the  name  Sunday-school,  such  work  had  been  commenced  in 
several  of  their  city  congregations  prior  to  1816.  When  the  work  at 
Bethlehem  was  started,  it  was  not  because  there  was  thought  to  be  a 
need  of  it  in  the  Congregation.  The  ample,  thorough  and  systematic 
provisions  for  the  nurture  and  training  of  the  children  that  existed  in 
the  Moravian  villages  of  those  days  were  among  their  foremost  char- 
acteristics.  This  indeed  accounts  for  the  fact  that  the  Sunday-school 


624  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

in  its  modern  character  did  not  rise  to  importance  in  the  Moravian 
Church  at  Bethlehem,  as  a  department  of  its  internal  work  until 
many  years  later  when  it  very  gradually  attained  its  place  in  conse- 
quence of  the  decay  of  older  arrangements  and  methods.  The 
Sunday-school  of  1816,  was  opened  for  the  benefit  of  children  about 
the  neighborhood  and  of  apprentices  and  girls  in  service  who  had 
not  been  brought  up  at  Bethlehem  and  whose  opportunities  for 
acquiring  both  secular  and  religious  education  had  been  meagre. 
While  many  children  in  the  vicinity  were  in  a  sadly  neglected 
condition,  it  would  be  an  injustice  to  some  respectable  Christian 
families  to  suppose  that  all  who  were  among  the  scholars  in  those 
years  came  from  careless  and  irreligious  homes.  Boys  and  girls 
gathered  from  considerable  distances,  some  of  them  encouraged  to 
attend  by  Christian  parents  who  gladly  embraced  the  opportunity,  in 
view  of  the  very  crude  character  of  the  few  country  day-schools  and 
the  insufficient  provision  for  religious  instruction  in  their  neigh- 
borhoods. The  exact  date  at  which  "Sister  Polly  Allen,"  as  Mary 
Allen  was  familiarly  called,  commenced  her  little  Sunday-school  for 
girls  in  the  spring  of  1816,  cannot  be  ascertained.  She  quietly  gath- 
ered a  few  children  together  who  lived  near  Bethlehem  in  the  present 
Hanover  Township,  taught  some  the  alphabet,  others  to  spell  and 
yet  others  to  read ;  taught  them  hymns,  told  the^m  Bible  stories, 
had  them  sing  together — Brother  Schaaf  helping  her  in  leading  the 
singing — and  then  gave  them  a  light  repast  before  they  returned 
home.  Their  first  place  of  meeting  was  the  former  dining-room 
under  the  Old  Chapel.  Probably  the  last  member  of  that  Sunday- 
school,  the  aged  widow  Sarah  Yerkes,  of  South  Bethlehem,  died  in 
1896.  At  an  evening  service  on  July  28,  1816,  Shaaf  made  this 
matter  the  subject  of  a  discourse  in  which  he  referred  to  the  general 
activity  of  the  time,  both  in  England  and  America,  in  the  spread  of 
God's  Word  among  adults  and  children,  and  particularly  to  the 
Sunday-school  movement,  and  drew  attention  to  the  duty  Bethlehem 
owed  its  surroundings  in  this  respect.  He  then  stated  that  a  few 
men  and  women  of  the  Congregation  felt  moved  to  open  a  Sunday- 
school  for  children  of  the  neighborhood,  to  be  held  from  one  to 
three  o'clock,  drew  attention  to  the  boys  and  girls  in  service  at 
Bethlehem,  who  should  also  have  the  benefit  of  it  and  asked  for  the 
prayerful  interest  of  the  people  and  for  contributions  to  a  fund 
for  the  purchase  of  books." 

6  A  subscription  list  in  his  hand-writing  is  yet  in  existence  containing  the  names  of  contri- 
butors from  July  29,  1816,  to  September  22,  1818.     They  are  mostly  women.     The  first  on 


i8o7 1825.  625 

The  most  active  among  those  interested  in  the  boys'  department 
was  \\  ilHam  Henry  Van  Vieck,  then  filling  his  first  appointment 
at  Bethlehem,  already  referred  to,  as  superintendent  of  the  young 
men  and  older  boys  of  the  Congregation.  The  formal  opening  of  the 
school  under  official  auspices  took  place  in  the  church  on  August  4, 
1816,  when  thirteen  boys  and  twenty-five  girls  from  the  neighborhood 
gathered  as  the  nucleus,  and  a  number  of  Bethlehem  people  were 
present.  Bishop  Reichel  opened  the  exercises  with  an  address  and 
prayer.  Then  the  scholars  repaired  to  the  places  where  the  schools 
were  to  be  held ;  the  boys  in  the  up-stairs  room  of  the  church,  the 
present  archive-room,  and  the  girls  in  the  Old  Chapel ;  Van  Vleck  in 
charge  of  the  former  and  Alary  Allen  of  the  latter.  Thus  began 
Sunday-school  work  in  Bethlehem.  One  of  the  boys  who  attended 
that  school  was  the  long  and  widely-known  Lutheran  pastor,  Joshua 
Jaeger,  wdiose  father  ministered  at  Schoenersville.  He  made  this 
interesting  statement  himself  when  he  preached,  the  first  time,  in  the 
Moravian  Church  in  Bethlehem  on  December  9,  1849,  during  the 
pastorate  of  Bishop  William  Henry  Van  Vleck,  who  at  the  beginning 
was  superintendent  of  the  school.  The  Rev.  C.  F.  Seidel  took  a 
warm  interest  in  the  work  when  he  removed  to  Bethlehem  in  181 7, 
and  energetically  fostered  every  effort  to  revive  Christian  activity 
among  the  people.  Several  tangible  evidences  of  this  appear  in  the 
records  of  the  years  from  1817  to  1825,  which  deserve  to  be  referred 
to  in  this  connection. 

One,  looking  to  the  cultivation  of  more  substantial  interest  in  the 
missions  of  the  Church,  was  the  organization  of  the  Women's  Mis- 
sionary Society  on  March  8,  1818.  More  than  fift}-  women  met  on 
that  occasion  and,  after  an  opening  service  at  which  Seidel  officiated, 
they  organized  by  adopting  a  few  simple  regulations,  fixing  the 
membership  fee  at  one  cent  a  week,  electing  six  collectors  who  were 
to  report  quarter-yearly  and  who  with  Seidel  as  President  then  con- 
stituted the  Board  of  Managers.     The  Society  was  called  at  first  the 

the  list  is  the  daughter  of  Bishop  Ettwein.  Her  name  is  written  Benigna  Ettwein,  Sr.,  to 
distinguish  her  from  his  grand-daughter  Benigna  about  whose  odd  sayings  and  doings  so 
many  reminiscences,  stories  with  variations  and  fictions,  have  been  current  among  Bethlehem 
traditions.  The  largest  contributions  were  from  Mary  Allen.  On  the  back  of  the  paper  two 
disbursements  are  noted;  one,  June  10,  181 7,  to  Conrad  Zentler,  printer,  of  Phi]adel])hia, 
for  printing  "An  Address  to  Parents  "  (German)  on  sending  their  children  to  Sunday-school ; 
another  September  20,  1818,  for  German  tracts.  Cqj^ies  of  the  ^^Amprache  an  EUerti  in 
Bezug  auf  Sonniags-Schulcn^^  are  preserved  in  the  archives.  The  issue  of  such  an  appeal 
was  decided  upon  by  the  Elders'  Conference  in  May,  181 6. 
41 


626  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,  PENNSYLVANIA. 

"Society  of  Sisters  and  Friends  in  Bethlehem  in  Aid  of  the  Missions 
of  the  United  Brethren."  Its  name  was  later  the  Female  Auxiliary- 
Missionary  Society  in  Aid,  &c.,  then  for  many  years  simply  the 
"Female  Missionary  Society,"  and  eventually  the  "Women's  Mission- 
ary Society."  Its  organization  was  subsequently  elaborated  some- 
what. It  has  had  an  unbroken  existence,  is  yet  pursuing  its  good 
work  and  is  probably  the  oldest  such  organization  at  present  in 
existence  among  women  in  the  United  States.  It  is  of  interest  to 
record  that  one  of  its  earliest  undertakings  was  to  put  into  print,  for 
the  use  of  the  missions,  the  Delaware  Indian  translation  of  Lieber- 
kuehns's  Harmony  of  the  Gospels,  completed  in  1806  by  the  venerable 
missionary,  David  Zeisberger  who,  after  sixty-three  years'  labor 
among  the  Indians,  had  entered  into  rest  in  the  eighty-eighth  year  of 
his  age  at  Goshen,  Ohio,  on  November  17,  1808.  It  was  published 
in  New  York  in  1821.  The  famous  missionary  and  Indian  scholar, 
John  Heckewelder,  then  living  in  retirement  at  Bethlehem,  prepared 
the  copy  for  the  press  at  the  request  of  the  Women's  Society.  Elias 
Boudinot,  the  first  President  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  was 
greatly  interested  in  the  enterprise  and  was  of  much  assistance  in 
securing  the  necessary  financial  aid. 

The  interest  of  the  Women's  Missionary  Society  in  this  particular 
undertaking  was  perhaps  stimulated  by  the  attention  that  was 
aroused  at  Bethlehem  in  those  years  by  another  organization  for  the 
general  cause  of  Bible  distribution,  of  which  Seidel  for  a  few  years 
was  the  foremost  Moravian  promoter.  A  Bible  Society  had  come 
into  existence  in  the  county  in  1819,  auxiliary  to  the  Philadelphia 
Society  of  1808,  now  the  Pennsylvania  Bible  Society.  At  a  meeting 
held  in  the  Court  House  at  Easton,  with  Samuel  Sitgreaves  as  Presi- 
dent and  Joseph  Burke  as  Secretary,  on  November  8,1819,  the  "Bible 
Society  of  Northampton  County,  auxiliary  to  the  Society  in  Phila- 
delphia," was  formed  by  the  adoption  of  twelve  articles  of  consti- 
tution. Its  first  President  was  William  Kennedy  and  its  first  Secretary 
was  Samuel  Sitgreaves.  The  annual  dues  were  fixed  at  one  dollar, 
all  the  clergy  of  the  county  were  constituted  ex  officio  directors,  and 
provision  was  made  for  the  formation  of  auxiliaries  in  the  county. 
Such  a  branch  organization  for  which  a  printed  constitution  of  nine 
articles  was  prepared  by  the  Board  of  Managers  and  distributed  in 
April,  1820,  was  to  be  called  a  "Bible  Association  Auxiliary  to  the 
Bible  Society  of  Northampton  County."  An  auxiliary  was  formed  by 
women,  at  Easton,  on  March  3,  1820,  with  S.  C.  P.  Bishop  as  President 
and  Susan  Sitcfreaves  as  Secretary.  The  onlv  other  auxiliaries  known 


i8o7 1825.  627 

to  have  been  formed  in  the  county  were  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth. 
Here,  however,  there  was  not  a  regular  organization  with  officers  but 
merely  an  association  of  stated  contributors  entitled  to  a  certain  num- 
ber of  Bibles  for  free  distribution  in  return  for  their  contributions. 
This  was  in  response  to  an  appeal  from  Secretary  Sitgreaves,  April  12, 

1820.  The  second  annual  report  of  the  Board  of  Managers,  April  3, 

1821,  contains  the  statement  that,  whereas  at  the  time  of  the  first 
annual  report,  April  4,  1820,  there  were  only  fifty-four  annual  sub- 
scribers, the  number  had  been  increased  by  twenty-five,  and  adds 
the  following:  'Tt  is  but  justice  to  say  that  this  important  addition 
to  the  funds  has  been  chiefly  received  from  the  Moravian  settlements 
of  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth,  whose  clergy  gave  immediate  attention 
to  the  call  made  by  your  Board  upon  the  Christian  benevolence  of 
the  County  in  their  circular  of  the  last  spring;  and  by  their  zeal  and 
exertions  have  not  only  aided  our  funds,  but  promoted  also  the 
objects  of  our  institution  in  opening  a  door  for  the  dispensation  of 
many  volumes  of  the  Book  of  God.  But  whilst  the  Board  would 
make  honorable  mention  of  the  endeavors  of  the  Moravian  Brethren 
in  aid  of  the  common  cause  of  Christians,  and  cheerfully  acknowledge 
the  zeal  of  a  few  other  individuals  in  the  same  cause ;  it  is  with  regret 
that  they  have  to  report  that  similar  attention  has  not  been  given 
to  their  circulars  in  other  districts  of  the  county ;  that  they  have  not 
heard  of  other  subscriptions  made  or  associations  formed,  or 
collections  taken  in  behalf  of  the  most  important  and  disinterested 
of  all  charities."  This  report  of  1821,  states  that  $110  had  been 
sent  to  the  Parent  Society  at  Philadelphia.'^ 

The  better  spirit  of  those  times  manifested  itself  also  in  a  more 
unconstrained  cultivation  of  cordial  relations  with  pastors  and  people 

7  How  long  the  nominal  county  organization  lasted  the  writer  has  not  ascertained.  Its 
denominational  complexion  was  principally  Episcopalian  and  Moravian,  the  active  members 
at  Easton  being  mainly  connected  with  the  parish  of  Trinity  Church.  Some  years  later  the 
associations  there  and  at  Bethlehem  seem  to  have  corresponded,  each  for  itself,  with  the 
treasurer  and  secretary  of  the  Parent  Society.  In  May,  1828,  the  Rev.  John  A.  Hicks 
rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Easton,  in  behalf  of  the  County  Society,  called  upon  pastors  there 
and  at  Bethlehem  to  preach  special  sermons  in  behalf  of  the  Bible  cause.  A  special  effort 
was  then  being  made  by  the  Philadelphia  society  to  have  each  county  canvassed  and  all 
who  were  destitute  of  the  Scriptures  provided  in  three  years.  Three-year  subscribers  were 
solicited.  A  subscription-list  in  response  to  this  special  appeal  with  an  introduction  by 
Seidel,  dated  January  5,  1828,  has  the  names  of  94  Bethlehem  subscribers  for  1828-1830. 
A  letter  of  Robert  Ralston,  treasurer,  May  7,  1828,  acknowledges  ^141.50  as  the  first  in- 
stallment. 


628  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

of  other  religious  bodies  in  the  surrouiuHng  region.  The  Bethlehem 
clergy  frequently  participated,  with  the  musicians  of  the  place,  in 
church  dedications,  harvest-home  festivals  and  the  like,  preached 
in  churches  and  school-houses,  where  it  was  desired  or  seemed  to  be 
needed  and  occasionally  exchanged  pulpits  with  ministers  of  other 
denominations  at  Easton,  Allentown  and  different  points  about  the 
country.  In  this  kind  of  activity  the  Rev.  Wm.  Henry  Van  Vleck, 
until  he  left  in  August,  1817,  and  then  the  Rev.  C.  F.  Seidel  were 
more  conspicuously  engaged  than  any  others.  Such  church  dedica- 
tions referred  to  were  one,  on  September  22,  1816,  in  Springfield 
Township,  Bucks  County,  ten  miles  from  Bethlehem,  and  "a  union 
church  in  Saucon  Township,  four  miles  from  Bethlehem,"  on  May 
26,  1817,  in  both  of  which  Van  Vleck  participated.  One  more  par- 
ticularly noted  was  that  of  the  Schoenersville  Church,  December  25- 
26,  1819.  Seidel  had  preached  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  on 
Ascension  Day,  May  20,  when  Pastor  Conrad  Jaeger,  Pastor  Becker 
and  the  Presbyterian  Pastor  Russell  all  took  part.  About  three 
thousand  people,  says  the  record,  were  present.  A  panic  was  caused 
by  the  collapse  of  the  platform,  but  no  one  was  seriously  injured. 
When  the  church  was  consecrated,  Seidel  again  preached,  together 
with  Pastor  Pomp  of  Easton,  besides  those  before  mentioned,  and 
the  Bethlehem  musicians  rendered  service.  When  the  "Jerusalem 
Church,  nine  miles  from  Bethlehem,"  was  consecrated  on  May  22, 
1820,  Seidel  preached  one  of  the  sermons,  Pastor  Pomp  performed 
the  dedicatory  act  and  the  musicians  of  Bethlehem  participated.  On 
Whitsunday,  June  10,  1821,  Seidel  preached  at  an  organ  dedication 
in  "Christ  Church,  four  miles  from  Bethlehem,"  and  the  next  day  he 
and  the  musicians  participated  in  another  church  consecration,  "four- 
teen miles  from  Bethlehem" — the  record  does  not  state  in  what 
neighborhood.  It  was  to  have  taken  place  the  previous  November, 
but  for  reasons  not  stated  had  to  be  postponed.  On  that  occasion 
Lutheran,  Reformed,  Moravian,  Mennonite  and  Schwenkfeldian 
ministers  participated.  Possibly  some  reader  may  identify  one  and 
another  of  these  indefinitely  mentioned  churches  and  find  some  dates 
or  other  particulars  in  these  pages  that  will  supplement  other  incom- 
plete records.  The  ministers  of  the  neighborhood  who  preached  in 
Bethlehem  during  those  years  were  principally  pastors  Brobst, 
Conrad  Jaeger,  Becker,  Hecht,  Pomp  and  Strasburger.  Other 
clergymen  mentioned  were,  in  September,  1818,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Feltus, 
rector  of  St.  Stephen's  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  New  York, 
who  preached  in  Bethlehem,  and  Bishop  WHiite,  of  Philadelphia,  who, 


BETHLEHEM 
1830 
1848 


i8o7 1825.  629 

on  November  27,  1820,  came  from  Easton,  where  he  had  consecrated 
the  new  church  and  ordained  and  installed  the  Rev.  Air.  Rodney. 
He  was  the  guest  of  Bishop  Hueffel,  who  escorted  him  through  the 
Young  Ladies'  Seminary  and  entertained  him  with  music  on  the 
organ. 

Among  other  visitors  to  Bethlehem  during  those  years,  three 
of  some  celebrity  may  be  mentioned.  One  was  the  Portugese 
minister,  Joseph  Correa  de  Serra,  on  June  20,  1818,  with  Peter 
Stephen  Duponceau,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Historical  and 
Literary  Committee  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society.  They 
came  particularly  to  visit  John  Heckewelder,  whose  "Account  of  the 
History.  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Indian  Nations  who  once 
inhabited  Pennsylvania  and  the  neighboring  States,"  published  under 
the  auspices  of  that  Society,  mainly  at  the  instance  of  Duponceau, 
was  then  going  through  the  press.  Heckewelder — next  to  Zeisberger 
the  most  prominently  associated  with  that  domain  of  Moravian 
activity — departed  this  life  at  Bethlehem  on  January  31,  1823.  The 
text  of  Seidel's  discourse  at  his  funeral  on  the  2nd  of  February — 2 
Tim.  4 :7-8 — was  by  request,  again  used  by  him  at  the  funeral  of  Gen- 
eral Robert  Brown,  on  the  28th  of  the  same  month,  when  he  and  the 
Rev.  Lewis  David  de  Schweinitz  participated  in  the  obsequies,  and  a 
procession  of  a  hundred  and  seven  sleighs  followed  the  remains  to  the 
cemetery.  The  second  notable  visitor  to  be  mentioned  was  Joseph 
Bonaparte,  August  22,  1821.  The  record  states  that  soon  after  his 
arrival  he  received  word  of  the  death  of  his  brother,  the  great  Napol- 
eon, seemed  greatly  affected  and  left  immediately  for  his  home  at 
Bordentown,  New  Jersey,  saying  that  he  would  visit  Bethlehem  some 
other  time.  The  third  was  Bernhard,  Duke  of  Saxe  Weimar,  on 
September  18,  1825.  A  special  concert  was  given  in  his  honor.  He 
came  again  on  the  7th  of  the  following  June,  shortly  before  he  left 
the  country. 

During  the  years  surveyed  in  this  chapter,  various  changes  and 
improvements  of  an  external  character  took  place  at  Bethlehem,  in 
the  midst  of  the  general  struggle  for  freedom  from  the  trammels 
with  which  some  sought  to  hold  everything  stationary  and  keep 
energies  in  suppression.  Some  of  the  changes  were  dictated  by 
official  policy,  under  stress  of  financial  necessit}- :  others  were  the 
result  of  restless  agitation  that  had  to  be  yielded  to.  In  181 2,  the 
old  farm  associations  disappeared  from  Main  Street,  for  then  the 
frequentlv-mentioned  farm  house,  on  what  is  now  the  site  of  Ranch's 
confectionerv,  was  converted  to  the  purposes  of  residence  and  trade, 


630 


A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 


and  new  farm  buildings  were  erected  east  of  the  village,  just  south 
of  the  present  Market  Street  and  east  of  High  Street.  Michael 
Hinkle,  the  tenant — at  whose  funeral  Seidel  officiated,  September  10, 
1825 — was  followed,  as  farmer,  for  some  years  by  his  son-in-law  John 
Roth.  The  last  occupant  of  the  premises  and  last  of  the  succession 
of  Bethlehem  farmers  seems  to  have  been  Lewis  Benner,  when, 
nearly  forty  years  after  the  erection  of  those  new  farm  buildings,  that 
quarter  was  laid  out  in  town  lots.  The  old  Sun  Inn  changed  hands 
several  times,  was  enlarged  and  greatly  altered  in  appearance  by  the 
removal  of  the  mansard  roof,  the  addition  of  a  third  story  and  the 
covering  of  the  outside  walls  with  plaster,  after  the  German  manner 
of  treating  stone  buildings,  which  in  those  days  must  needs  be  fol- 


Great  J^ortliern  Line  of  Stages. 


lowed  in  Bethlehem.  Some,  in  modern  times,  much  regret  this,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  church,  while  they  rejoice  that  the  diaconies  of  the 
Sisters'  House  and  the  Widows'  House  were  too  poor  to  thus 
"improve"  their  buildings,  and  that  therefore  they  now  stand  unplas- 
tered.  Those  alterations  at  the  inn  were  made  during  the  incum- 
bency of  Jacob  Wolle,  who  took  charge  of  it  in  1816,  following 
Joseph  Rice,  1811-1816,  the  successor  of  Christian  Gottlob  Paulus, 
Inn-keeper  Wolle  was  followed,  after  eleven  years  of  service  as  host, 
by  Matthew  Crist,  the  last  who  conducted  it  at  a  salary  for  the  Con- 
gregation Diacony,  it  being  leased  to  tenants  after  1830. 

During  the  years  from  the  retirement  of  Paulus  to  the  close  of 
Wolle's  administration,  certain  characters  are  associated  with  the  old 
inn  as  habitues  who  in  their  several  spheres  and  functions  have  been 
given  perhaps  more  notoriety  by  some  writers  than  they  deserved — 
certainly   more    than   they   would    receive    in   modern    times    when 


i8o7 1825.  631 


THE  MAIL  STAGE, 

Froiii  Philadelphia  for  Bethlehem,  Tf  orthampton,  Ka- 
zftreth,  Wilkesbarre,  Montrose,  O  wego,  Geneva,  Itha- 
ca, Canadaigua,  Bufialoe,  and  Niagara, 

Three  times  a  week. 

Willstart.fi-omMr.  Oeor^e  Yoke's  HoteU  Sip  of  Genera!  Washington' 
No*  CjvDwrth  4th  street,  and  J«r.  Daniel  Leboi's  Whitfe  Swaini  Jnn,  No.  i06. 
Race  stieet,  Philadelphia,  every  Sanday,  Tuesday  and  Thursday,  at  4,  A. 
M.aml  proceed.by  the  following  routes,  tlirougli  German  town,  Fiouerto'wn* 
WAitemarsh,  Montgomery  sqare,  Quakertown  &  Ferysburg,  and  arrive  at 
BeCiilehem  at  5  p.  m.  leave  BetJUehem  the  next  moruing,  &  arrive  at  WUkes- 
ftarre  in  the  evening,  leave  Wilkesbarre  the  sucqeediag  day  at  4,  a.  m. 
and  arrive  by  7,  p.  m.  at  Owego,  and  in  the  same  manner  continue  through 
the  whole  route.  Persons  desiring  to  go  to  Dnffaloe,.  the  Falls  of  JVYo^-ara 
or  Canada,  can  by .  this  line  perform  the  journey  in  five  days,  and  lodge  ev- 
ery night  at  the  first-rate  houses.    Returning 

THE  GMEAT  .rORTHERJ\r  STAGES, 

Via  Buffaloc,  8m;,  will  arrive  at  their  offices  in  Philadelphia  everj  JHfonday, 
Wednesday  and  Friday,  by  5,  p.  m. 

BERWICK. 

The  Stage  for  Berwick,  will  leave  Betidehem  every  Friday  nsOTning,  acd 
arrive  at  Berwick  tlie  next  day,  at  2  p,  m.  leave  Berwick  on  Taeaday,  anu 
arrive  at  Bethlehem,  on  Wednesday,  at  1  p.  m.  There  is  likewise  a  line  of 
Stages  from  Bethlehem  to  JSTew  Tork,  Readin^,Lai\casUr  and  Eastoiu 

Persons  whose  wish  it  is  to  visit  the  J>fineral  Springs  at  Bchooleu*s 
Mountain,  are  informed  that  tliis  is-  the  best  route,  and  that  they  can  be  ac« 
commodated  at  Bethlehem  on  reasonable  terms. 

The  Proprietors  ifispcctfuUy  inform  the  public,  that  they  have  good  horses 
and  Stag  5,  throughout  this  extensive  line— the  drivera^ber,  experienced 
and  ohligi  vg.  -j  ♦  different  Stage-houses  are  noted  ]i>ns<  ^aad  nodetote  in 
*heii'  char^ .« 

la  order  to  conform  to  the  times,  the  proprietors  have 

Reduced  the  Fare 

To  Bethlehem,  only  Three  Dollars, 
From  Bethlehem  to  Wilkesb&rre,  Four  BollarSf 

And  so  proportioned  throughout  the  whole  route — Ba^age  at  the  ds<rac  df 
the  owner.    Way  Passengers  6  cents  per  mile. 

The  proprietors  cannot  but  flatter  themselves  from  the  guperior  accommo- 
dations,  that  the  above  inducements  will  insure  the  continuance  of  dw 
public  favor.  ^^ 

The  Bethlehem  ^'  Philadelphia  > 

Slage  ProprieUr*,  \ 

April «  isiOi  w         *  -* 


632  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

peculiar  individuals  do  not  impress  themselves  so  strongly  nor 
acquire  such  a  prominent  place  in  local  traditions  as  in  the  old-time 
village  days.  One  such  was  a  certain  Daniel  Green,  connnonly  called 
"Doctor  Green,"  who  for  the  space  of  three  decades  figured  as  a 
cicerone,  but  not  by  tlignified  official  appointment  like  Francis 
Thomas — good  old  ""Daddy  Thomas'" — formerly  connected  with  the 
stewardship  of  the  Young  Ladies'  Seminary,  who  departed  this  life 
in  1822,  stricken  in  years,  and  was  laid  to  rest  on  Easter  Day. 
Thomas  was  the  last  who  filled  this  position  as  a  regular  appointee  of 
the  Elders'  Conference.  There  were  divers  cicerones  who  served 
either  by  common  consent,  or  by  reason  of  much  leisure,  or  by 
arrangement  with  the  inn-keeper ;  the  latter  kind  serving  for  a 
gratuity  in  cash,  or  more  commonly,  in  the  good  cheer  of  the  board 
and  bar,  bestowed  by  the  host  or  the  guest  or  both.  The  unofficial 
cicerones  of  those  days — although  many  visitors  found  them  very 
much  to  their  purpose  as  dispensers  of  various  kinds  of  information — 
were  not  always  the  most  desirable  narrators  and  expositors, 
especially  when  they  were  tempted  to  be  more  entertaining  than 
exact.  Some  later  men  who  long  escorted  visitors  about  the  town 
were  more  discreet  and  reliable.  Another  of  those  characters  was 
Doctor  John  Frederick  August  Steckel,  the  man  who  mixed  lan- 
guages, and  whose  "Farewell  to  Bethlehem,"  in  rhyme,  November 
24,  1826,  which  has  been  preserved  in  print,  is  not  without  interest 
in  its  local  allusions — amongst  the  rest  in  revealing  that  the  name 
"Calypso"  was  then  already  applied  to  the  large  island  in  the  Lehigh, 
long  called  also  "Catalpa  Island"  from  its  former  abundant  growth 
of  this  tree.  Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  to  refer  to  that 
dashing  rural  adventurer  in  real-estate  speculation,  Nicholas  Kraemer, 
who  for  a  period  statedly  had  his  exchange  and  entertained  at  the 
Sun  Inn ;  whose  reckless  exploits  have  been  duly  chronicled  by  suc- 
cessive Mrriters ;  whose  fascination  drew  numerous  confiding  rustics 
into  the  whirlpool  of  temptation  to  seek  quick  fortimes  in  buying  and 
selling  land,  but  who  himself  suddenly  sank  in  its  eddies,  more 
execrated  than  mourned.  Tradition  proceeding  from  the  impressions 
of  the  time  has  exaggerated  him  into  a  very  Colossus  of  speculators, 
but  probably,  according  to  present  day  standards  of  bigness,  his 
operations  would  not  now  bewilder  the  people. 

-After  years  of  discussion  centering  around  various  plans,  the 
second  hotel  was  finally  established  before  the  time  to  which  this 
chapter  runs.  It  came  to  pass  eventuallv  in  this  manner.  In  1822 
the  old  village  store  (|uartered  on  the  west  side  of  Main  Street  since 


>      o 

—1        o: 

<         UL 


i8o7 1825.  633 

the  days  of  Christian  Heckewelcler,  was  in  various  respects  unsatis- 
factory to  the  Congregation  Diacony.  It  had  also  begun  to  feel 
private  competition.  Jacob  Rice  had,  in  1819,  been  permitted  to 
open  business  as  a  merchant  farther  up  the  street,  and  had  founded  a 
store  which,  under  successive  owners,  has  had  a  continuous  existence 
to  the  present  time.  A  smaller  store  above  Goundie's  Alley  carried 
on  by  Samuel  Steup  was,  in  1822,  passed  over  to  Christian  Jungman, 
but  did  not  became  a  permanent  business.  Owen  Rice,  Jr.,  the  suc- 
cessor of  his  father  in  charge  of  the  old  diacony  store,  purchased  the 
house  of  C.  G.  Paulus,  the  site  of  the  present  Bee  Hive  store,  in 

1822,  and  there  established  the  stand  which  afterwards  belonged  to 
James  Rice  and  has  had  a  continuance  existence  until  now.  The 
old  store,  in  which  William  Rice  succeeded  Owen  for  a  year,  was 
moved  across  the  street  into  a  building  that  had  been  occupied  for 
a  while  by  John  Jacob  Luch,  baker,  followed  by  his  son,  Christian 
Luch,  who  moved  the  bakery  to  the  log  house  at  the  corner  of  ]^Iain 
and  Market  Streets,  where  the  post-office  now  is.  In  the  building 
vacated  by  Luch,  John  Frederick  Wolle,  in  July,  1824,  took  charge 
of  the  business  which,  in  1845,  was  sold  by  the  Congregation  to 
Augustus  Wolle,  who,  in  1847,  also  purchased  the  premises,  and 
there,  with  dififerent  partners  under  various  firm  names,  long  carried 
on  the  general  store  remembered  yet  by  many. 

December  6,  1822,  the  Congregation  Council  resolved  that  the 
second  hotel  should  now  be  established  in  the  building  before  occu- 
pied by  the  store,  and  should  be  conducted  for  the  Congregation 
Diaconv.  Internal  and  external  changes  were  required.  Outside 
appurtenances,  such  as  stabling,  had  to  be  provided  and  these 
demanded  Koom.  Whether  the  impatient  struggle  of  the  time  to  get 
rid  of  old  things  rendered  men  insensible  to  the  influence  of  venerable 
associations  and  deaf  to  the  appeals  of  historic  and  antiquarian 
instincts,  or  whether  the  ghost  of  Kraemer  lurking  about  the  rear  of 
the  store  so  inflated  the  supposed  value  per  foot  of  that  ground  that 
it  was  thought  too  precious  in  dollars  for  any  of  it  to  remain  occujned 
by  a  little  old  house  for  mere  sentimental  reasons,  no  deponent  hath 
said;  but  the  historic  log  cabin  built  by  Father  Nitschmann  and  his 
pioneer  corps,  in  which  Zinzendorf  sang  of  Bethlehem,  at  Christmas, 
1741.  suggesting  the  name  that  was  given  to  the  settlement,  and 
around  which  liallowcd  memories  clung,  had  to  go,  in  tlie  summer  of 

1823,  in  order  to  make  a  place  for  the  new  livery  stable  of  the  new 
tavern. 


634  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

In  December,  1823,  the  remodeled  store  building  was  finished  and 
furnished  and  before  Christmas  the  new  inn  with  the  sign  of  the 
Golden  Eagle,  painted,  as  it  seems,  by  Peter  Grosh,  of  Lititz,  was 
opened  by  Charles  David  Bishop,  its  first  landlord.  Thus  began  the 
history  of  the  Eagle  Hotel.  Bishop  was  succeeded  two  years  later 
by  Christian  Knauss,  and  he  in  1828  by  Zebulon  Wells,  of  Philadel- 
phia, who  was  sold  out  by  the  sheriff  in  1832.  From  the  autumn  of 
that  year  to  April,  1833,  Jacob  Luckenbach  was  landlord.  Then 
Philip  Brong,  of  AUentown,  took  charge,  followed,  in  1834,  by 
Samuel  Ziegler,  who  became  landlord  of  the  Sun  in  1836.  His  suc- 
cessor at  the  Eagle  was  Thomas  Morgan,  previously  of  Wilkesbarre, 
who  died  in  1837,  and  then  Jacob  Freeman  conducted  it  until 
August,  1843,  when  it  was  rented  to  Caleb  Yohe. 

About  the  time  when  the  new  hotel  was  opened,  a  number  of  lots 
were  leased  and  building  permits  issued,  while  sundry  houses, 
especially  along  Main  Street,  changed  hands.  Some  were  planning 
speculations, in  anticipation  of  developments  they  foresaw  in  the  signs 
of  the  times,  and  others  were  feeling  their  way  about  after  some  new 
trade  or  line  of  business  at  which  they  might  better  themselves. 
Among  the  experimental  novelties  were  a  millinery  stand,  paper-box 
making,  comb  making,  the  opening  of  trade  in  musical  instruments, 
which  became  a  more  substantial  business  than  the  others — the  first 
two  by  C.  G.  Paulus,  the  third  by  John  Warner,  the  fourth  by  Henry 
Gottlob  Guetter,  for  whom  a  shop  was  built  by  Paulus,  adjoining  his 
house  on  Main  Street,  and  who  subsequently  located  on  Broad  Street, 
west  of  the  alley  which  yet  bears  his  name. 

A  little  iron  foundry  was  also  attempted  in  1824,  by  Joseph  Miksch, 
on  the  west  side  of  Main  Street,  north  of  Broad,  where  later  Jacob 
Siegmund  plied  his  trade  with  forge  and  anvil,  vise  and  chisel,  and  at 
last  Henry  S.  Krause,  of  the  same  craft,  had  an  iron  store.  Watch- 
making and  general  silversmiths'  work  seem  to  have  been  among  the 
more  desirable  trades  at  that  time.  In  1820,  Jedediah  Weiss  who, 
although  a  master  of  this  trade,  is  better  remembered  in  connection 
with  the  music  of  Bethlehem,  and  who  had  bought  the  stone  "oats- 
house,"  on  the  east  side  of  Main  Street,  a  little  distance  below  the 
Sun  Inn.  built  there  a  house  in  which  he  carried  on  this  industry  for 
more  than  four  decades.  In  181 5  he  had  succeeded  his  deceased 
master,  John  Samuel  Krause,  and  further  instructed  his  junior  fellow- 
apprentice  and  musical  associate,  Charles  Frederick  Beckel.  John 
Matthew  Miksch — that  veteran  in  the  craft,  last  on  Wall  Street  and 


"'^ 


EAGLE     HOTEL 
1862 
1892 


i8o7 1825.  635 

well  remembered  by  many — had  his  shop,  in  1823,  in  the  old  stone 
"Economy  House,"  farther  down. 

This  was  one  of  the  occupations  in  connection  with  which  the 
village  fathers  had  difficulty  over  against  the  abundance  of  applicants, 
like  with  the  competing  store-keepers  and  mercantile  aspirants,  in 
enforcing  the  old  system  of  protection  and  regulating  supply  and 
demand,  so  that  all  might  make  a  living  and  none  should  drive  others 
out  of  business  in  applying  the  principle  of  "survival  of  the  fittest." 
Charles  Tombler  and  the  others  who  worked  at  the  solid  old  trade  of 
shoe-making  had  more  competition  at  country  villages  and  cross 
roads  than  silversmiths  had.  That  trade,  like  some  others,  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  so  much  coveted.  The  tinsmith,  the  cabinet-mak- 
ers, the  wagon-makers,  the  blacksmiths,  the  butchers  and  the  bakers 
seem  to  have  prospered  fairly  well,  but  there  was  not  room  for  more 
than  one  or  two  of  any  of  these  in  the  village.  Among  those  who  had 
more  desire  to  engage  in  selling  something  than  in  producing  some- 
thing, there  were  a  few,  from  time  to  time,  who,  floundering  as  to 
occupation,  wanted  to  begin  some  little  easy  business  more  in  the  line 
of  "town  ways,"  such  as  selling  oysters  and  other  things  to  eat — and 
drink — and  to  gather  in  the  spare  dimes  of  those  who  were  not  too 
frugal  to  spend  a  little  money  when  they  got  hungry  or  thirsty  for 
something  beyond  the  resources  of  the  home  kitchen,  while  enjoying 
a  place  at  which  to  lounge  and  chat.  For  reasons  which  they  could 
doubtless  defend,  the  ofificial  fathers  were  always  much  averse  to 
encouraging  this  kind  of  enterprise. 

Among  the  original  establishments  of  more  importance  which  men 
desired  to  get  possession  of  was  the  old  grist-mill,  for  this  was  a 
solid  business.  Although  it  did  not  pass  out  of  the  ownership  of  the 
Congregation  Diacony  until  1830.  the  salarizing  of  a  miller  to  run 
it  for  the  authorities  ceased  in  1825.  It  was  leased  to  that  former 
soldier  under  Napoleon,  George  Henry  Woehler.  who  had  come  to 
Bethlehem  in  1817,  and  became  the  successor  of  John  Schneider  at 
the  mill. 

The  old  fulling-mill  annexed  to  it  was  yet  intermittently  run  by 
Matthew  Eggert.  but  its  removal  to  the  saw-mill  was  under  consider- 
ation alreadv  in  1820.  The  grist-mill  and  the  tannery  being  the  most 
conspicuous  of  the  earlv  industries  yet  surviving  in  that  old  part  of 
Bethlehem,  the  desirability  of  good  facilities  of  approach  from  neigh- 
borhoods to  the  west  had  inspired  persistent  efforts  to  secure  a  new 
stone  bridge  across  the  Monocacy  "at  Weinlands  (now  the  slaughter 
house)  from  the  mill  to  the  Allentown  road."     Petitions  presented  in 


636  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

1815  had  been  pronipU\'  granted  in  Xorthampton  County  and  were 
renewed  and  granted  again  in  1818;  but  in  the  new  County  of  Lehigh, 
with  its  competitive  interests  at  AUentown,  they  were  obstructively 
deak  with  until,  at  last,  after  the  third  favorable  report  by  the  Grand 
Jury  of  Northampton  County,  August  2^,  1822,  that  of  Lehigh 
County  finally  took  similar  action  on  the  6th  of  the  following  Sep- 
tember. The  "mill  road"  had,  in  1815,  been  viewed  by  a  jury,  "from 
the  Main  Street  down  past  the  mill  to  the  Monocacy,"  and  for  the  first 
time  declared  a  public  road.  It  was  afterwards  found  on  record  that 
the  section  from  the  mill  to  the  creek  had  been  so  viewed  and 
declared  already  in  1804.  It  may  be  added  in  this  connection  that  at 
this  period  the  definite  establishment  and  naming  of  streets  was 
engaging  attention.  On  June  18,  1819,  after  a  new  locating  of  lines 
and  corners,  the  names,  as  now  borne,  of  Main  Street,  New  Street, 
Cedar  Street  and  Church  Alley  were  first  formally  adopted  by  the 
Congregation  Council,  and  in  September,  that  of  Market  Street, 
which  it  had  been  proposed  to  call  Lombard  Street. 

Tiiere  were  in  1823.  upwards  of  seventy  dwellings  in  the  town,  in 
addition  to  the  church  and  school  buildings  and  those  that  were 
exclusivel}'  shops  and  places  of  business. 

While  the  prospects  were  brightening  and  Bethlehem,  under  the 
relaxed  system  and  some  important  reforms,  might  have  begun  to 
move  forward  smoothly,  a  cloud  yet  hung  over  affairs  because  the 
controversy  with  the  autocratic  Administrator  about  selling  some 
land  to  get  out  of  del)t  still  continued.  He  felt  fortified  in  his  position 
by  the  findings  and  reports  of  the  financial  committee  of  the  General 
Synod,  in  1818.  The  Bethlehem  people  were  not  prepared,  however, 
to  surrender  the  conviction  that  they  owned  their  land.  The  report 
of  a  committee  appointed  at  a  meeting  of  voting  members,  early  in 
1819,  to  consider  the  whole  subject,  was  rendered  in  February,  1821, 
and  ado]:)ted.  The  Administrator  formally  objected  to  certain  points 
and  a  second  conmiittee  was  appointed  to  review  the  first  report  in 
the  light  of  his  objections,  with  the  hope  that  they  might  be  satisfac- 
torily met.  When,  upon  hearing  the  report  of  the  second  committee, 
he  refused  to  recede  in  any  particular  from  his  original  position,  and 
it  became  evident  that  he  would  obstruct  to  the  uttermost,  it  was 
resolved  on  April  10,  to  break  ofif  all  negotiations  with  him,  and  a 
committee  of  nine  was  appointed  to  "lay  the  whole  status  causae 
before  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  with  a  faithful  presentation 
of  the  general  condition  of  things  at  Bethlehem,  after  giving  the 
Provincial  Board  ofificial  notice  of  this  step."   Cunow's  final  efifort  was 


i8o7 1825.  637 

to  induce  his  colleagues  in  that  board  to  interpose  technical  objec- 
tions, and  when  they  decided  to  let  matters  take  their  course,  he  put 
in  the  plea  that  they  ought  to  stand  by  him,  as  a  colleague,  and  by 
the  Sustentation  Diacony  against  Bethlehem,  claiming  that  its  inter- 
ests were  endangered  by  the  action  of  the  Congregation.  Failing 
in  this,  he  found  himself  standing  entirely  alone.  They  resolved  that 
it  was  inexpedient  to  discuss  the  points  of  his  pro  memoria  to  them, 
and  thus  a  breach  resulted  between  him  and  his  colleagues,  in  addi- 
tion to  that  now  hopelessly  existing  between  him  and  the  Bethlehem 
boards,  while  much  bitterness  was  stirred  up  among  the  people  by  his 
course. 

In  July,  1821,  before  the  appeal  sent  by  the  Bethlehem  Land  Com- 
mittee had  been  considered  and  passed  upon  by  the  Unity's  Elders' 
Conference,  a  letter  was  received  from  this  body  announcing  the 
call  of  the  Rev.  Lewis  David  de  Schweinitz,  of  Salem,  North  CaroHna, 
as  Head  Pastor  at  Bethlehem,  and  the  proposed  transfer  of  Cunow 
to  his  place  at  Salem.  De  Schweinitz  accepted  the  call  to  Bethlehem, 
but  that  of  Cunow  had  to  be  revoked  in  consequence  of  strenuous 
objections  at  Salem.  De  Schweinitz  arrived  at  Bethlehem,  December 
15,  1821.  He  was  a  son  of  the  first  Administrator,  John  C.  A.  de 
Schweinitz,  and  had  been  in  Europe  from  the  departure  of  the  family 
from  Bethlehem  in  1798  until  he  returned  to  America  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war,  in  September,  1812,  after  a  voyage  of  much  adven- 
ture and  peril.  Since  that  time  he  had  been  at  Salem.  While  the 
U.  E.  C.  had  misgivings  about  his  willingness  to  step  into  such  a 
position  as  that  which  had  developed  at  Bethlehem,  they  felt  that  in 
general  ability,  requisite  acquaintance  with  all  the  questions  involved 
and  personal  popularity,  he  would  be  more  likely  to  master  matters 
than  any  man  available.  February  5,  1822,  Bishop  Hueffel  connnu- 
nicated  a  letter  from  the  U.E.  C.  to  the  Provincial  Hoard, announcing 
that  Cunow  was  relieved  of  all  his  offices  and  functions  and  tempo- 
rarily retired.  He  left  Bethlehem  \\\t\\  his  family  on  IMay  7,  to  return 
to  Europe.  During  his  long  term  of  service  he  had  displayed  great 
ability,  zeal  and  faithfulness  in  a  variety  of  duties,  and  in  many 
respects  had  been  an  eminently  useful  man.  His  ultra  conservatism 
in  the  matter  of  church  government,  his  extreme  and  uncompromis- 
ing views  on  the  enforcement  of  regulations — failing  to  see  that  much 
in  the  internal  condition  of  the  Congregation  which  he  criticised  was 
simply  the  product  of  such  a  regime — and  finally  his  determination 
to  defeat  the  will  of  the  people  by  means  of  the  power  which  the 
system  gave  him,  were  probably  the  agencies  needed  to  call  forth 


638  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

the  thought  and  action  that  would  produce  the  desirable  changes. 
DeSchweinitz  now  became  Administrator  of  the  estates  in  his  place, 
in  addition  to  his  duties  as  Head  Pastor  and  for  a  while  also  Prin- 
cipal of  the  Seminary  for  Young  Ladies.  His  position  was  difficult 
and  his  labors  were  arduous. 

February  18,  1823,  the  decision  of  the  U.  E.  C.  on  the  land  ques- 
tion that  had  been  appealed  was  received.  While  strongly  urging 
that  controversy  now  cease,  they  took  the  responsibility  of  setting 
aside  the  adopted  report  of  the  financial  committee  of  the  General 
Synod,  which  had  inclined  towards  Cunow's  position,  with  which 
they  did  not  agree.  They  also  called  for  the  formulation  and  adop- 
tion of  new  articles  of  agreement  on  the  basis  of  1771,  between  the 
Administrator  and  Bethlehem,  to  meet  the  situation  and  provide 
against  any  future  controversy  of  the  kind.  On  April  8,  1823,  the 
Bethlehem  Congregation  elected  Charles  David  Bishop,  John 
Frederick  Rauch,  Jacob  Rice,  Owen  Rice,  David  Peter  Schneller 
and  the  Warden,  John  Frederick  Stadiger,  a  committee  to  negotiate 
with  de  Schweinitz,  the  Administrator,  to  this  end.  After  protracted 
deliberations,  such  new  articles,  receiving  the  sanction  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Board — for  they  involved  relations  also  to  the  Sustentation 
Diacony — were  adopted  by  the  voting  membership  at  Bethlehem, 
March  2.  1824.  A  new  agreement  between  the  Proprietor  and  the 
Bethlehem  Congregation  was  also  drawn  by  de  Schweinitz.  It 
embodied  an  explicit  declaration  that  the  title  he  held  to  the  land 
was  a  trust  for  the  Bethlehem  Congregation.  These  discussions,  of 
course,  had  nothing  to  do  with  any  questions  about  the  soundness 
and  validity  in  law  of  the  title  held  by  the  Proprietor.  No  questions 
on  this  point  ever  arose.  The  Proprietor  at  this  time  was  yet  Bishop 
Jacob  Van  Vleck  who,  in  1822,  seven  years  after  his  consecration  to 
the  episcopacy,  had  removed  from  Salem  to  Bethlehem  and  retired. 

?Te  finally  signed  this  agreement  and  thus  the  main  question  was 
settled  in  a  way  that  prevented  a  recurrence  of  such  a  situation  as 
that  which  Cunow,  under  power  of  attorney  from  him,  had  produced. 
There  was  general  gratification  at  the  result  of  these  efforts  and  the 
temper  of  the  people  was  consequently  such  that  the  settlement  of 
other  troublesome  questions  became  easier.  A  gradual  straightening 
out  of  things  that  were  awry  ensued  and  an  era  of  better  feeling  set  in. 
It  was  with  considerable  satisfaction  therefore  that  the  new  Admin- 
i<^trator  left  in  March,  1825,  for  Europe,  to  attend  the  next  General 
Svnod  and  complete  that  part  of  the  business  which  had  to  do  with 
the  General  Wardens  of  the  Unitv.     He  returned  to  Bethlehem  on 


i8o7 1825.  639 

November  30,  to  resume  his  labors.  With  the  end  of  this  episode  a 
distinct  period  in  the  progress  of  things  closed.  Although  the  so- 
called  exclusive  system  continued  a  number  of  years  longer,  there 
was  a  very  different  state  of  affairs  at  Bethlehem  from  that  which 
existed  prior  to  1814,  and  the  "close  regime"  was  no  longer  possible. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


Transition  from  Church- Village  to  Borough. 
1826— 1845. 

The  solution  of  vexed  questions,  the  new  agreements  and  the 
revised  regulations  which  brought  controversy  to  an  end  and  intro- 
duced a  season  of  more  cheerful  activity,  did  not  result  in  a  fixed 
condition.  It  was  merely  the  beginning  of  a  more  natural  and 
orderly  transition  from  the  exclusive  church-village  organization  to 
that  of  a  town  like  others.  Such  a  transition  had  been  not  only  pre- 
pared for,  but  rendered  inevitable  by  the  occurrences  of  the  preced- 
ing years.  External  influences  also  began  to  affect  the  situation 
more  decidedly  than  before,  and  to  produce  new  internal  problems 
in  addition  to  those  which  had  previously  appeared,  making  it  plain 
to  some  far-sighted  men  that  further  reconstructions  would  have  to 
proceed  in  the  direction  which  had  been  taken  until  there  remained 
nothing  more  that  was  unique  in  the  system  of  the  place  and  incon- 
gruous with  its  surroundings  and  connections.  The  transition  was 
very  gradual  and  extended  over  two  decades.  The  events  which 
marked  its  progress  were  mainly  grouped  about  three  principal 
epochs  that  produced  forward  movements  with  pauses  of  a  few  years 
intervening.  Two  of  these  were  chiefly  industrial  and  financial,  one 
was  educational.  The  most  conspicuous  of  the  former  kind  was  at 
hand  when  the  period  embraced  in  this  chapter  opened. 

What  has  been  called  the  modern  carboniferous  age  had  dawned 
in  the  Lehigh  Valley.  No  allusion  has  yet  been  made  in  these  pages 
to  the  discovery  and  early  attempts  to  make  use  of  the  vast  treas- 
ures, now  so  familiar,  that  were  buried  in  the  great  hills  from  which 
the  Lehigh  flows  down.  Tt  has  been  reserved  for  the  time  when  the 
revolutionizing  activities  which  grew  out  of  that  discovery  began  to 
afTect  Bethlehem.  The  record  of  the  advent  of  anthracite  coal  from 
the  upper  Lehigh  into  the  world  of  industries,  and  into  the  body  of 
nature's  ministries  to  human  comfort,  is  such  an  oft-written  and 
familiar  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  region  that  much  space  need 

640 


1826 1 845-  641 

not  be  given  to  it  here.  A  grave  in  the  old  cemetery  at  Bethlehem 
furnished  a  resting-place  to  the  remains  of  one  of  the  pioneers  in 
the  effort  to  make  the  public  believe  that  those  "black  stones  which 
became  black  diamonds,"  found  by  Philip  Ginter,  but  known  before 
that  to  be  there  underground,  could  be  burned  and  were  valuable. 
It  was  in  1792,  when  Bethlehem  was  fifty  years  old  and  the  Assembly 
of  Pennsylvania  authorized  John  Schropp,  the  Warden  of  the  place, 
to  build  the  first  bridge  across  the  Lehigh,  that  Charles  Cist — Halle 
graduate  in  medicine,  former  Russian  army  surgeon,  then  Phila- 
delphia printer  and  some  time  a  Moravian— joined  with  Col.  Jacob 
Weiss,  of  New  Gnadenhuetten — later  Fort  Allen  and  finally  Weiss- 
port — also  of  previous  Moravian  connection,  who  took  the  first 
specimens  of  the  black  mineral,  found  two  years  before  by  Ginter, 
to  Philadelphia ;  Michael  Hillegass — merchant,  musician  and  United 
States  Treasurer  during  the  Revolution — and  several  others  in  mak- 
ing the  first  purchase  of  coal-land  in  the  region  of  that  discovery 
and  in  forming  the  original  Lehigh  Coal  Company.  Schropp  and 
others  who  urged  that  the  building  of  the  bridge  take  precedence 
of  other  improvements  agitated,  were  interested  in  those  projects 
up  in  the  hills,  as  they  were  in  the  building  of  roads  and  the  develop- 
ment of  inland  navigation.  The  bridge  was  significant  of  their 
anticipations  in  the  line  of  material  advance,  and  doubtless  they,  like 
Cist,  Weiss  and  Hillegass,  dreamed  dreams  about  the  black  stones 
far  tip  the  Lehigh ;  for  it  was  only  six  years  after  Weiss  took  the 
first  of  them  to  Philadelphia  that  they  were  experimented  with  at 
the  forge  of  William  Henry,  above  Nazareth,  one  of  the  Moravians 
associated  with  the  enterprise  of  1792. 

It  appears  that  among  the  twenty-six  men  who,  in  1793,  subscribed 
to  the  stock  of  that  primitive  company — fifty  shares  of  $400,  the 
tract  of  coal-land  taken  up  being  1,000  acres — seven  were  Moravians 
holding  twenty  of  the  shares.  Three  of  these  taking  four  shares — 
Schropp  and  two  others — were  Bethlehem  men.  Two,  with  a  share 
each,  lived  at  Nazareth.  It  w^as  in  1805,  the  year  in  which  Warden 
Schropp  died,  that  Cist  also  suddenly  died  of  apoplexy,  after  a  tour 
up  in  the  wild  country,  looking  after  those  incipient  interests,  and 
in  December  his  body  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  old  cemetery  at  Beth- 
lehem, where  his  daughters  lived  and,  like  their  mother  in  Philadel- 
phia, were  Moravians.  Hillegass  had  died  the  previous  year  and 
Weiss,  whose  son  became  prominently  connected  wnth  the  mining 
of  anthracite  after  men  had  ceased  to  declare  in  their  haste  that  it 

42 


642  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA, 

was  worthless,  was  the  only  one  of  those  leading"  three  who  lived  to 
see  their  faith  vindicated.  The  next  year  after  Cist's  death  the  first 
of  the  oft-described  "arks" — floating  coal-bins  that  looked  a  little 
like  the  coal  cars  of  later  years — was  poled  down  the  Lehigh  past 
Bethlehem  with  a  load  of  the  "stone  coal"  which  the  persistent  be- 
lievers in  it  begged  men  at  Philadelphia  to  try.  Discouragement  fol- 
lowed, but  in  1813  the  effort  was  hopefully  revived,  and  on  August  3, 
a  more  imposing  ark  with  twenty-four  tons  passed  under  the  Beth- 
lehem bridge  on  its  way  down  stream  to  the  sea-board.  In  181 5 
it  was  being  sold  at  Bethlehem  by  C.  G.  Paulus,  acting  as  agent  to 
introduce  it.  That  was  the  beginning  of  coal-yards  at  Bethlehem. 
Then  in  1819,  when  those  enterprising  men,  Erskine  Hazard,  Josiah 
White,  George  F.  A.  Hauto,  and  their  associates  of  the  Lehigh 
Navigation  Company,  leased  the  land  of  that  first  coal  mining  com- 
pany, and  vigorous  operations  were  commenced,  with  Hauto  on  the 
ground  superintending  them  and  even  experimenting  with  a  "steam 
wagon"  as  a  substitute  for  oxen  to  draw  the  product  from  the  mines 
— precursor  of  the  locomotives  that  would,  after  the  lapse  of  some 
more  years,  daily  bring  thousands  of  tons  thundering  down  the 
valley — men  at  Bethlehem  who  were  able  and  willing  to  look  about 
them  and  out  into  the  future,  w^ere  stirred  by  the  thought  of  what  it 
might  all  mean  for  their  town,  by  and  by. 

No  wonder  that  the  trammels  in  which  Administrator  Cunow  was 
then  yet  trying  to  keep  them,  with  their  land  held  stubbornly  in  his 
clutch,  were  becoming  intolerable,  as  the  fever  of  enterprise  rose 
with  each  new  report  of  progress  in  those  efforts  up  the  river.  The 
next  year  (1820),  when  the  Navigation  Company  of  1798  and  the 
Coal  Company  of  1792  were  combined  as  the  Lehigh  Navigation  and 
Coal  Company — finally  called  the  Lehigh  Coal  and  Navigation  Com- 
pany and  so  incorporated  in  1822 — the  results  appeared  in  a  whole 
fleet  of  arks  passing  Bethlehem  with  hundreds  of  tons  of  the  valu- 
able fuel  which  men  were  now  learning  how  to  burn ;  and  then  they 
became  a  familiar  sight.  They  were  significant,  in  that  transition 
time,  of  a  transition  also  in  the  associations  of  the  beautiful  Lehigh 
at  Bethlehem  from  the  sentimental  to  the  utilitarian.  The  canal- 
building  period  had  also  opened  in  the  country  to  enlarge  the  visions 
of  men  who  were  interested  in  business.  The  Schuylkill  canal  was 
completed  in  1825,  followed,  soon  after,  by  the  opening  of  the  Union 
canal  and  the  great  Erie  canal,  while  the  grand  scheme  of  transpor- 
tation from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg  by  means  of  the  long  Penn- 
sylvania canal  was  being  rapidly  pushed  forward  with  a  result,  in 


1 826 1845.  ^43 

1831,  of  two  hundred  and  ninety-two  miles  of  canal  and  a  hundred 
and  twenty-six  miles  of  railroad.  The  Lehigh  Valley  was  at  the 
front  in  this  kind  of  enterprise.  With  the  opening  of  the  anthracite 
collieries  of  the  upper  Lehigh,  nine  miles  of  railroad,  for  the  steam 
wagon  at  the  mines,  and  the  first  miles  of  slack-water  navigation 
were  put  into  operation  at  Mauch  Chunk  before  the  end  of  1826. 
Then  followed  naturally  the  rapid  extension  of  the  canal  all  the  way 
to  Easton,  to  supersede  the  less  satisfactory  river  navigation. 

In  the  summer  of  1827,  a  sensation  was  created  at  quiet  Bethlehem 
by  preparations  for  work  at  the  canal.  Excavations  in  the  vicinity 
were  commenced  in  August.  On  June  2,  1829,  the  water  was  first 
turned  into  the  section  that  passes  the  town  and  on  June  10,  the  first 
two  boats  loaded  with  coal  passed  down  from  Mauch  Chunk.  Very 
soon  a  packet  boat  carrying  passengers  was  running.  The  name  of 
the  first  seems  to  have  been  the  "'^'zcan."  The  diary  of  Bethlehem 
mentions  the  arrival  of  a  military  company  from  Philadelphia,  on 
June  24,  1829,  with  the  statement  that  they  proceeded  to  Easton  on 
the  canal-boat.  The  first  effect  at  Bethlehem  was  local  encroachment 
and  necessary  changes  where  the  cut  was  made.  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that  the  meagre  references  do  not  present  a  fuller  picture  of  altera- 
tions in  the  topography.  One  building  that  had  to  be  removed  was 
the  laundry  of  the  Young  Ladies'  Seminary.  The  new  one  was 
finished  early  in  September,  just  before  the  large  force  of  diggers 
invaded  the  locality.  Havoc  was  also  wrought  with  the  fertile  acres 
between  the  Monocacy  and  the  Lehigh  which  had  been  under  tillage 
as  the  "boarding-school  fields."  It  was  then  decided  by  the  authori- 
ties to  abandon  raising  grain  on  that  section  of  school  land.  Another 
change  made  necessary  was  in  the  location  of  a  business  site.  Owen 
Rice,  who  in  1822  had  built  the  grist-mill  up  the  Monocacy,  which 
for  many  years  has  been  a  paint-mill,  had  a  ware-house  for  grain, 
flour  and  feed  combined  with  a  cooper  shop,  near  the  river.  It  was 
rendered  useless  for  him  by  the  building  of  the  canal,  and  was, 
after  that  time,  occupied  for  other  purposes.  In  the  summer 
of  1829,  he  purchased,  to  use  instead  of  it,  for  the  sum 
of  $1,000,  the  abandoned  brewery  property  of  the  former 
Brethren's  House  Diacony,  the  building  in  which,  in  the 
spring  of  1838,  Copeland  Boyd  established  a  paper-mill — its 
site  being  the  first  ground  within  the  limits  of  Bethlehem  deeded 
away  in  fee  simple,  as  a  necessity  to  the  owner  in  negotiating  for 
water-power  from  the  canal — and  which,  after  this  industry  ceased, 
served  as  a  barrel   factory  for  the   Pennsylvania  and    Lehigh   Zinc 


644  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Company  and,  at  last,  as  a  foundry-facing  mill,  until  it  was  consumed 
by  lire,  March  i=,,  1885.  It  occupied  the  site  of  the  present  Diamond 
Roller  Mill  on  the  south  canal  bank  at  the  Main  Street  bridge.  The 
course  of  the  Monocacy  was  also  artificially  altered  somewhat,  to 
facilitate  the  construction  of  the  aqueduct,  and  some  changes  were 
required  at  the  saw-mill,  iiridges,  of  course,  had  to  be  built  across 
the  canal;  one  at  the  Main  Street  entrance  to  the  town  from  the 
river  bridge,  and  a  foot-bridge  leading  over  to  the  saw-mill  from  the 
miller's  house,  ensconced  at  the  foot  of  the  bluff  just  east  of  the 
present  New  Street  bridge,  overlooking  the  old-time  boat-yard — a 
comfortable  and  pleasant  abode,  as  later  improved,  until  the  con- 
struction of  the  Lehigh  and  Susquehanna  Railroad  made  life  a 
burden  to  the  occupants.  Not  only  the  grain  fields  of  the  lowland, 
where  once  the  Friedenshuetten  of  the  exiled  Indian  converts  from 
persecuting  New  York  stood,  but  many  a  line  tree  and  familiar  path, 
with  embowered  nooks  here  and  there,  had  to  be  sacrificed  at  the 
foot  of  Bethlehem's  hill ;  and  the  pitiless  ravages  of  industry  upon 
the  picturesque,  which  have  never  ceased  along  the  course  of  the 
Lehigh  River,  had  fairly  set  in.  The  canal  itself  added  some  pretty 
landscape  features,  after  it  became  old,  which  partly  compensated 
for  those  which  it  destroyed,  but  at  first  the  new  ditch  must  have 
been  a  sight  far  from  attractive,  in  beholding  which  the  thought  of 
increased  business  and  all  that  imagination  could  picture  as  desir- 
able, following  in  the  wake  of  this,  had  to  be  kept  constantly  in  mind 
to  reconcile  many  a  Bethlehemite  to  the  innovation. 

Now  and  then  an  incident  in  connection  with  the  construction  of 
the  canal  is  mentioned  in  the  records  of  Bethlehem,  several  of  them 
of  a  pathetic  nature.  Thus,  on  January  8,  1828,  one  of  the  workmen 
who  approached  a  fuse  which  he  supposed  had  gone  out,  was  sud- 
denly blown  into  the  air  by  the  blast  and  hurled  into  the  river. 
During  August  and  September  of  that  year,  when  the  weather  was 
excessively  warm,  the  vast  quantity  of  up-turned  earth  produced  an 
epidemic  of  fever.  A  foreman  on  the  canal,  a  certain  Alvin  Newton 
from  Connecticut,  died  on  August  7;  his  wife  followed  him  on  Sep- 
tember 14,  and  their  infant  daughter  on  September  28.  They  were 
all  interred  in  the  row  along  the  Market  street  border  of  the  Beth- 
lehem Cemetery.  There  is  a  comment  in  the  diary  on  the  general 
good  behavior  of  the  workmen,  and  gratification  is  expressed  that 
no  disturbance  was  occasioned  by  the  large  number  of  them  v.'ho 
attended  the  Christmas  services.  The  record  at  the  close  of  1829 
reveals  also  some  of  the  fears  and  fancies  of  the  people,  in  the  remark 


1826 1 845-  645 

that  no  harm  had  come  from  stagnant  water  in  the  canal  because  the 
water  was  kept  in  motion,  and  that  there  had  been  no  diminution  in 
the  river  when  the  canal  was  filled. 

Sundry  buildings  were  soon  erected  along  the  canal,  and  in  1830 
the  cluster  received  the  name  South  Bethlehem.  This  name  was 
applied  to  that  portion  of  the  present  West  Bethlehem  which  lies 
between  the  Alonocacy  and  the  Lehigh  from  the  western  end  of 
Vineyard  Street,  where  Lehigh  Avenue- — formerly  Canal  Street, — 
runs  into  it,  to  the  saw-mill  eastward. 

Industries  were  soon  undertaken,  such  as  the  sale  of  lumber  and 
coal  by  Timothy  \\'eiss,  and  the  beginning  of  more  extensive  oper- 
ations in  that  line  was  made  by  Henry  G.  Guetter,  joined  later  by 
others.  They  laid  the  foundations  of  the  well-known  business  with 
which  subsequently  the  names  Borhek,  Knauss  and  Miksch  became 
associated.  Some  even  predicted  that  there  the  business  center 
would  be  in  future  years.  The  most  conspicuous  building  that  arose 
was  Bethlehem's  third  hotel,  the  Anchor  Hotel,  first  kept  by  Captain 
Henry  Woehler.  mentioned  in  the  previous  chapter — afterw'ards  for  a 
while  the  "South  Bethlehem  House" — the  later  widely-known  Fetter 
House,  replaced  a  few  years  ago  by  the  present  commodious  building 
with  the  old  name  retained.  There  the  old  soldier  who  fought  at 
Waterloo  and,  amid  the  more  peaceful  pursuits  of  his  later  life,  be- 
came the  first  Captain  of  the  Bethlehem  Guards  who  faced  no  foes, 
unless  possibly  the  shades  of  those  non-combatant  fathers  who  had 
shunned  the  drill-ground  on  battalion  day.  even  when  there  was  no 
war,  and  paid  their  fines,  had  the  honor  of  entertaining  for  some 
weeks  a  foreign  guest  of  rank,  Maximilian  Prince  of  Wied,  traveling 
as  Herr  von  Brennberg.  Pleased  Avith  the  place,  its  surroundings  and 
its  people,  he  tarried  long  and  added  materially  to  his  collection  of 
American  Naturalien.  He  also  made  sketches  of  scenes  in  the 
vicinity.  Like  earlier  famous  travelers  he  wrote  about  Bethlehem 
in  his  pubHshed  narative.^ 

He  describes  the  river,  the  hills  and  the  flora  of  the  neighborhood 
much  in  the  stvle  of  Dr.  Schoepf,  quoted  in  a  previous  chapter,  and 
comments  on  the  attractive  features  of  Bethlehem  as  well  as  on  its 
material  prospects  at  that  time.     Referring  to  people  he  met,  he  says 


I  Maximilian  Prince  of  Wied — Travels  in  No)-th  America,  translated  from    the   German 
by  H.  Evans  Lloyd,  London,  1843.        The  picture  of  Calypso  Island,  on  which  he  passed 

many  hours typical  of  the  primitive  beauty  of  Bethlehem's  surroundings — given  in  this 

volume,  is  a  reproduction  of  the  sketch  made  by  John  Bodmar,  the  artist,  who  accompanied 
him. 


646  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

■"1  became  acquainted  with  the  Directors  of  this  colony,  Mr.  Von 
Schweinitz,  well-known  in  the  literary  world  as  a  distinguished  bot- 
anist; Mr.  Anders,  the  Bishop  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Seidel.  All  these 
gentlemen  received  me  in  a  very  friendly  manner,  and  Mr.  Seidel,  in 
particular,  showed  me  much  kindness.  Dr.  Saynisch  lives  in  the 
same  house  with  me  and  i  derived  great  benefit  from  his  knowledge 
of  the  country."  Referring  to  his  excursions  in  the  neighborhood 
in  search  of  specimens  he  says :  "The  Rev.  Mr.  Seidel,  who  had  a 
good  library  and  a  taste  for  the  study  of  nature,  had  the  kindness  to 
provide  us  with  the  necessary  literary  assistance.  We  lived  here  very 
agreeably  in  the  society  of  well-informed  men  and  fellow-country- 
men, and  our  residence  at  the  extremity  of  the  place,  close  to  the 
woods  and  fields,  afforded  us  the  most  favorable  opportunity  for  our 
researches  and  labors ;  and  our  landlord,  Mr.  Woehler,  from  West- 
phalia, did  everything  in  his  power  to  assist  us  in  our  occupations." 

The  broadening  horizon,  perceptible  at  Bethlehem  at  the  period 
introduced  in  this  chapter,  was  not  merely  in  the  realm  of  material 
business.  It  appears  also  in  the  growing  spirit  of  American  citizen- 
ship supplanting  the  idea  of  being  "a  peculiar  people,"  self-centered 
and  ruled  in  thought  and  practice  only  from  within,  which  was  foster- 
ed by  the  regime  of  the  preceding  several  decades.  The  authorities 
of  the  village  no  longer  deprecated,  as  unsuitable  and  tried  to  sup- 
press such  things  as  patriotic  demonstrations,  but  encouraged  and  led 
off  in  them,  in  so  far  as  they  were  of  a  character  consistent  with  good 
order  and  Christian  decorum.  They  no  longer  merely  mourned  over 
Fourth  of  July  ebullitions,  as  evidences  of  degeneracy,  but,  by  a  more 
liberal  and  rational  course,  they  held  unseemly  excesses  in  check 
more  successfully  than  had  previously  been  done  by  the  vain  attempt 
at  stern  repression.  They  even  tolerated  shooting.  On  July  4,  1826, 
an  elaborate  celebration  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  was  ushered  in  by  a  salute  of  fifty  guns,  in  accord- 
ance with  a  resolution  of  the  Congregation  Council.  At  the  jubilee 
services  the  church  was  elaborately  decorated,  a  feature  being  fifty 
large  boquets  of  flowers  artistically  placed.  The  best  music  of  that 
highly  musical  period  was  rendered.  The  Rev.  C.  F.  Seidel  preached 
in  German  in  the  forenoon,  the  Rev.  L.  D.  deSchweinitz  delivered 
an  Fnglish  oration  in  the  afternoon  and  a  special  celebration,  mainly 
of  a  musical  character,  took  place  at  the  Young  Ladies'  Seminary  in 
the  evening.  On  that  memorable  day,  the  second  and  third  Presi- 
dents of  the  United  States,  John  Adams  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  both 
signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  departed  this  life,  and 


1 826 1845.  647 

on  August  0,  memorial  services  were  held  at  Bethlehem,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  proclamation  of  the  President  of  that  time,  John 
Quincy  Adams,  son  of  John  Adams.  Solemn  chorals,  as  at  the 
death  of  a  member  of  the  Church,  were  played  by  the  trombonists 
at  six  o'clock.  After  the  bell  had  been  tolled  half  an  hour,  a  German 
service  with  preaching  by  Seidel  was  held  at  half  past  ten.  A  similar 
service  took  place  in  English  at  three  o'clock,  when  de  Schweinitz 
preached,  and  in  the  evening  there  was  a  rendition  of  Mozart's 
requiem  mass.  It  was  in  that  same  summer  of  1826,  that  a  very 
handsome  piece  of  embroidery,  executed  by  pupils  of  the  Young 
Ladies'  Seminary,  after  being  exhibited  at  the  closing  exercises  on 
July  28,  was  sent  to  Mrs.  Adams,  wife  of  the  President,  who  received 
it  with  pleasure  and  courteously  acknowledged  it. 

On  July  4,  1829,  the  interests  of  an  organization  which  for  some 
years  commanded  wide  attention  and  was  regarded  as  of  great  im- 
portance b}-  many  throughout  the  country,  but  is  now  almost  for- 
gotten, were  first  presented  at  Bethlehem,  where  it  met  a  cordial 
response  and  where,  for  a  number  of  years,  collections  in  aid  of  its 
objects  were  annually  taken  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  or  the  nearest 
convenient  day,  in  accordance  with  the  appeal  and  suggestion  of  its 
officers  to  the  Christian  public.  This  was  the  American  Coloniza- 
tion Society,  sometimes  called  also  the  African  Colonization  Society, 
which  came  into  existence  in  December,  1816.  with  its  headquarters 
at  the  National  Capital  and  with  men  like  Bushrod  Washington, 
Henry  Clay,  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke,  General  Jackson  and 
others  of  eminence  among  its  early  officers  and  promoters. 
Numerous  state  auxiliaries  were  formed  later.  Its  purpose  was  to 
solve  the  negro  problem  in  the  United  States  by  deportation  and 
colonization  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  where  the  first  colony, 
Monrovia,  in  Liberia,  was  founded  in  1820;  and  by  means  of  such 
colonies  to  promote  philanthropy  in  efforts  to  break  the  slave  trade 
and  to  spread  civilization  and  religion  in  that  region.  In  1837.  the 
State  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  which  had  established  a  colony  at 
Bassa  Cove,  opened  correspondence  with  the  Moravian  authorities 
in  reference  to  securing  reliable  Christian  negroes  from  the  mis- 
sions of  the  Church  in  the  West  Indies  as  assistant  missionaries, 
teachers  and  industrial  leaders  at  those  .^Vfrican  stations  on  the  dark 
coast  where,  a  hundred  years  before,  the  Moravian  Church  had 
made  a  first  attempt  through  the  agency  of  a  converted  native  to 
found  missions.  Strangely  enough,  the  extreme  abolitionists  and 
the    slave-traders    joined    from    opposite    ends    in    combating    this 


648  A    HISTOKV    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

scheme,  which  was  evenluall)-  abandoned  as  not  practicable,  so  far 
as  its  purpose  in  connection  with  the  racial  and  social  problem  was 
concerned  which  the  United  States,  by  fostering  the  institution  of 
slavery,  had  imposed  upon  itself  and  with  which  the  Nation  is  yet 
struggling.  The  interest  manifested  at  Bethlehem  in  the  experi- 
ment, so  long  as  it  was  persevered  in,  caused  the  Fourth  of  July 
collection  for  the  support  of  this  object,  with  occasional  addresses 
in  its  interest,  to  be  continued  as  a  feature  of  the  annual  routine. 
The  suggestive  associations  of  this  enterprise  were  quickened  by 
such  occasions  as  the  celebration,  in  1832,  of  the  centennial  anniver- 
sary of  the  beginning  of  Moravian  missions  among  the  negro  slaves 
of  the  West  Indies,  which  visibly  increased  the  waning  missionary 
zeal  at  Bethlehem,  as  did  also  the  celebration  of  the  fiftieth  anni- 
versary of  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel.  An  interesting 
tangible  evidence  appeared  several  years  later. 

In  the  early  autumn  of  1840,  several  young  men,  students  of  the 
Theological  Seminary  and  others — the  prime  mover  being  David 
Zeisberger  Smith,  son  of  a  missionary  to  the  Indians,  and  himself  a 
candidate  for  that  service — promulgated  the  following:  "A  Plan 
for  instituting  a  Missionary  Society  of  Young  Men  at  Bethlehem, 
Penna.  All  single  men  who  are  in  favor  of  furthering  the  missions 
of  the  United  Brethren  among  the  Heathen  are  here  respectfully 
invited  to  sign  their  names,  in  order  to  form  a  society  exclusively  for 
this  purpose."  Twenty-nine  yoimg  men  signed  the  paper.  A  meet- 
ing was  held  in  the  boys'  school-house,  September  7,  1840,  and  the 
Society  was  organized  by  the  election  of  David  Zeisberger  Smith  as 
President ;  Henry  J.  Van  Vleck,  Vice-President ;  Augustus  Wolle, 
Recording  Secretary ;  William  H.  Warner,  Treasurer ;  Amadeus  A. 
Reinke,  Edward  H.  Reichel  and  Albert  Butner,  Directors.  A  month 
later  the  office  of  Corresponding  Secretary  was  added,  the  first 
incumbent  being  Maurice  C.  Jones.  A  constitution  was  adopted  at 
that  meeting  and  signed  by  thirty-one  young  men.  Thus  was 
founded  the  Young  Men's  Missionary  Societ\-  which,  through  many 
vicissitudes,  with  frequently  alternating  ebb  and  ilow  of  zeal;  through 
various  experiments  with  notions  to  alter  its  character,  elaborating 
its  scope  and  variety  of  objects,  expanding  it  at  times  into  a  kind 
of  general  Christian  Association,  converting  it  into  a  literary,  library 
and  lecture  bureau,  or  into  a  guild  for  the  intellectual  and  moral 
imi)rovement  of  the  young  men  of  the  town,  the  organization  mean- 
whWo  several  times  almost  dying,  but  always  getting  back  again  to 
its  real  iniriiosc.  has  had  an  unbroken  existence  to  this  time.     Onlv 


1826 1 845-  <^49 

two  of  its  original  members  survive  at  this  writing :  Simon  Ran,  of 
Bethlehem,  and  its  first  Vice-President,  Bishop  H.  J.  \  an  Vleck,  of 
Gnadenhuetten,  Ohio.  In  connection  with  reference  to  these  revivals 
of  interest  in  evangelization  among  the  heathen,  another  symptom 
of  the  opening  and  broadening  spirit  in  relation  to  general  condi- 
tions in  the  country,  that  was  at  work  at  Bethlehem,  as  in  other  old 
Moravian  congregations,  may  be  mentioned.  This  was  the  growing 
conviction  among  many  who  were  living  and  thinking  in  touch  with 
the  movements  of  the  time,  while  they  also  kept  in  mind  the  old  pro- 
fession of  Moravian  settlements  to  be  centers  of  religious  inliuence, 
that  Moravians  ought  to  resume  their  share  of  duty  in  the  cause  of 
evangelization  at  home  and  engage  in  Home  Mission  work.  There 
were  those  at  Bethlehem  who  felt  that  in  this  matter  also  the  com- 
munity ought  to  extricate  itself  from  the  trammels  of  the  system 
they  were  endeavoring  to  shatter.  It  was  a  natural  feeling  for  those 
men  to  cherish  who  were  both  business  men  and  Christians  and  who 
in  both  respects  were  alive  to  the  demands  of  the  time.  This  sub- 
ject had  engaged  attention  at  a  Synod  in  Bethlehem  in  1824.  It 
was  considered  in  discussing  the  American  situation  at  the  General 
Synod  of  1825.  Interest  w^as  awakened  at  Bethlehem  in  the  first 
distinct  move  in  the  direction  of  modern  church  extension  made  in 
the  State  of  Indiana  in  1829,  in  the  proposition  to  organize  work 
among  the  German  colonists  who  had  settled  in  the  beech  forest  of 
Wa}Tie  County,  Pennsylvania,  in  1828,  and  in  the  enterprise  started 
by  New  York  Moravians  in  1830,  in  Washington  County,  in  that 
State.  The  next  General  Synod  in  Europe,  held  in  1836.  gave  utter- 
ance to  views  decidedly  favorable  to  such  a  return,  on  the  part  of 
American  Moravians,  to  the  attitude  and  policy  of  the  days  before 
the  Revolution.  Although  the  movement  then  halted  while  further 
local  problems  were  engrossing  attention,  and.  so  far  as  Bethlehem 
was  concerned,  a  definite  organization  for  aggressi\e  church  activity 
at  home  did  not  come  into  existence  until  the  nethlehem  Home  Mis- 
sion Societv  was  formed  in  1849.  the  first  stirring  in  this  direction 
took  place,  along  with  other  agitations,  when  the  advent  of  coal  and 
canal  opened  a  new  era  of  progress.  There  were  some  at  that  time 
whose  ideas  of  moving  forward  were  large  enough  and  high  eniMigh 
to  embrace  more  tlian  merely  floating  some  kind  of  business  on  the 
new  waves  of  prosi)erity  that  glided  down  the  canal,  and  breaking 
up  the  lease-svsteni  so  that  they  might  redeem  their  groimd  rents, 
build  houses  ad  lihifinn,  purchase  other  lots  and  share  in  the  advan- 
tage of  a  rise  in  value. 


650  A    HlbTUKY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

The  period  of  new  prosperity  that  opened  with  the  completion  of 
the  canal  did  not  last  long.  The  financial  reaction  that  so  generally 
followed  the  inordinate  rush  of  public  improvements  in  the  country 
and  the  attendant  headlong  ventures  in  speculation,  soon  afifected 
Bethlehem  also,  and  many  who  had  encumbered  themselves  in  over- 
confident undertakings  were  stranded,  for  their  resources  were  too 
meagre  to  enable  them  to  survive  the  crisis.  A  season  of  dire  per- 
plexity for  those  who  controlled  the  property  and  managed  the 
finances  of  the  Congregation  and  of  the  Unity  or  Church  General 
at  Bethlehem  ensued.  The  enlargement  of  the  credit  system  that 
had  proceeded  beyond  the  limit  of  safety  almost  proved  ruinous. 
The  Bethlehem  Diacony  was  heavily  in  debt  to  the  Administrator 
who  represented  the  General  Wardens  of  the  Unity,  for  several  suc- 
cessive years  closed  its  annual  accounts  with  a  considerable 
deficiency  and  yet  had  abundant  resources  latent  in  the  land  held  for 
it  in  trust  by  the  Proprietor.  The  increasing  desire  of  property 
owners  to  have  the  lease-system  abolished  and  the  disposition  of 
some  to  agitate  the  matter  without  due  consideration  of  all  the 
interests  that  needed  to  be  guarded  by  proceeding  with  much  delib- 
eration and  caution ;  even  the  readiness  of  some  to  use  various  little 
advantages  of  the  situation  to  embarrass  and  undermine,  with  a  view 
to  forcing  the  issue,  served  to  render  the  state  of  alTairs  pro- 
duced by  this  financial  crisis  ver}^  perplexing.  There  had  been 
what  would  be  called  in  present-day  speech  "a  building  boom." 
The  straits  into  which  various  individuals  were  brought  sub- 
jected the  Administrator  and  the  Congregation  Diacony  to  the 
necessity  of  purchasing  numerous  houses  in  order  to  prevent 
them  from  coming  under  alien  ownership  at  sherifi's  sale ;  for 
it  must  be  remembered  that  the  real  reason  for  maintaining  the 
lease-system  had  been,  not  financial  policy  in  view  of  increasing 
value,  but  to  preserve  the  exclusive  church-village  organization  by 
enabling  the  authorities  to  thus  discriminate  and  restrict  in  the 
matter  of  possession  of  buildings  and  residence  in  the  place.  The 
number  of  persons  among  residents  who  were  not  members  of  the 
Church  had.  up  to  this  time,  been  very  small  and  the  authorities  had 
been  able  to  exercise  strict  control  in  the  question  of  persons  to 
whom  they  would  lease  property,  besides  retaining,  by  mutual  agree- 
ment, the  power  to  terminate  each  lease  at  the  expiration  of  a  year 
or,  in  case  of  a  clear  violation  of  contract,  to  annul  it  at  their  dis- 
cretion. But  the  number  of  such  non-members  was  slowlv  increas- 
ing through  various   circumstances  which  could   not  be   prevented. 


1826 1845-  651 

The  necessity  of  deriving  income  from  the  properties  that  had  to  be 
thus  bought  in  compelled  the  authorities  to  be  less  select  and  rigid 
in  the  matter  of  tenants  than  they  desired.  It  is  easy  to  understand 
that  if  one  after  another  such  property  were  allowed  to  simply  go  to 
the  highest  bidder  at  sheriff's  sale,  all  control  over  the  ownership  of 
many  buildings  would  soon  be  lost,  and  complete  demoraUzation  of 
the  system  would  ensue. 

Two  unpleasant  features  of  the  situation  especially  aggravated 
these  embarrassments.  One  was  the  fact  that  some  who  were  com- 
pelled to  sacrifice  their  houses  and  some  who  saw  the  shortest  and 
easiest  way  out  of  their  dilHculties  in  letting  them  simply  get  into 
the  sheriff's  hands,  knowing  that  under  existing  circumstances  the 
Administrator  would  have  to  buy  them,  took  improper  advantage  of 
this  way  out.  Even  worse  were  cases  in  which  by  collusion  the 
valuation  was  run  up  unfairly  by  the  jury  appointed  under  the 
arrangement  that  existed  to  appraise  the  buildings.  The  other 
feature  of  the  troublesome  situation  referred  to  was  the  assertion, 
freely  circulated  by  designing  persons,  that  there  were  flaws  in  the 
form  of  the  house-leases,  so  that  their  terms  and  conditions  could 
not,  if  put  to  the  test,  be  insisted  upon.  Inasmuch  as  all  the  power 
the  authorities  had  to  maintain  the  regulations  of  the  village  and  be 
rid  of  undesirable  people  lay  in  the  terms  of  these  leases,  this  grow- 
ing impression,  fostered  by  indiscreet  and  not  over-conscientious 
individuals  among  those  men  of  the  place  who  were  trying  to  hasten 
the  dissolution  of  the  system,  produced  a  disposition  in  some  quar- 
ters to  violate  contracts  and  defy  ejectment;  in  others  to  ignore  the 
existing  rules  of  the  village  when  an  advantageous  opportunity 
occurred  to  sub-let  apartments.  In  1830,  a  legal  opinion  on  this 
subject  was  procured  of  that  distinguished  jurist,  Horace  Binny.  He 
declared  that  there  was  no  flaw  in  the  leases  and  that  no  jury  could 
without  violation  of  conscience  frustrate  the  purpose  of  a  quit-notice 
under  their  terms ;  but  that,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  jury  required  for 
summarv  procedure  by  the  sheriff  rendered  an  unjust  verdict,  there 
was  no  process  for  redress.  The  Proprietor  could  avoid  this  last 
resort  by  the  slower  course  of  issuing  a  writ  of  ejectment  against  a 
refractorv  tenant.  A  further  legal  opinion  was  gotten  on  the  ques- 
tion whether  the  Proprietor,  in  cases  of  seizure  by  the  sheriff,  to 
which  some  were  purposely  letting  things  come,  was  compelled  to 
enter  as  a  bidder  in  order  to  save  the  situation.  The  opinion  was 
that,  while  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  the  sheriff  from  seizing  the 
property  of  a  lessee,  the  purchaser  could  not  acquire  more  right  in 


652  A    HISTORV    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

the  house  than  its  owner  had,  but,  hkc  him,  was  bound  by  the  terms 
of  the  lease ;  that  the  sum  bid  at  the  sale  could  not  control  an 
appraisement  made  under  the  terms  of  the  lease,  even  though  it 
might  influence  the  appraisers,  but  that  they  could  not  go  beyond 
"the  actual  present  value  of  the  property"  which  their  oath  bound 
them  to  determine.  Mr.  Binny  advised  that  the  Proprietor  com- 
municate at  such  a  sheriff's  sale  what  the  circumstances  were  under 
the  lease  and  enter  objection  to  the  sale  taking  place.  Then,  if  the 
sheriff  proceeded — as  he  probably  would  have  to — at  once  annul  the 
lease  in  the  hands  of  the  possessor  and  insist  on  the  appraisement, 
as  provided  for.  If  the  purchaser  was  one  who  would  be  an  unob- 
jectionable possessor  or  occupant,  a  new  lease  could  then  be  made 
to  him.  It  was  advised,  however,  by  all  means  to  avoid  litigation 
in  the  courts,  in  the  interest  of  all  concerned,  in  view  of  the  unusual 
nature  of  the  whole  arrangement  and  the  questions  that  might  be 
raised  by  counsel  not  thoroughly  conversant  with  its  peculiarities  or 
disposed  to  needlessly  shake  confidence. 

These  various  points  sufficiently  reveal  the  perplexities  of  the  sitti- 
ation,  the  internal  conditions  that  were  making  it  very  difficult  to 
maintain  the  lease-system  and  all  that  was  dependent  upon  it,  and 
the  circumstances  that  forced  the  conviction  upon  deSchweinitz,  who 
was  then  the  Proprietor  and  Administrator,  and  upon  the  majority 
of  his  colleagues  in  the  Provincial  Board,  that  the  time  had  come 
to  take  steps  in  the  direction  of  reconstrticting  the  entire  system ; 
even  doing  away  eventually  with  the  proprietorship  and  abandoning 
the  exclusive  pohty.  It  was  concluded,  however,  that  it  would  not 
be  wise  to  proceed  with  such  measures  during  the  financial  crisis  and 
the  excitement  that  prevailed,  and  that  the  preliminary  steps  must 
be  taken  quietly  and  leisurely ;  at  every  step  consulting  legal  counsel 
thoroughly  competent,  through  a  careful  study  of  the  situation  and 
its  genesis,  to  give  advice  that  could  be  relied  upon.  In  June.  1833, 
when  these  conclusions  were  recorded,  five  such  properties  that  had 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  sheriff  had  been  purchased  in  one  year 
at  a  cost  of  $13.790 — one  of  them  being  the  new  hotel  of  Henry 
Woehhler  at  the  canal,  for  $6,000.  Among  the  special  financial  meas- 
ures adopted  in  1829  and  1830,  to  relieve  the  Congregation  Diacony 
of  unprofitable  operations,  was  the  sale  of  several  industries  that  had 
been  conducted  bv  lessees.  The  grist-mill  was  sold  to  Charles 
Augustus  Luckcnbach  and  the  tannerv  to  Joseph  Leibert  and  his 
5on   Janie>i.     The   plan   of  having  the   hotels  conducted  bv   salaried 


i826 1845.  653 

landlords   was  given  up.     Although  these  establishments  were  not 
sold  at  that  time,  they  were  leased  to  private  parties. 

During  the  summer  of  1831,  the  hardships  of  the  situation  were 
increased  by  an  epidemic  of  fever.  The  hotels  were  emptied  and 
scores  of  people  in  the  village  were  prostrated.  During  July  and 
August,  there  were  frequently  two  and  once  three  funerals  on  one 
day.  The  record  states  that  seven  persons  who  were  not  members 
of  the  Church  died.  One  of  these  was  the  Hon.  William  Jones,  of 
Philadelphia,  who  had  been  Secretary  of  the  Navy  under  President 
Aladison.  He  was  on  his  way  to  the  mountains  for  the  benefit  of  his 
health,  was  taken  seriously  ill  after  he  left  Bethlehem,  had  to  return 
and  on  September  6,  passed  away  at  the  Sun  Inn.  In  accordance 
with  his  special  recjuest  his  remains  were  interred  in  the  Bethlehem 
cemetery.  The  diary  notes  the  interesting  fact  that  sixty  years 
before,  he  had  worked  as  an  apprentice  at  boat-building  on  the 
Lehigh  at  Bethlehem.  On  July  3  of  that  same  year,  the  venerable 
Bishop  Jacob  Van  Vleck  departed  this  life.  He  had  continued  to  be 
the  Proprietor  of  the  estates  of  the  Church  until,  on  December  4, 
1829,  he  was  persuaded,  in  view  of  his  feebleness  and  the  pre- 
carious condition  of  affairs,  to  make  a  general  deed  to  the  Adminis- 
trator, the  Rev.  L.  D.  deSchweinitz,  who  then  constituted  the  son 
of  the  previous  Proprietor,  the  Rev.  William  Henry  Van  Vleck,  his 
heir  and  thus  the  next  in  the  succession  of  Proprietors.  Following 
upon  all  of  the  depressing  circumstances,  came  a  severe  blow  in  the 
sudden  death  of  deSchweinitz  on  February  4,  1834.  Bearing  the 
brunt  of  the  difficulties,  and  reUed  upon  by  all  for  leadership,  it 
seemed  as  if  none  could  so  ill  be  spared  just  then.  His  health  had 
been  failing  for  some  time,  but  none  were  expecting  his  sudden 
departure.  He  was  greatly  mourned  throughout  the  Church,  and  his 
wide  reputation  in  the  scientific  world  as  a  botanist  of  distinguished 
rank,  caused  his  death  to  attract  much  public  attention.  Eugene  A. 
FrueaufT,  a  son  of  the  Rev.  John  Frederick  Frueaufif,  had  been  assist- 
ing him  and  now  took  temporary  charge  of  the  business  of  the 
Administration,  in  consultation  with  the  Rev.  John  Gottlieb  Herman, 
Principal  of  Nazareth  Hall,  one  of  the  executors  of  deSchweinitz's 
estate,  along  with  Warden  Stadiger,  of  Bethlehem ;  the  Rev.  John  C. 
Bechler,  President  of  the  Provincial  Board  at  Salem,  N.  C. ;  the  Rev. 
Theodore  Shultz,  the  Administrator  at  that  place — deSchweinitz 
having  been  also  the  Proprietor  of  the  Wachovia  lands — and  the 
Rev.  W.  H.  A'^an  \neck,  who  now  became  Proprietor.     On  Septem- 


.654  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

bcr  27,  1834,  the  Rev.  Philip  Henry  Goepp  arrived  from  Europe  to 
assume  the  office  of  Administrator. 

To  preserve  the  connection  of  leading  officials,  it  may  be  men- 
tioned, furthermore,  that  on  March  21,  1827,  Bishop  Hueffel,  whose 
wife  died  in  December,  1824,  left  Bethlehem  to  return  to  Europe, 
where  he  became  a  member  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference. 
Bishop  John  Daniel  Anders  arrived  from  Europe  on  March  29,  1828, 
to  take  his  place  as  President  of  the  Provincial  Board.  He  assumed, 
temporarily,  the  duties  of  the  Head  Pastor  at  Bethlehem  after  the 
death  of  deSchweinitz.  The  other  members  of  the  pastoral  corps 
were  the  Rev.  C.  F.  Seidel,  Principal,  and  the  Rev.  J.  F.  Frueaul¥, 
who,  after  an  interval  of  absence  in  Europe,  resumed  this  connection 
in  November,  1835,  and  continued  in  his  old  age  to  render  assistance 
until  his  sudden  death,  November  14,  1839,  at  an  inn  eighteen  miles 
from  Bethlehem,  on  the  way  to  Philadelphia. 

The  turmoil  of  the  previous  few  years  had,  to  a  great  extent, 
abated  when  the  Rev.  Philip  H.  Goepp  entered  upon  the  difficult 
duties  of  his  office  as  Administrator,  in  September,  1834,  but  the 
financial  burdens  and  the  inherent  problems  of  the  situation 
remained.  Upon  him  devolved  the  task  of  directing  the  course  of 
development  which  his  eminent  predecessor  had  prepared  for. 

Now  came  the  second  important  epoch  of  this  transition  period 
with  which  distinct  forward  movements  are  associated.  This  was 
the  advent  of  the  era  of  public  schools.  During  the  preceding  six 
years,  two  special  efforts  had  been  made  to  give  the  boys'  school  of 
the  village  a  more  satisfactory  character.  On  January  14,  1830,  a 
meeting  of  citizens,  with  John  Warner  as  President  and  John  Oerter 
as  Secretary,  appointed  Charles  F.  Beckel,  Timothy  Weiss  and  John 
Oerter  a  committee  to  report  a  plan  of  improvement.  Their  report 
was  adopted  at  another  meeting  on  the  19th,  and  submitted  to  the 
Elders'  Conference  of  the  village,  who  appointed  eleven  men  to 
further  take  the  matter  in  hand.  Consultations  were  held  and  inter- 
views were  had  with  Jacob  Kummer  and  David  Schneller,  teachers 
of  the  first  and  second  divisions  of  the  school  respectively,  and  some 
minor  measures  in  the  direction  desired  were  taken,  but  nothing  very 
decided  resulted  from  the  eflfort.  George  Fetter,  who  at  intervals 
engaged  in  some  lines  of  special  teaching,  removed  to  Lancaster  in 
1830.  His  wife  had  been  keeping  the  primary  school,  and  there 
were  now  two  applicants  for  the  position.  One  was  the  wife  of  the 
old  organist,  John  Christian  Till.  The  other  was  Mrs.  Christ,  wife 
-of  Matthew  Christ,  who  in  April  of  that  year  retired  from  the  man- 


i826 1845.  655 

agement  of  the  Sun  Jnn.  The  school  was  entrusted  to  Mrs.  Christ. 
Subsequently  its  enlargement  and  division  brought  her  husband,  a 
former  Nazareth  Hall  teacher,  also  into  requisition,  and  thus  two  of 
the  most  prominent  and  capable  Bethlehem  school-teachers  of  that 
period  came  upon  the  scene.  Matters  then  ran  on  until  1834,  when 
agitation  began  anew,  perhaps  under  the  stimulus  of  general  popular 
discussion  on  the  subject  of  common  schools.  A  meeting  of  fathers, 
guardians  and  masters,  on  May  26,  1834,  referred  the  problem  of 
school  improvement  to  a  new  committee  consisting  of  Dr.  Abraham 
L.  Huebener,  President ;  James  T.  Borhek,  Secretary ;  John  M. 
Miksch,  John  F.  Ranch,  C.  A.  Luckenbach,  Charles  C.  Tombler  and 
Abraham  Andreas.  Sundry  meetings  followed,  at  which  many  sug- 
gestions were  discussed,  most  prominently  a  scheme  for  re-organiz- 
ing the  school  laid  before  the  committee  by  Jedediah  Weiss.  A 
proposition  of  the  committee  sustained  by  some  others,  to  increase 
tuition  fees  in  order  to  meet  the  main  difficulty,  that  of  trying  to  get 
good  work  for  poor  pay,  encountered  opposition  on  the  part  of  those 
who  were  in  favor  of  improving  everything  but  the  salaries ;  being 
more  pretentious  than  liberal,  and  wedded  to  the  old  idea,  so  hard 
to  eradicate  among  many  of  the  people  brought  up  in  a  Moravian 
village,  that,  somehow,  the  authorities  must  provide  them  with  the 
best  to  be  had  at  little  or  no  cost  to  themselves. 

Another  interesting  feature  was  that,  while  at  Bethlehem  the  boys' 
school,  as  compared  with  that  of  the  girls,  was  continually  regarded 
as  unsatisfactory,  at  Nazareth  the  girls'  school  was  the  cause  of  com- 
plaint, while  no  fault  was  found  with  that  of  the  boys.  The  reason 
was  clearly  the  presence  of  the  boarding-schools  with  their  superior 
standard  and  equipment — the  day-school  for  girls  at  Bethlehem 
being  combined  with  the  Seminary  and  that  for  boys  at  Nazareth 
with  Nazareth  Hall,  in  the  grades  above  the  primary  out  of  which, 
in  both  cases,  the  children  passed  into  the  day-school  departments  of 
these  institutions.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  even 
when  the  most  reason  was  found  for  declaring  these  schools  unsat- 
isfactory, they  were  so,  not  by  comparison  with  like  schools  of  that 
time  at  neighboring  points,  for  they  were  very  decidedly  better,  even 
at  their  worst,  than  these  usually  were  at  their  best.  They  were 
unsatisfactory  by  comparison  with  the  standards  had  in  mind  by 
people  of  a  Moravian  village,  with  superior  schools  as  a  tradition 
of  the  place.  The  schools  of  some  neighborhoods  were  quite  satis- 
factory to  the  majority,  even  if  kept  only  three  months  in  a  year  by 
a  person  barely  able  to  teach  reading,  writing  and  a  little  "ciphering." 


656  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

The  boys'  school,  in  two  departments,  with  Kununer  and 
Schneller  in  charge  as  before,  was  continued,  together  with  the  pri- 
mary school  combined  with  a  department  of  private  instruction  for 
some  boys  from  the  neighborhood,  in  charge  of  Christ  and  his  wife^ 
and  the  girls"  day-school  adjunct  of  the  Young  Ladies'  Seminary. 
Some  internal  improvements  in  methods,  arrangements  and  text- 
books, and  a  general  toning  up  resulted  from  these  consultations,, 
and  the  contract  with  the  County  Commissioners  to  provide  tuition 
to  poor  children  of  the  neighborhood  within  a  given  radius,  at  the 
rate  of  two  to  two  and  a  half  cents  per  day  each,  that  seems  to  have 
existed  since  1828,  was  also  continued  to  1836,  as  well  as  the  pro- 
visions to  accommodate  for  a  stipulated  amount,  boys  from  the 
country  whose  parents  wished  them  to  enjoy  -better  advantages  than 
any  other  schools  within  reach  could  offer.  On  September  3,  1834^ 
a  new  School  Board  was  elected,  consisting,  in  the  order  given  in  the 
record,  of  Dr.  Abraham  L.  Huebener,  John  M.  Miksch,  Timothy 
Weiss,  Owen  Rice,  John  F.  Ranch  and  James  T.  Borhek,  with  the 
Head  Pastor,  the  Associate  Minister  and  the  Warden  as  ex  officio 
members.  Thus  things  stood  when  the  Public-  School  era  opened  at 
Bethlehem. 

In  December,  183 1,  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  George  Wolf — 
whom  Northampton  County  has  the  honor  of  counting,  as  the 
"father  of  common  schools"  in  the  State,  among  its  native  citizens — 
advocated,  in  his  annual  message,  the  establishment  of  a  system  of 
free  common  schools  supported  by  taxation.  The  result  proved 
that  the  time  had  come  when  this  long-cherished  scheme  of  some 
broadly-thinking  men  could  be  initiated.  The  desired  action  was 
taken  by  the  Legislature  in  1834.  Although  opponents  used  this 
public-spirited  step  against  Wolf  in  demagogic  agitation  among  the 
ignorant,  the  parsimonious  and  the  narrowly  sectarian,  the  effort 
made  by  these  elements  to  pack  the  Legislature  for  the  purpose  of 
reversing  the  action  failed ;  Wolf's  successor,  Governor  Joseph 
Ritner,  sustained  the  position  taken,  and  the  strticture  of  Pennsyl- 
vania's Public  School  System  arose  on  the  foundation  then  laid. 
The  act  creating  the  Bethlehem  School  District,  identical  in  extent 
with  the  Election  District,  and  authorizing  the  levying  and  collection 
of  school-taxes  and  the  election  of  District  School  Directors,  was 
approved,  April  i,  1836.  The  first  Board  of  Directors  elected,  April 
29,  consisted  of  James  T.  Borhek,  Abraham  L.  Huebener,  John  M. 
Miksch,  John  F.  Ranch,  Owen  Rice  and  Charles  C.  Tombler.  All 
excepting  the  last-named  had  been  members  of  the  previous  village 


1826 1845-  657 

School  Board.  They  organized,  April  30,  by  electing  Owen  Rice, 
President;  Dr.  Huebener,  Secretary,  and  'Squire  Ranch,  Treasurer. 
On  May  2j,  at  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  tiie  School  District,  it 
was  decided  "'to  raise,  for  the  current  year,  a  sum,  in  addition  to  that 
determined  on  by  the  Delegate  Meeting,  equal  in  amount  to  the 
County  Tax  for  the  present  year."  This  first  school-tax  in  the  dis- 
trict amounted  to  $469.79.  John  C.  Warner  was  appointed  collector 
at  a  commission  of  $8.00.  In  December,  the  board  "resolved  to 
employ  Margaret  Opitz,  at  a  yearly  salary  of  $8.00,  to  sweep  the 
school  rooms  twice  a  week."  At  a  later  meeting,  the  services  of 
"Gretel"  were  thought  to  be  worth  more  and,  the  following  Febru- 
ary, her  salary  was  raised  to  $10.00. 

The  re-organization  of  the  day-schools  had  finally  amounted, 
therefore,  simply  to  converting  them  from  parish-schools  with  the 
ecclesiastico-municipal  authorities  controlling  them,  and  the  clergy, 
of  course,  ex  ofUcio  members  of  the  School  Board,  into  District 
Schools  under  the  Pennsylvania  school-law,  with  a  Board  of  Direc- 
tors elected  by  the  citizens  of  the  School  District,  as  such,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  provisions  of  the  law.  That  the  change  was  decidedly 
beneficial,  under  the  circumstances  which  then  existed,  cannot  be 
questioned,  although  many  were  opposed  to  it.  This  opposition  was 
of  two  kinds.  Some,  taking  into  account  the  established  principles 
of  education  in  a  Moravian  village,  combining  secular  and  religious 
instruction  and  churchly  training,  had  exaggerated  visions  of  secu- 
larizing influences  and  of  drift  away  from  all  cherished  associations. 
While  some  of  those  who  had  urged  the  change  undoubtedly 
regarded  with  favor  this  prospect  of  an  additional  breach  in  the  old 
village  system  which  they  impatiently  wished  to  see  broken  up  more 
rapidly,  such  fears  were  needless,  for  all  that  was  important  in  the 
relation  between  church  and  school  remained  under  the  arrange- 
ments of  those  first  years.  Bible  instruction,  general  religious 
instruction  and  distinctly  Moravian  Church  instruction  by  the  pas- 
tors continued  as  before.  Even  such  features  of  a  Parochial  School 
as  the  regular  attendance  of  the  scholars,  in  a  body,  at  the  public 
service  on  Sunday  and  at  the  various  special  services  in  which  they 
were  in  the  habit  of  participating,  did  not  disappear.  Nothing  in  the 
school  laws  interfered,  at  that  early  stage,  with  things  like  these,  and, 
as  the  village  was  yet  so  exclusively  one  of  Moravians  that  no  other 
element  weighed,  the  continuance  of  such  local  features  was  taken 
for  granted  by  common  consent.     The  other  kind  of  opposition  was. 

43 


658  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

that  of  persons  who  objected  to  the  introduction  of  a  law  which 
compelled  them  to  pay  for  the  support  of  the  schools  whether  they 
had  children  to  be  educated  or  not.  When,  in  1834,  the  nerve  of  the 
situation  was  touched  by  the  proposition  to  increase  tuition  fees,  and 
the  improvements  clamored  for  halted  before  the  opposition  to  this 
indispensable  condition,  the  enlightened  and  enterprising  part  of  the 
community  moved  energetically  for  the  creation  of  the  School 
District,  to  bring  the  new  school  law  to  bear  upon  such,  constraining 
them  to  do  for  the  support  of  their  school  what  they  could  not  be 
induced  to  do  voluntarily;  and  at  the  same  time  to  get  a  just  share 
of  state  appropriations  in  order  to  meet  the  further  lack  of  local 
resources  that  really  did  exist  at  that  time,  and  thus  properly  provide 
also  for  free  school  in  the  District  to  the  extent  required.  That  a 
decided  majority  of  those  who  had  children  soon  saw  the  improve- 
ment in  the  schools,  as  thus  re-organized,  and  were  sincerely  inter- 
ested in  their  efficiency,  is  shown  by  the  laudable  fact  that  school  was 
regularly  kept  the  entire  year  from  the  first,  excepting  the  customary 
vacation  of,  at  most,  two  weeks  after  the  mid-summer  examinations ; 
and  that  when  the  revenue  from  the  regular  school  tax  and  the  state 
appropriation,  according  to  the  arrangement  of  that  time,  did  not 
suffice,  they  made  up  the  balance  voluntarily,  and  all  the  children  of 
the  District,  without  any  discrimination,  enjoyed  the  benefit.  Beth- 
lehem was  surrounded  by  neighborhoods  in  which,  at  that  time,  it 
was  a  rare  thing  to  find  a  school  open  six  months  in  the  year. 

The  first  report  rendered  to  the  State  Superintendent,  January  9, 
1837,  gives  the  average  number  of  scholars  enrolled  in  the  three 
schools  or  rather  departments,  up  to  that  time,  as  a  hundred  and 
twenty-five.  These  departments  were  the  school  for  boys  taught  by 
Jacob  Kummcr,  that  for  boys  and  girls  taught  by  Matthew  Christ 
and  his  wife  with  various  assistants  at  intervals,  from  1836  to  1845, 
such  as  Mrs.  Theodora  Beear,  a  daughter  of  the  former  Adminis- 
trator Cunow,  and  twenty  years  a  teacher,  and  the  Misses  Henry, 
Caroline  Warner,  Sarah  Eberman,  Josephine  Leibert,  Sarah  Rice 
and  Elizabeth  Weiss — the  last-named,  now  the  widow  of  the  Rev. 
Francis  Wolle,  being  the  only  one  of  them  yet  living — and  the  day- 
school  department  for  girls  connected  with  the  Seminary  in  charge  of 
John  Gottlob  Kummer,  Principal,  into  which  girls  were  statedly 
advanced  from  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Christ's  school  under  a  contract  made 
by  the  District  School  Directors  with  that  institution  for  $150  a 
year.  The  total  paid  on  account  of  salaries,  including  this  sum,  the 
first  year,  was  $750.     The  only  other  expense  was  about  $4.50  for 


1826 1845-  659 

fuel.  The  school-rooms,  of  course,  cost  the  Directors  nothing  and 
some  necessary  equipments  were  purchased  by  the  warden  at  various 
times  or  procured  through  private  contributions.  The  first  state 
appropriations  were  $45.59  in  1836  and  $129.48  in  1837.  From  the 
county  was  received  $136.77.  These  amounts  with  the  first  year's 
district  tax,  $469.79,  and  other  receipts,  $10.34,  made  a  total  income 
of  $792.15.  In  May,  1837,  the  district  tax  was  fixed  at  "fifteen  cents 
per  $100  on  occupation  and  three  cents  per  $100  on  other  subjects 
of  taxation." 

In  June  of  that  year,  the  department  in  charge  of  Jacob  Kummer, 
which  then  contained  only  fifteen  boys,  was  eliminated  and  the  Direc- 
tors contracted  with  Christs  to  take  charge  of  all  the  children  in  the 
District,  excepting  the  thirty-four  girls  attending  the  Seminary  as 
day-scholars.  At  the  close  of  the  year  there  were  106  scholars 
in  their  school  and  it  was  reported  to  be  in  a  highly  satisfactory 
condition.  In  June,  1838,  it  became  necessary,  for  the  first  time, 
to  restrict  the  admission  to  boys  and  girls  from  five  to  four- 
teen years  of  age.  Another  important  institution  had  been  added 
to  the  school  accommodations,  which  the  Directors  mentioned 
with  gratification  in  their  second  annual  report  to  the  State 
Superintendent — an  institution  remembered  with  peculiar  apprecia- 
tion by  its  few  surviving  pupils.  In  June,  1837,  Ernst  Frederick 
Bleck,  who  had  passed  through  the  regular  course  at  Nazareth  Hall 
and  in  the  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Church  and  spent  five  years 
as  a  teacher  at  the  Hall — a  man  of  marked  ability  and  varied  attain- 
ments, opened  a  private  school  at  Bethlehem  for  the  more  advanced 
education  of  boys  who  either  wished  to  enter  business  life  or  to  pre- 
pare for  special  professional  studies  or  for  a  general  classical  course 
at  college.  Men  at  Bethlehem  had  encouraged  this  undertaking  and 
privately  guaranteed  him  a  satisfactory  salary  and  school-room  for 
one  year.  Thus,  with  sixteen  boys  in  a  room  on  the  first  floor  of  the 
boys'  school  house,  commenced  "Bleck's  Academy,"  which  was  sub- 
sequently quartered  in  the  "Till  house" — a  part  of  the  former  great 
barn  on  Main  Street — purchased  for  $1,800.  It  was,  for  a  few  years, 
the  most  popular  and  successful  school  of  the  kind  for  boys  in  the 
Lehigh  Valley.  The  curriculum  embraced,  besides  a  solid  and 
thorough  course  in  the  regular  English  branches  similar  to  that  at 
Nazareth  Hall,  instruction  in  higher  mathematics,  Latin,  Greek, 
French,  German,  surveying,  double-entry  book-keeping,  drafting, 
free-hand  drawing,  musical  instruction,  including  lessons  on  the 
organ,  piano-forte  and  'cello — in  the  use  of  which  latter  instrument 


66o  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Mr.  Bleck  was  specially  prolicient — and  courses  of  illustrated  lec- 
tures on  various  subjects,  particularly  astronomy  and  chemistry,  on 
which  branches  he  compiled  a  manual  for  his  own  use  from  the  best 
authorities.  The  pupils  of  the  Young  Ladies'  Seminary  and  the 
people  of  the  town  occasionally  shared  the  benefit  of  these  lectures. 
P'or  a  few  years  the  District  School  Directors  also  contracted  with 
him  to  acconmiodate  boys  who  passed  beyond  the  limit  fixed  for  Mr. 
Christ's  school.  Mr.  Bleck  continued  to  conduct  the  Academy  until 
June,  1 85 1,  when  he  sold  the  property  and  good  will  to  Benjamin 
V' anKirk,  to  whom  there  will  be  further  reference  in  the  next  chapter. 
When,  with  all  this,  it  is  had  in  mind  that  the  Moravian  Theological 
Seminary  had  been  moved  to  Bethlehem  from  Nazareth  in  May, 
1838,  as  mentioned  in  the  preceding  chapter — the  institution  was 
domiciled  in  "the  William  Luckenbach  house"  on  Broad  Street — it 
will  be  apparent  that  educational  activity  was  flourishing  at  that 
period.  It  would  indeed  seem  primitive  and  in  many  features  crude 
if  compared  to  the  present  body  of  institutions  and  their  work,  but 
men  of  learning  and  ability  were  in  charge,  and  when  viewed  amid 
the  conditions  of  that  time — and  this  is  the  only  intelligent  and  fair 
way  to  judge  anything — the  school  situation  at  Bethlehem  then  was 
one  which  those  yet  living  who  enjoyed  its  advantages  need  not  be 
ashamed  of,  even  if  the  flippantly  disposed  would  see  only  the  crudi- 
ties and  defects  of  the  picture  and  the  things  to  be  amused  at. 

An  important  vote  was  taken  at  Bethlehem  on  May  5,  1840.  "A 
meeting  of  the  qualified  citizens  residing  within  the  bounds  of  the 
Bethlehem  Town  School  District"  was  held,  with  Jedediah  Weiss  as 
President  and  the  Secretary  of  the  School  Board,  John  Schropp,  as 
Secretary, "for  the  purpose  of  deciding  by  ballot  whether  the  Common 
School  System  should  be  continued  in  said  District  or  not,  'agreeably 
to  the  directions  of  the  thirteenth  section  of  an  Act  to  consolidate 
and  amend  the  several  Acts,  relative  to  a  general  System  of  Education 
by  Common  Schools,'  passed,  June  13,  1836."  The  majority  being  in 
favor,  it  was  settled  that  it  should  be  continued  for  the  ensuing  three 
years.  This  was  the  point  at  which  the  Public  Schools  at  Bethlehem 
ceased  to  be  regarded  as  an  experiment.  After  the  election  of  that 
summer,  the  Board  of  Directors  were  Owen  Rice,  Dr.  A.  L.  Huebener, 
Charles  F.  Beckel,  George  W.  Dixon,  John  Schropp,  John  M.  Miksch. 
In  October,  John  C.  Brickenstein  was  chosen  to  fill  the  vacancy 
caused  by  the  death  of  John  Schropp.  The  further  development  of 
the  school  system  in  the  State  brought  the  time  when  subsidies  to 
existing  institutions  and  combinations  with  ecclesiastical  or  private 


1826 1845.  66i 

schools  ceased.  This  point  came  at  Bethlehem  after  the  closing 
examinations,  the  last  week  in  June,  1844.  Then,  although  an  appor- 
tionment of  district  school  tax  continued  some  years,  the  blending 
of  the  District  School  and  the  Parochial  School  was  at  an  end.  The 
latter  was  re-organized  in  accordance  with  action  of  a  Congregation 
Council  on  June  7,  when  Charles  F.  Beckel,  Wm.  Eberman,  C.  A. 
Luckenbach,  W.  T.  Roepper  and  J.  F.  Wolle  were  elected  as  the 
School  Board.  On  July  22,  it  was  re-opened  under  this  board,  elected 
by  voting  members  of  the  Moravian  Church  as  such,  and  not  by 
citizens  of  the  School  District  as  such,  with  the  Head  Pastor,  the 
Associate  Minister  and  the  Warden  again  ex  officio  members,  as  prior 
to  1836.  The  District  School,  deprived  thus  of  numerical  strength 
and  of  a  certain  caste  and  prestige  with  which  it  had  been  ushered  in, 
entered  upon  a  season  of  struggle  to  attain  efficiency  and  standing 
in  the  community ;  for  a  number  of  years  elapsed  before  that  part 
of  the  population  which  sent  children  to  the  Public  Schools  instead 
of  the  Parochial  School,  the  Young  Ladies'  Seminary  or  private 
schools,  had  grown  to  such  numbers  and  influence  and  been  infused 
with  such  intelligent  zeal  for  the  advancement  of  the  "schools  for  all 
the  people,"  that  the  time  of  their  ascendency  set  in. 

The  school-period  which  has  thus  been  sketched  was  one  of  enthus- 
iastic interest  and  well  organized  effort  in  music  at  Bethlehem.  The 
new  musical  association  of  1820,  long  known  as  the  Philharmonic 
Society,  reached  its  zenith  during  this  period.  The  orchestral  prac- 
ticing, which  prior  to  1814  had,  as  a  rule,  taken  place  in  the  old 
Brethren's  House,  was  then,  by  permission,  transferred  to  the  room 
in  the  church  where  the  archives  are  now  stored,  and  w^hen  the 
school-house  at  the  corner  of  the  green  on  Cedar  Street  was  finished 
in  1822,  to  the  second  story  of  that  building  which  the  musicians  kept 
possession  of  until  it  was  needed  for  school  purposes.  In  1827,  the 
Old  Chapel,  which,  since  the  dedication  of  the  church  had  been  used 
for  the  library  of  the  Congregation,  was  remodeled  to  adapt  it  for 
concerts  and  various  school  functions,  as  well  as  for  Divine  service 
on  special  occasions,  and  the  library  was  transferred  to  one  of  the 
rooms  at  the  east  end  of  the  church.  It  was  thus  used  as  a  place  of 
worship,  the  first  time  for  twenty-one  years,  on  July  i,  1827.  There 
the  Philharmonic  Society  now  established  its  headquarters  and  for 
many  vears  that  historic  and  venerable  sanctuary  was  spoken  of,  even 
oflficiallv,  as  "the  concert  hall."  The  indignity  suggested  by  this  term 
did  not,  however,  exist  in  the  music  there  produced,  for  this  was 
almost  exclusively  of  a  strictlv  classical,  elevating  and  even  sacred 


662  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

character.  The  choral  renditions  of  those  days,  usually  with  the  full 
instrumentation  called  for  by  the  score,  were  undoubtedly  an  advance 
from  the  performances,  no  less  enjoyed,  of  two  decades  before  when, 
amid  the  bucolic  charms  of  those  days,  the  people  of  the  town  were 
wont  on  VVhitmonday  to  follow,  in  boats  or  afoot  along  the  bank, 
the  slowly-moving  "flat"  up  the  Lehigh,  listening  to  the  chords  of 
the  unique  PVasscrfalirt — Boat-ride — performed  by  the  players  of  wind 
instruments  on  board — the  boatman's  horn  on  the  canal  vvas  the  only 
echo  that  remained  of  it  at  the  time  now  treated  of — but  the  musical 
forces  of  Bethlehem  had  been  trained,  even  from  those  days,  to  work 
at  the  productions  of  Haydn  and  other  superior  composers,  and  it 
was  no  sudden  leap  to  mastering  and  rendering  the  "Creation,"  the 
"Seasons,"  the  "Seven  Sleepers,"  and  such  compositions.  It  may 
be  that,  even  at  this  period  of  higher  proficiency  here  in  mind,  the 
modern  technical  critic  would  have  hatcheled  them  with  strictures  in 
the  stock  terms  of  that  professional  cant  which  all  kinds  of  critics 
cultivate  in  their  several  departments  and  which  in  some  of  its 
phrases  often  passes  the  lay  understanding,  but  the  Bethlehem 
musicians  were  not  worried  with  nervous  dread  of  this,  for  the  critics 
were  not  abroad  in  such  abundance  then  as  now.  They  did  their 
best  for  the  pure  love  of  it.  That  they  surpassed  anything  that  people 
were  accustomed  to  hear  in  those  days,  excepting  the  occasional 
attainments,  in  some  features,  of  the  best  musical  organizations  the 
cities  could  then  produce,  may  be  safely  assumed.  The  acme  of  the 
period  was  a  complete  rendition,  in  the  church,  on  Whitmonday,  in 
1839,  of  "The  Creation" — at  different  times  more  modestly  performed 
since  its  first  partial  production  in  181 1 — by  a  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  participants ;  the  Bethlehem  choralists  and  instrumentalists  being 
re-enforced  from  Nazareth,  Easton  and  Allentown.  After  that, 
nothing  so  elaborate  was  attempted.  A  reaction  followed  this 
achievement.  In  1840  that  well-remembered  man  of  varied  attain- 
ments in  science  and  art,  literature  and  affairs,  William  Theodore 
Roepper,  came  to  Bethlehem  from  Neuwied  on  the  Rhine,  a  famous 
seat  of  Moravian  education,  where  he  had  been  an  instructor  in 
various  departments.  He  possessed  commanding  musical  ability  and 
put  forth  energetic  efforts  to  prevent  Bethlehem's  musical  association 
from  languishing,  but  that  it  must  experience  its  ebb  and  flow  likf 
all  other  lines  of  united  or  organized  interest  was  inevitable.  Some 
of  the  men  who  then  played  instruments,  and  some,  both  women  and 
men,  who  sang,  such  as  he  who  later  was  known  as  "Father  Weiss'* 
— Jedediah  Weiss,  facile  princcps  among  bassos,  when  at  his  best. 


■f\ 


JEDEDIAH    WEISS 


ERNST    LEWIS    LEHMAN 


JOHN    CHRISTIAN    TILL 


ERNST    FREDERICK    BLECK 


WILLIAM   THEODORE    ROEPPER 


i826 1845.  665 

was  living  elsewhere  at  the  time  here  had  in  mind,  and  did  not  become 
a  resident  of  his  native  place  again  until  some  years  later. 

Renewed  agitation  of  various  other  changes  set  in  with  the  spread 
of  the  larger  public  feeling  which  possessed  many  under  the  stimulus 
of  the  new  school  era.  There  was  a  growing  desire  to  become  a 
different  kind  of  a  town  in  other  particulars  also.  In  the  municipal 
arrangements  a  quiet,  gradual  approach  towards  an  organization 
distinct  from  the  ecclesiastical  establishment  was  in  progress.  Even 
as  early  as  the  close  of  1819,  when  the  plan  of  streets  reported  by 
Administrator  Cunow,  Jacob  Kummer  and  Samuel  Steup — the  village 
engineer  corps  appointed  by  the  voters  of  the  place  in  council 
assembled— was  adopted,  a  succession  of  more  distinct  functionaries 
than  had  formerly  held  office  of  the  kind  were  emerging  into  promi- 
nence, combining  the  duties  of  street  supervisor,  chief  of  police  and 
health  officer.  At  one  time  there  were  two  serving  jointly,  like 
Jonathan  Bishop  and  John  Christian  Kern,  who,  in  1821,  found  the 
thankless  task  onerous  and  begged  to  be  excused.  Then,  for  a 
season,  "one-man  power"  was  embodied  in  the  position.  Augustus 
Milchsack  was  a  prominent  incumbent  for  some  years.  He  had  to 
oversee  w^ork  on  the  highways,  protect  them  from  encroachments  in 
the  shape  of  building  material,  fire-wood  and  the  like,  and  keep  them 
clear  of  straying  cattle  and  swine ;  had  to  guard  against  such  viola- 
tions of  village  ordinances  by  careless  people,  as  endangered  health 
.and  safety  or  lowered  the  standard  of  neatness  and  cleanhness  for 
which  the  place  was  famous ;  had  also  to  supervise  disbursements 
from  the  municipal  treasury — Buergerlichc  Kasse — differentiated  by 
degrees  from  the  congregation  diacony  and  maintained  by  village 
taxation.  He  received  the  title  of  Burgomaster.  Cumulative  respon- 
sibilities and  dignities  crystalized  about  the  office  until,  in  many  a 
little  thing,  the  incumbent  shared  honors  with  that  more  powerful 
official,  the  Warden,  in  being  dreaded  by  the  delinquent  and  the 
transgressing  and  courted  by  the  dependent  and  by  those  who  were 
wanting  something.  There  were  also  the  "Tax  Board"  and  the 
Overseers  of  the  Poor  who,  with  the  Burgomaster  and  other  function- 
aries, were,  under  the  latest  village  regulations,  chosen  in  the  month 
of  January  each  year  by  the  voters  of  the  place  in  Gemcinrath  or 
Congregation  Council,  which  in  the  latter  days  of  the  transition 
period  had.  on  such  occasions,  more  the  character  of  a  citizens'  town- 
meeting  than  that  of  a  meeting  of  church  members.  Reports,  financial 
and  otherwise,  were  rendered  on  municipal  affairs  at  such  meetings 
and  were  discussed.     Thus  the   Burgomaster  and   the  other  village 


666 


A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 


officials  associated  with  him,  foreshadowed  the  coming  Burgess 
and  Town  Council,  as  a  kind  of  municipal  government  in  training,  to 
which  the  Warden  and  that  venerable  body,  the  Supervising  Board 
(Aufschcr  Collegium)  delegated  functions  and  routine  duties.  Besides 
these  were  also  the  Postmaster,  Justices  and  Notaries,  with  whose 
appointment  the  Elders'  Conference  as  such  had  nothing  to  do.    The 


village  also  had  its  fire  department  and  its  water  department,  in  no 
way  under  their  official  control.  There  was  more  of  the  machinery 
of  village  organization  not  subject  to  that  board  of  clergy  than  is 
commonly  understood,  under  the  erroneous  popular  supposition  that 
the  change  from  church-village  to  borough  was  a  sudden  crisis. 

The  matter  of  improving  and  extending  the  water  service  was  one 
that  occasioned  frequent  deliberations  from  year  to  year,  the  lack  of 
funds  being  a  continual  embarrassment.  From  1825  to  1829,  at 
intervals,  the  laying  of  iron  pipes,  instead  of  wooden  ones  as  formerly, 


1 826 1845.  667 

or  leaden  ones  also  experimented  with,  which  had  been  commenced 
as  early  as  1813,  was  continued.  In  1826,  this  more  durable  con- 
nection was  completed  to  the  stand  pipe  on  Market  Street,  the 
octagonal  stone  tower  of  1803  a  little  east  of  the  corner  of  Cedar 
Street,  which  stood  until  1832.  Then  the  new  reservoir  on  the 
higher  ground,  north  of  Broad  Street  and  east  of  New  Street,  added 
to  that  of  181 7,  on  Market  Street,  with  the  smaller  ones  at  the 
apothecary  shop,  1805,  and  that  on  Church  Street,  1806,  which 
remained  for  many  years,  rendered  it  needless.  In  1830,  the  extension 
of  the  pipes  up  Main  Street  and  along  a  portion  of  Broad  Street  was 
completed.  In  1831,  that  excellent  and  well-located  building,  the 
oil-mill,  was  secured  to  contain  the  new  pump  put  in  by  the  water 
committee  in  1832,  in  order  to  meet  the  increasing  demand,  while  the 
grinding  of  oat  and  buckwheat  meal  was  yet  continued  in  part  of  it ; 
these  products  acquiring  a  high  reputation  under  Charles  David 
Bishop,  the  lessee,  1835-1847,  who  twenty-five  years  before  had  man- 
aged the  combination  industry  in  that  mill  for  the  Brethren's  House 
Diacony — a  reputation  sustained  in  later  years  under  the  management 
of  his  son  who  is  yet  living,  the  venerable  Gilbert  Bishop,  so  that  long 
after  he  had  to  vacate  in  1874,  because  the  entire  building  was  needed 
for  the  water  works,  city  dealers  continued  to  plume  themselves  with 
the  oat  and  buckwheat  meal  alleged  to  have  been  ground  there,  as  a 
specialty,  and  report  has  it  that,  even  yet,  some  are  advertising  the 
"celebrated  Bethlehem  buckwheat  flour."  The  water  supply  contin- 
ued to  be  in  charge  of  such  a  water  committee  until  the  incorporation, 
in  1845,  oi  the  "Bethlehem  Water  Company,"  which,  in  1871,  sold 
out  to  the  Borough,  when  this  important  department  of  municipal 
service  again  passed  under  the  control  of  a  "water  committee." 

As  regards  the  fire  department,  the  several  years  after  the  free- 
school  epoch  were  a  time  of  revived  interest  in  improving  its 
equipment.  Three  companies  figure  in  a  somewhat  confused  group. 
The  "Perseverance"  was  domiciled  in  the  little  frame  house  built 
in  1819,  on  Main  Street  at  the  opening  of  the  alley  named  after 
Administrator  Cunow;  for  it  ran  along  the  rear  of  his  official 
premises.  The  "Diligence"  had  its  quarters,  after  1820,  on  Main 
Street,  just  north  of  the  old  stone  "Economy  House"  in  the  narrow 
frame  structure  in  which  a  long-familiar  stove  and  tin-ware  store  is 
kept — the  second  building  above  the  Moravian  Publication  House. 

But  now  emerges,  in  1838,  the  new  "Reliance"  company  on  Broad 
Street.  The  old  Perseverance,  the  original  company  of  1762,  with  its 
famous  old  engine,  seems  to  have  grown  cffcfc  and  to  have  actuallv 


668  A   HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

become  defunct  about  1838;  but  it  took  a  new  lease  of  life  ten  years 
later,  with  the  historic  engine,  whose  claim  to  be  the  oldest  in  the 
United  States  has  never  been  disproven,  repaired  and  again  made 
serviceable.  The  Diligence  was  the  survival  of  the  company  formed 
in  1792,  by  married  men,  with  the  smaller  hand-engine — ^'das  Butter- 
fass'' — of  that  time — for  some  years  its  quarters  were  a  shed,  near 
the  mortuary  chamber  in  front  of  the  Old  Chapel — while  the  single 
men  with  the  original  engine  had  perpetuated  the   Perseverance. 

Fortunately,  in  consequence  of  the  strict  discipline  and  intelligent 
observance  of  good  order  always  maintained,  Bethlehem  had,  up  to 
this  time,  seldom  suffered  from  serious  fires. 

Some  further  steps  were  also  taken  during  those  several  years  in 
extricating  the  congregation  diacony  from  burdensome  entangle- 
ments with  business  concerns ;  disposing  of  properties  to  reduce  its 
heavy  indebtedness  to  private  creditors  and  to  the  Administrator, 
as  agent  of  the  Unity's  Wardens,  and,  in  general,  getting  the  finances 
into  a  shape  better  prepared  for  the  pending  changes.  Some  fortunate 
sales  of  valuable  property  outside  of  Bethlehem,  which  affected  the 
general  situation,  were  made  by  Administrator  Goepp,  in  pursuance 
of  a  policy  which  his  predecessor,  de  Schweinitz,  had  in  view,  opposite 
to  that  of  Cunow  twenty  years  before — the  policy  of  gradually 
converting  much  of  the  real  estate  into  cash  in  order  to  pay  off  heavy 
debts  and  stop  drains  for  interest  which,  in  some  instances,  more  than 
equaled  the  income  from  the  corresponding  properties,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  bring  the  holdings  of  real  estate  within  the  limits  that 
would  be  required  to  secure  legal  incorporation  when  the  time  should 
come  for  this  step.  One  of  these  sales  which  deserves  mention  on 
account  of  its  prominence  and  historic  associations,  was  that  of  Gnad- 
enthal.  after  long  consideration  and  protracted  negotiations,  to  the 
Northampton  County  Commissioners  of  the  Poor  in  June,  1837, as  the 
location  of  the  County  Poor  House.  The  financial  advantage  appears 
in  the  statement  on  record  that  the  interest  on  the  money  derived 
from  the  sale  of  a  little  more  than  235  acres  of  that  property  at  $90 
per  acre — only  ten  acres  more  than  half  of  the  original  farm,  would 
be  more  than  the  rent  received  for  the  whole,  leased  to  George 
Schlabach  four  years  before.  Some,  even  in  official  circles,  were 
strongly  in  favor,  in  1837,  of  not  onlv  embracing  opportimities  to 
sell  large  tracts  immediately  around  Bethlehem,  especially  on  the 
south  side  of  the  river,  but  also  of  abolishing  the  lease-system  in 
the  town  without  further  ado;  making  ground  rents  redeemable, 
as  well  as  putting  an  end  to  the  necessitA'  of  buying  more  houses  in 


CALYPSO    ISLAND,    1850 


1826 1845-  669 

order  to  keep  control  of  the  properties,  and  thus  reheving  the  Con- 
gregation of  the  heavy  burden  it  was  bearing.  The  indebtedness  to 
the  General  Wardens  of  the  Unity  had  grown  enormously  since  1830^ 
and  that  owing  individual  creditors  was  almost  as  great.  But  the 
veTy  relations  this  state  of  things  created  between  Bethlehem  and 
the  general  board  in  Europe  hindered  steps  towards  bringing  the 
Bethlehem  property  under  the  control  of  a  legal  corporation;  and  as 
the  abolition  of  the  lease  system,  involving  so  much,  could  not  be 
ventured  until  the  right  point  of  understanding  between  them  was 
reached  from  which  the  processes  preparatory  to  incorporation  could 
be  instituted,  a  further  conservative  and  cautious  course  was  pursued 
and  yet  more  time  was  taken  for  getting  ready. 

Aleanwhile  the  strain  was  relieved  somewhat  by  sundry  sales  of 
smaller  parcels,  here  and  there,  and  by  disposing  of  several  more 
establishments.  The  earher  sale  of  the  grist-mill  and  tannery, 
already  referred  to,  was  followed  by  the  transfer  of  the  saw-mill,  in 
1835,  to  Lewis  Doster  who,  in  1826,  had  leased  the  dyeing  and  fuhing- 
mill  which,  before  that,  had  been  conducted  by  Matthew  Eggert,  and 
which  the  new  possessor  then  transferred  to  the  saw-mill  site.  Out 
of  this  combination,  when  a  few  years  later  he  purchased  the  property, 
he  built  up  a  flourishing  business,  developing  the  manufacture  of 
woolen  goods  to  an  extent  that  led  to  the  erection  of  the  additional 
larger  building  on  the  north  side  of  the  canal  at  the  lock,  in  1850, 
— destroyed  by  fire  but  quickly  rebuilt  in  1862 — where  for  a  number  of 
years  the  products  of  the  Monocacy  Woolen  Ivlills,  later  the  Moravian 
Woolen  ]\Iills,  that  won  public  reputation,  were  turned  out.  Thus 
were  perpetuated  industrial  associations  of  the  Sand  Island  and  the 
Monocacy  banks  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  in  a  connection  of  activities 
which  had  existed  already  in  the  days  of  the  General  Economy,  when 
the  proximity  of  bleachery,  soap-boiling  factory  and  laundry  to  the 
saw-mill,  near  which  the  flax-house  of  the  linen-weavers  was  built 
and  the  first  sheep  of  Bethlehem,  growing  wool  for  the  carders  and 
spinners,  grazed,  brought  about  a  relation  between  timber  and  textile 
products  there  manipulated.  Furthermore,  even  before  the  modern 
revival  of  those  associations  by  Lewis  Doster,  buildings  and  machin- 
ery for  turning  out  products  from  the  mineral  kingdom  in  addition 
to  those  from  the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms,  had  also  been 
erected  on  the  Sand  Island  when,  after  the  completion  of  the  canal  in 
1829,  Charles  F.  Beckel  who  since  1825,  had — though  first  a  watch- 
maker by  trade — been  operating  the  Httle  iron  foundry  on  Main 
Street  started  bv  Joseph  Miksch,  moved  the  establishment  to  a  site  on 


6/0  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

that  island  near  the  lock,  where  for  many  years  the  Beckel  foundry 
flourished  as  the  pioneer  of  all  iron  industries  along  the  Lehigh  at 
Bethlehem.  Even  in  their  features  of  deterioration  those  precincts 
are  historic,  in  a  down-grade  continuity,  from  the  time,  in  the  first 
decade  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when,  on  Independence  Day,  the 
hilarious  patriotism  of  certain  young  and  old  men  led  them  to  respond 
to  a  few  toasts  too  many  with  a  potion  somewhat  lusty,  to  the  time 
when  the  old  laundry  was  made  to  do  duty  in  honor  of  Gambrinus 
and  was  dubbed  "Noah's  Ark;"  and  then  on  to  the  time  when  the 
woolen-mill  had  long  disappeared,  and  the  flames  belched  forth  no 
more  from  the  cupola  of  Beckel's  foundry  and,  even  at  the  older  and 
yet  existing  establishment  where  the  combination  of  wood  and  cloth 
has  changed  to  that  of  wood  and  paint,  the  sound  of  the  saw  was  heard 
only  at  irregular  intervals,  and  at  the  canal  a  greatly  debased  repro- 
duction of  the  "Ark,"  under  other  names  like  the  "Little  Item,"  shed 
bad  odor  about  the  vicinity.  It  is  well  that  a  present-day  owner  of 
so  much  of  that  historic  ground,  with  sentiments  that  respect  its 
better  days  treasured  in  the  recollections  of  youth,  has  not  only 
restored  an  inviting  appearance  to  the  neglected  parts  of  the  old 
island,  but  has  revived  also  the  associations  of  a  far  earlier  and  higher 
civilization  than  that  spread  about  them  by  the  more  recent  successors 
of  the  "Ark"  under  license  from  the  County  Court — the  civilization 
that  dwelt  among  the  Christian  Indians  of  Friedenshuetten  along  the 
Monocacy  in  1746 — by  substituting  for  Sand  Island,  as  names  for  its 
two  sections,  the  tribal  designations  of  those  exiled  Moravian  Indians 
of  New  York,  Wampanoag  and  Mohican. 

With  the  exception  of  the  hotels — and  these,  as  previously  stated, 
were  now  leased,  Caleb  Yohe  taking  possession,  in  1844,  of  the  Eagle, 
which  he  finally  purchased  and  for  many  years  conducted — none 
of  the  few  surviving  old  concerns  that  had  been  managed  for  the 
congregation  diacony  in  former  times  remained  its  property  when 
Bethlehem  became  a  hundred  years  old.  Without  attempting  to 
refer  to  all  the  business  operations,  large  and  small,  mostly  new,  of 
that  period — the  mercantile  establishments  that  issued  from  the  old 
village  store,  and  the  old  tinsmith-shop  taken  by  Christian  Lucken- 
bach  and  built  up  into  a  business  which  is  still  carried  on  by  his 
descendants,  having  already  been  alluded  to — three  may  yet  be 
specially  mentioned  because  they  not  only  were  then  among  the  old 
establishments  of  the  town,  but  are  existing  at  the  present  time  amid 
the  many  modern  industries  with  which  they  are  surrounded.  One 
was  that  which  supplied  the  people  of  Bethlehem  with  meat.     This 


MOUNTAIN    PATH    ALONG    THE    LEHIGH 
THE  SPRING 


1826 1^45-  6/1 

was  one  of  the  old  industries  along  the  Monocacy  which,  after  1753, 
when  Henry  Krause  became  the  head  butcher,  remained  in  the 
hands  of  the  family  and  is  at  present  in  possession  of  the  fifth  gener- 
ation, in  the  old  "Weinland  house"  near  the  stone  bridge,  mentioned 
in  the  preceding  chapter,  which  John  Krause,  the  meat-purveyor  of 
the  time  now  under  review,  took  possession  of  and  enlarged  as  a 
slaughter-house.  Another  was  the  book-bindery  of  Joseph  Oerter, 
which  he,  as  the  successor  of  older  Bethlehem  members  of  the  craft, 
became  master  of  in  1785.  He  died  in  1841,  but  the  business  was 
continued  by  his  son,  John  Oerter,  and  then  by  others,  and  yet 
exists.  The  third  was  the  historic  pharmacy  made  famous  in  colo- 
nial times  by  Dr.  Otto.  This  was  the  first  Bethlehem  establishment 
which  was  sold  outright,  long  before  the  modern  period  opened.  It 
was  purchased  of  Dr.  Eberhard  Freitag  in  1839  by  a  young  man 
who  had  been  learning  under  him  for  a  number  of  years,  Simon 
Rau,  who  is  yet  living,  has  his  name  at  the  head  of  the  firm  that 
owns  it,  and  enjoys  the  solitary  distinction  of  being  the  one  sur- 
viving business-man  of  the  days  before  the  village  celebrated  its 
centennial  anniversary  and  passed  through  the  third  epoch-making 
experience  around  which  leading  events  of  this  chapter  center,  and 
out  of  which  it  finally  emerged  with  a  modern  borough  organization. 
The  Bethlehem  epoch  now  approached  was  one  of  striking  con- 
trasts, during  the  space  of  five  years,  between  depressing  adversities 
and  jubilant  celebrations ;  desire  for  change  and  progress,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  revived  reverence  for  old-time  associations  on  the 
other;  perturbed  conditions  amid  which  business  establishments 
were  wrecked  and  accumulations  scattered,  while,  at  the  same  time, 
the  foundations  of  new  enterprises  and  fortunes  were  laid.  These 
contrasting  features  stand  closely  grouped  in  the  picture.  The 
financial  panic,  depression  of  business,  general  suspension  of  specie 
payments,  contraction  of  the  currency,  collapse  of  speculations 
throughout  the  country,  felt  in  full  force  in  Pennsylvania — fruit  of 
the  play  of  party  poHtics,  in  their  jealousies  and  bickerings,  with  the 
national  finances,  following  the  expiration  of  the  charter  of  the 
second  Bank  of  the  United  States  in  1836,  constitute  the  most  prom- 
inent elements  of  the  country's  history  from  1837  to  1844.  Just 
when  the  effects  of  this  crisis  were  beginning  to  be  seriously  felt  at 
Bethlehem,  as  they  crept  into  all  lines  of  business  and  found  their 
way  into  the  affairs  of  every  store  and  shop  in  all  corners  of  the 
country,  great  local  reverses  were  suddenly  caused  by  one  of  the 
most  disastrous  floods  that  have  visited  the  Lehigh  Vallev  since  its 


6/2  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

lirsi  sclllcinciu.  Ihc  records  refer  to  the  one  almost  as  ruinous  in 
1786  and  that  of  1739,  which  swept  away  the  unfinished  first  cabin 
of  Isaac  Martens  Ysselstein,  tlie  nearest  neighbor  of  the  Bethlehem 
pioneers,  as  the  only  ones  known  in  the  history  of  the  valley  that 
could  be  compared  with  it. 

This  great  freshet  occurred  early  in  January,  1841,  and  may  be 
described  by  following  somewhat  closely  the  record  of  the  Bethle- 
hem church  diary.  On  January  4th  and  5th,  the  degree  of  cold 
reached  eight  below  zero,  Fahrenheit.  Then,  on  the  6th,  came  a 
sudden  rise  of  temperature,  with  heavy  rain  on  top  of  a  deep  snow 
which  melted  rapidly  and,  added  to  the  rain,  poured  great  floods 
of  water  down  over  the  frozen  ground  into  the  Lehigh  as  well  as 
intcj  the  Monocacy  and  other  tributaries.  The  sudden  breaking  of 
the  thick  ice  up  the  river  caused  gorges  at  many  places,  which 
increased  the  overflow.  The  night  from  the  7th  to  the  8th  was  one 
of  much  anxiety.  Besides  the  packs  of  ice,  great  masses  of  debris 
— houses,  sheds,  thousands  of  logs  and  fence-rails,  canal-boats, 
loaded  with  coal,  torn  from  their  moorings — came  down  with  the 
raging  torrent.  The  entire  lowland  along  the  Monocacy  and  south 
of  the  river  was  one  wild  stream.  Boats  were  brought  into  requisi- 
"tion,  along  Water  Street  and  in  Old  South  Bethlehem,  to  convey 
persons  out  of  the  upper  stories  and  garrets  of  houses  to  places  of 
safety,  and  to  rescue  such  things  of  most  value  as  could  be  taken 
out.  While  engaged  in  this  work,  some  men  came  into  great  peril 
on  account  of  the  depth  and  swiftness  of  the  water  and  the  quantities 
of  debris  encountered.  Among  the  people  rescued  from  the  dwell- 
ings on  Water  Street  was  the  venerable  John  Jungmann — son  of 
the  well-known  missionary,  John  George  Jungmann — ninety-two 
years  of  age,  who  was  taken  out  of  an  up-stairs  window  into  a 
boat.  The  water  reached  its  highest  point  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  "fully  twenty  feet  above  low-water  mark."  In  the  course 
of  the  night  the  rain  ceased,  the  clouds  scattered,  and  the  light  of 
the  moon  falling  upon  the  scene,  revealed  an  appalling  chaos  of 
ruins.  A  mass  of  shattered  buildings  and  parts  of  bridges  piled  up 
against  the  Bethlehem  bridge  subjected  it  to  stich  a  strain  that, 
shortly  after  two  o'clock,  the  structure  gave  way  and  was  carried, 
with  the  accumulation  of  ruins,  down  the  stream,  and  only  the  four 
piers,  considerably  damaged,  were  left  in  place.  When  day  broke 
the  scene  of  desolation  was  first  fully  realized.  The  drifting  masses 
were  piled  up  in  places  fifteen  feet  high  and,  surging  on  with  the 
rapid  current,  carried   every   obstacle   before    them.      The    fact    is 


1826 1845.  6/3 

recorded  that,  while  up  the  country  many  persons  perished,  at  Beth- 
lehem no  lives  were  lost,  .but  deplorable  damage  was  suffered  by 
all  in  the  inundated  area.  Apart  from  the  destruction  of  the  bridge, 
the  greatest  pecuniary  loss  for  Bethlehem  people  was  caused  at  the 
grist-mill,  the  tannery,  the  foundry,  the  lumber-yard  and  the  saw- 
mill; the  sufferers  being,  in  the  order  named,  Charles  Augustus 
Luckenbach,  Joseph  and  James  Leibert,  father  and  son,  Charles  F. 
Beckel,  Timothy  Weiss  and  Lewis  Doster.  This  extraordinary 
visitation  was  the  uppermost  theme  at  the  services  of  Sunday,  Janu- 
ary 10,  and  again  on  the  17th,  when  the  work  of  repairing  damage 
and  clearing  away  deposits  of  drift  and  wreckage  was  yet  in  pro- 
gress. The  keen  sense  of  the  hard  blow  to  material  interests  at  a 
time  when  none  were  in  a  condition  to  bear  it  well,  was  mingled 
with  thanksgiving  for  the  preservation  of  life  at  Bethlehem  amid  all 
dangers. 

During  the  year  1841,  affairs  dragged  heavily.  There  was  an 
appearance  of  partial  recovery  from  the  effects  of  this  local  disaster,, 
but  a  feeling  of  uncertainty  pervaded  many  circles,  for  the  general 
conditions  in  Pennsylvania  were  not  improving,  and  at  Bethlehem, 
as  at  many  another  place,  the  financial  stringency  was  putting  a 
severe  strain  upon  some  who  were  involved  beyond  their  ability  to 
secure  ready  money  to  keep  their  operations  afloat.  While  this  pre- 
carious state  of  affairs,  more  serious  because  more  extensive  than 
that  of  ten  years  before,  was  not  apparent  to  many,  there  were  some 
who  knew  that  unless  a  great  general  improvement  set  in  suddenly, 
a  local  crisis  ere  long  was  inevitable.  The  first  five  months  of  1842 
passed  without  any  striking  developments  and  then,  for  a  while,  the 
attention  of  the  village  was  diverted,  in  a  very  different  direction,  to 
preparations  for  enthusiastic  festivity. 

The  time  drew  near  for  the  centennial  anniversary  of  the  organi- 
zation of  the  settlement.  The  anticipation  of  this  had  been  awakened 
already  at  Christmas,  1841,  when  the  memorable  occasion  of  a  hun- 
dred years  before,  that  led  to  the  naming  of  the  place,  was  called 
to  mind.  Nearly  the  entire  month  of  June,  1842,  was  devoted  to 
preparations  of  great  range  and  variety,  from  the  compilation  of 
a  historical  review  and  suitable  offices  for  the  principal  services,  the 
rehearsal  of  vocal  and  instrumental  music,  the  construction  of 
elaborate  decorations,  transparencies  and  illuminations,  down  to  the 
minutest  domestic  details  of  cleaning  and  garnishing  for  the  recep- 
tion of  holiday  guests.     During  the  two  weeks  preceding  the  great 

44 


6^4  A    HISTORY    OF   BETHLEHEM,   PENNSYLVANIA. 

festival,  the  evening  services  were  omitted  on  account  of  the  exten- 
sive adornments  being  made  in  the  church.  These  were  all  finished 
before  the  24tli — two  thousand  feet  of  festooning  and  scores  of  gar- 
lands gracefully  swung  and  looped  between  chandeliers,  twined 
around  pillars  and  run  along  the  paneled  fronts  of  galleries;  floral 
pyramids  erected,  right  and  left,  on  their  edges,  great  masses  of 
flowers  placed  in  the  windows  between  flanking  green,  and  various 
inscriptions  partly  so  constructed  as  to  be  transparent  when  the 
lamps  and  candles  burned  in  the  evening.  Two  columns  eighteen 
feet  high  enwreathed  with  evergreen,  on  the  right  and  left  of  the 
pulpit  at  the  edge  of  the  raised  floor  on  which  the  table  stood, 
supported  an  arch  with  the  figures  lOO  ornamentally  set  in  the 
center,  while  on  graceful  drapery  hanging  under  the  arch,  one  of  the 
inscriptions  was  arranged  with  gilded  letters.  These  inscriptions — 
others  in  the  front  of  the  large  table  of  that  time  and  of  the  galleries 
— were  all  Scripture  texts.  They  are  enumerated  in  the  diary. 
Naturally,  the  preparations  for  the  music  of  the  occasion  were  corre- 
spondingly elaborate  and  thorough.  The  selections  rendered  by  the 
choir  are  all  to  be  found  in  the  printed  services  arranged  by  the  Rev. 
John  G.  Herman  and  the  Rev.  Charles  F.  Seidel.  The  historical 
sketch  was  compiled  by  the  Rev.  Philip  H.  Goepp.  The  celebration 
opened  with  a  festal  eve  service  on  the  evening  of  Friday,  June  24. 
A  large  body  of  trombonists  ushered  in  the  chief  festival  day  with 
chorales  from  the  belfry  of  the  church.  At  nine  o'clock  the  people 
assembled  to  morning  prayer.  The  historical  review  was  read  at 
the  next  service  at  half  past  ten.  At  the  lovefeast  hour,  three  o'clock, 
the  crowd  was  so  great  that  the  customary  meal  of  fellowship  had  to 
be  dispensed  with,  the  servitors  not  being  able  to  pass  through  the 
church,  and  the  service  was  held  without  it.  At  eight  o'clock  in  the 
evening  a  service  was  held  on  the  historic  "God's  acre"  of  Bethlehem ; 
the  liturgical  arrangement  being  an  alternation  of  hymns  by  the  choir 
and  the  congregation  of  over  two  thousand  persons  gathered  under 
the  mellow  Hght  of  more  than  a  thousand  colored  lanterns.  In  the 
center  stood  a  pyramid  thirty  feet  high  on  which  were  placed  a 
hundred  lights,  while  transparencies  with  appropriate  Scripture  texts 
were  displayed  on  the  four  sides  of  the  base.  The  head  pastor, 
Herman  and  the  associate  minister,  Seidel,  officiated  at  these  various 
services,  in  which  both  the  English  and  German  languages  were  used. 
On  Sunday,  the  26th,  a  service  especially  for  the  children  was  held  at 
nine  o'clock  by  the  Rev.  Peter  Wolle,  of  Lititz.  At  the  service  at 
half  past  ten  the  Rev.  George  F.  Bahnson,  of  Lancaster,  preached 


MATTHEW   KRAUSE  JOHN    GOTTHOLD    HERMAN 

PHILIP    HENRY    GOEPP 

LEWIS    FRANCIS    KAMPMANN  EUGENE    ALEXANDER    FRUEAUFF 


1826 1845-  677 

such  loss  being-  suffered  by  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel, 
of  which  he  had  been  the  treasurer  for  a  number  of  years.  Other 
men  who  might  have  withstood  the  general  financial  depression  of 
the  time  gave  way  under  this  new  strain.  Joseph  and  James  Leibert, 
who  had  suft'ered  severely  from  the  great  freshet  of  the  previous 
year,  were  comj^elled  to  suspend  operations  at  the  tannery  and  that 
important  industry  lay  idle  for  a  few  years.  Lewis  Doster's  busi- 
ness was  likewise  crippled  by  the  indirect  effects  of  this  crash,  fol- 
lowing the  devastation  wrought  by  the  water,  and  all  the  merchants 
and  shop-keepers  felt  it  in  varying  degrees,  while  many  not  engaged 
in  business  found  their  little  hoard  swept  away.  In  consequence  of 
these  experiences,  the  conviction  rapidly  matured  that,  without 
further  delay,  steps  towards  the  complete  re-construction  of  property 
control  and  financial  management  must  be  taken  by  the  authorities, 
and  that  everything  in  the  existing  system  of  Bethlehem  which,  in 
order  to  maintain  it,  compelled  the  further  purchase  of  houses  that 
men  were  driven  to  sell,  must  be  set  aside,  for  it  had  now  become 
impracticable  to  continue  this  burdensome  method.  And  yet,  when  it 
came  to  facing  the  final  issue,  the  abolition  of  the  lease-system,  and 
with  it,  necessarily,  the  old  exclusive  church-village  organization, 
there  was  at  last  more  difference  of  opinion,  both  in  official  bodies 
and  among  the  people  generally,  than  those  who  clearly  saw  the 
necessity  of  it  had  expected;  although  by  far  the  majority  decidedly 
favored  it. 

The  Supervising  Board  of  Bethlehem — Aufschcr  Collegium — on 
February  14.  1843,  appointed  a  committee  of  five  to  prepare  an 
exhaustive  report  on  plans  to  be  proposed  for  further  consideration. 
The  first  week  in  May,  the  report  was  discussed  by  the  board  and 
that  part  of  it  which  proposed  the  entire  abolition  of  the  lease- 
system,  with,  of  course,  the  abandonment  of  the  exclusive  polity — 
in  so  far  as  this  yet  existed — following  upon  it,  was  unanimously 
adopted  as  their  proposition.  The  view  prevailed  that  no  partial 
steps  nor  gradual  processes  were  practicable.  There  was  a  differ- 
ence of  opinion,  however,  on  that  part  of  the  report  which  dealt  with 
plans  for  village  and  church  re-organization.  The  report,  as  it  left 
the  board  with  no  conclusion  on  this  portion,  was  then  referred  to 
the  Elders'  Conference  of  the  village.  Their  deliberations  had  prac- 
tically the  same  result,  and  then  the  report,  with  what  thev  had  to 
add,  went  before  the  Provincial  Board.  They  were  also  divided  in 
opinion  on  the  measures  projjosed.  A  full  report  on  the  situation 
was  prepared  for  the  Unity's   Klders'   Conference.     This  bodv  had 


6/8  A   HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

asked  for  it  and  were  entitled  to  it,  with  an  opportunity  to  give  their 
views,  because  of  constitutional  and  financial  relations.  A  very 
thorough  discussion  of  the  subject  was  had  by  the  Provincial  Board 
on  July  19,  1843,  after  receiving  the  opinions  of  the  U.  E.  C.  The 
latter  were  inclined  to  regard  the  final  step  as  unavoidable  at  Beth- 
lehem, because  of  its  external  location,  its  peculiar  circumstances 
and  its  growth,  numerically  and  otherwise,  beyond  the  limit  to  which 
the  retention  of  the  old  organization  was  practicable,  even  if  the 
time  did  not  seem  to  have  come  for  such  a  change  at  Nazareth, 
Lititz  and  Salem.  The  opinion  was  held  by  the  majority  of  the 
Provincial  Board  that  even  the  internal,  spiritual  condition  of  the 
Congregation  would  ultimately  be  improved  by  such  a  complete 
opening  up,  when  church  membership  and  citizenship  in  the  town 
would  no  longer  mean  one  and  the  same  thing  to  the  minds  of  the 
people ;  when  the  former  would  become  a  voluntary  union  and  the 
external  complications  would  disappear.  It  may  be  remarked  here 
that  this  important  thought  was  shown  by  the  outcome  to  be  sound 
and  true.  The  Church  gradually  became  a  better  Church  after  the 
turmoil  of  re-construction  subsided,  leaving  it  an  organization  in 
the  town  instead  of  being  the  town,  comprehending  all  that  town 
meant,  with  men's  status  as  residents  and  their  business  rights  and 
privileges  in  the  place  depending  upon  their  church-membership  and 
consequently — for  they  were  no  longer  even  in  theory  a  company 
of  heroic  Christians  and  enthusiastic  evangelists — for  many  the 
uppermost  reason  why  of  their  membership. 

In  discussing  the  very  practical  aspect  of  the  question,  the  increase 
of  houses  and  consequent  increase  of  difficulty  about  transfers  and 
sales,  it  was  observed  that  in  the  course  of  fifteen  to  twenty  years, 
forty-five  new  buildings  had  been  erected  and  many  old  ones  had 
been  remodeled  and  enlarged,  besides  all  those  in  what  was  then 
called  South  Bethlehem,  of  which  at  least  seventeen  had  been  built 
within  nine  years  ;  also  that  two  entirely  new  streets,  Broad  and  New 
Streets,  had  been  opened  and  Market  Street  had  been  extended  dur- 
ing those  years,  whereas  during  the  same  period  not  more  than 
eight  new  houses  had  been  erected  at  Nazareth  and  Lititz.  The 
possible  efifects  of  the  change  upon  the  Young  Ladies'  Seminary  in 
various  ways  and  the  probable  organization  and  building  of  churches 
in  Bethlehem  by  other  denominations  were  also  elements  of  the  situ- 
ation that  were  considered.  It  was  shown  by  the  Administrator 
that  the  peculiar  financial  complications  which  a  few  vears  before 
hindered  the  proposed  step  had  been  solved.     More  than  one-third 


1826 1845-  679 

of  the  debt  of  that  time  had  been  paid  and  financial  relations  to  the 
Unity's  Wardens  had  been  gotten  into  a  shape  which  left  it  possible 
to  proceed.  It  was  pointed  out  that  there  must  be  a  proper,  logical 
sequence  of  steps ;  first  the  abolition  of  the  lease-system,  then  the 
legal  incorporation  of  the  village  and  finally  the  re-organization  and 
legal  incorporation  of  the  Congregation,  followed  by  that  of  the 
Provincial  Board,  to  hold  the  estate  of  the  Sustentation  Diacony 
after  a  settlement  and  division  of  property  with  the  Bethlehem  Con- 
gregation. Finally,  in  considering  the  broad,  general  question  of 
such  a  radical  change  in  the  organized  form  of  the  Congregation, 
it  was  agreed  that  no  fundamental  principle  of  the  Church  and  no 
vital  interest  of  the  local  Congregation  would  be  sacrificed  by  abol- 
ishing the  plan  of  colonizing  in  an  exclusive  church-village.  Of  this 
peculiar  arrangement  it  was  said  "it  was  not  an  article  stantis  et 
sedentis  ccclcsiae  nostrae."  Then,  on  that  day,  July  19,  1843,  a  vote 
was  taken  in  a  meeting  of  the  Provincial  Board  on  the  question  of 
favoring  the  proposed  step  as  expedient.  The  vote  stood  five  in 
favor  to  one  opposed.  The  Elders'  Conference  and  the  Supervising 
Board  of  Bethlehem,  while  not  unanimous  at  this  time  on  the  three 
main  questions,  the  abolition  of  the  lease-system,  the  incorporation 
of  the  village  as  a  borough  and  the  incorporation  of  the  Congrega- 
tion, favored  these  steps  by  a  very  large  majority.  The  records  do 
not  state  exactly  how  the  vote  stood  in  those  boards.  Then,  in  the 
midst  of  much  excited  discussion  among  the  people,  a  temporary 
reaction  of  opinion  among  many  was  produced  by  arguments  against 
the  proposed  course  by  the  Warden  of  the  Congregation,  who  advo- 
cated a  different  method  of  dealing  with  the  situation,  and  it  became 
uncertain  for  a  while  what  the  result  of  a  final  vote  in  the  Congre- 
gation  Council  might  be. 

At  this  juncture  the  last  action  needed  to  settle  the  question  was 
taken  by  the  General  Wardens  in  Europe.  A  letter  was  received 
from  them  in  November  in  which  they  declared  against  any  further 
advance  of  money  by  their  agent,  the  Administrator,  for  the  pur- 
chase of  houses  at  Bethlehem,  in  order  to  maintain  the  existing 
system.  Thus,  instead  of  holding  things  back — as,  under  the  super- 
ficial impression  of  their  attitude  which  later  prevailed  among  some, 
in  the  excitement  of  controversy,  on  new  questions,  in  the  next 
decade,  they  were  charged  with  doing — they  really  gave  the  final 
push  forward. 

On  January  11,  1844,  the  Congregation  Council  definitely  resolved 
in  favor  of  the  first  step,  to  abolish  the  lease-system.     This  decision 


6SO  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

was  followed  by  many  important  deliberations  on  new  arrangements 
that  would  immediately  be  necessary,  particularly  in  the  matter  of 
sales  and  further  leases  of  real  estate.  An  ad  interim  status,  until 
the  point  of  incorporating  the  Congregation  should  be  reached,  had 
to  be  provided  for.  Ground  rents  would  now  become  redeemable 
for  its  me'mbers,  and  persons  who  were  not  members  could  secure 
lots  on  ground  rent,  which  was  not  the  case  before,  the  intention 
being  that  when  the  new  permanent  status  was  reached,  real  estate 
could  be  conveyed  in  fee  simple  not  only  to  members,  but  to  any 
person.  The  proposed  incorporation  of  a  water  company  was  favor- 
ably acted  upon  by  the  Congregation  Council  on  November  28,  and 
a  revised  bod\-  of  rules  and  regulations  for  the  Congregation, 
adapted  to  this  ad  interim  condition,  were  compiled  which,  on 
December  8,  were  read,  expounded,  adopted  and  laid  before  the 
members  for  signature.  As  regards  the  new  village  organization, 
to  be  distinct  now  from  that  of  the  Congregation,  the  discussion, 
intensified  among  some  into  controversy,  was  no  longer  discussion 
between  parties  for  and  against  retaining  the  old  arrangements. 
This  stage  of  the  question  was  past,  because  everybody  understood 
that  the  vote  of  January  11,  1844,  had  settled  that;  for  the  old  church- 
village  organization  disappeared  necessarily  with  the  abolition  of 
the  lease-system.  This  further  discussion  was  rather  such  as  might 
take  ])lace  in  any  little  town  on  the  points  involved  in  a  proposed 
borough  organization,  such  as  increased  taxation  to  run  a  system 
of  borough  machinery  with  improvements  and  elaborations  of 
various  kinds ;  discussion  between  those  who  see  and  those  who  do 
not  see  the  necessity  of  becoming  a  borough ;  between  those  who 
are  public-spirited  and  progressive  and  those  who  are  not,  or 
between  those  who  have  interests  involved  and  those  for  whom  it 
is  immaterial.  Bethlehem  would  now,  in  the  first  place,  become 
simply  a  village,  with  what  had  remained  of  good  government  and 
order  under  the  old  system  abolished  and  nothing  new  instituted  to 
take  its  place.  Some  did  not  appreciate  the  force  of  this  fact.  Those 
who  did  and  who  understood  that  the  large  interests  to  be  cared 
for  would  not  admit  of  a  long  continuance  of  such  a  situation,  were 
decidedly  \n  the  majority.  The  necessary  steps  were  therefore 
taken  before  the  close  of  the  year  to  secure  borough  incorporation. 
March  6,  1845,  "An  Act  to  incorporate  the  village  01  Bethlehem,  in 
the  County  of  Northampton,  into  a  Borough."  was  approved.  Its 
metes  and  bounds  were  thus  described :  "Beginning  at  the  River 
Lehigh    at    the    fording-]ilacc    immediatelv    above    Jones's    Island; 


''-"4,^  -..■>r^.i;^78yfeJb. 


JOHN    KRAUSE 


LWEN    RICE    (2no) 


JOHN   CHRISTIAN    LUCKENBACH 
JACOB   RICE  CHRISTIAN   JACOB   WOLLE 


i*/'-!;*^ 


BETHLEHEM 
FROM    THE    S.  E.,   1850 
FROM    THE    N.W.,   1851 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


Three  Decades  of  Progress. 
1846— 1876. 

The  foregoing  narrative  makes  it  sufficiently  clear  that  it  is  an 
erroneous  impression  which  has  the  events  of  1844  and  1845  ^^  mind 
as  a  sudden  crisis,  and  the  change  from  church-village  to  borough 
as  a  stampede.  It  has  been  customary  to  lay  so  much  stress  upon 
one  detail  of  the  re-organization — the  action  of  January,  1844,  when 
the  Congregation  Council  confirmed  the  action  of  the  two  village 
boards,  sustained  by  the  Provincial  Board  and  the  Unity's  Elders' 
Conference,  in  favor  of  terminating  the  lease-system,  as  a  step  in 
the  process  of  re-construction,  and  to  speak  of  the  town  having  then 
been  "thrown  open,"  that  many  who  are  not  acquainted  with  the 
facts  fancy  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  the  change  to  have  lain  in 
that  vote.  Some  seem  to  have  before  them  a  kind  of  grotesque 
imaginary  picture  of  it,  like  another  capture  of  Jericho — an  invading 
host  marching  around  the  Moravian  walls  until  they  suddenly  fell, 
when  the  world  got  its  first  sight  of  what  was  inside  and  those  inside 
first  looked  forth  upon  the  world.  Others  have  treated  of  it  as  if 
it  had  been  like  a  first  Oklahoma  in-rush  and  scramble  to  locate 
claims  when  the  supreme  hour  struck.  Moravians  themselves  have 
been  partly  responsible  for  this  impression,  in  their  manner  of  speak- 
ing and  writing  about  that  epoch  in  later  years.  The  absorbing 
thought  of  some  residents  was  that  of  being  able  to  secure  owner- 
ship of  the  ground  on  which  they  lived  and  to  buy  a  lot  or  lots,  and 
from  this  point  of  view  the  situation  was  chiefly  talked  about  by 
people.  x'Vs  for  an  imaginary  rush  upon  the  spoils  from  all  quarters, 
it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  immediately  after  that  action  of  Jan- 
uary, 1844,  a  new  land  office  was  opened  and  indiscriminate  sales 
commenced.  While  ground-rents  at  once  became  redeemable  and 
town  lots  purchasable  in  fee  simple  by  Moravian  residents ;  and  other 
persons  could  secure  sites,  as  Moravians  had  before  done,  on  ground 
rent  under  certain  stipulations  relating  to  the  nature  and  use  of 

683 


684  ^    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

buiklings  and  other  points,  and  all  the  restrictions  of  the  old  system 
in  the  matter  of  permission  to  reside  or  open  any  business  at 
pleasure  were,  of  course,  obsolete,  the  final  status,  when  such  ground 
rents  of  non-Aloravians  all  became  redeemable  and  sales  outright 
were  made  to  any  one,  was  not  reached  until  the  process  of  re-con- 
struction was  completed  in  185 1.  During  the  interval  direct  sales 
were  made,  in  certain  exceptional  cases,  to  outside  parties  and  some 
acquired  real  estate  in  fee  simple  in  the  town  by  having  Moravians 
purchase  for  them.  The  important  steps  leading  up  to  the  incorpo- 
ration of  the  Moravian  Congregation  had  to  do  with  other  elements 
of  the  situation  besides  merely  selling  town  lots,  and  they  were  taken 
very  deliberately  and  carefully.  So  broad  were  the  connections  of 
the  process  that  it  entered  into  the  business  of  two  Synods  at  Beth- 
lehem, 1847  ^"<^1  1849,  and  even  into  that  of  a  General  Synod  in 
Europe  in  1848;  being  intimately  related  to  the  general  modern- 
izing of  the  organization  and  government  of  the  Moravian  Church  in 
the  United  States,  completed  ten  years  later  by  the  General  Synod 
of  1857,  preceded  by  Synods  at  Bethlehem  in  1855  and  1856  and 
followed  by  one  in  1858.  The  process  involved  so  much  from  which 
important  developments  at  Bethlehem  issued  that  it  enters  essen- 
tially into  the  history  of  the  town.  The  principal  features  in  the 
transit  of  the  Moravian  Congregation  from  the  point  at  which  the 
abolition  of  the  lease-system  left  it,  to  its  legal  incorporation  in  1851, 
may  therefore  properly  be  sketched  in  this  chapter. 

Up  to  that  time,  the  former  Bethlehem  Congregation  Diacony  yet 
existed,  with  a  warden  at  the  head  of  its  affairs,  and  the  title  to  all 
of  its  real  estate  continued  to  be  held  by  the  Proprietor  and  Admin- 
istrator, the  Rev.  Philip  H.  Goepp.  While  various  considerations, 
among  others  the  burden  of  the  collateral  inheritance  tax  made  it 
very  desirable  to  terminate  this  individual  proprietorship  as  soon 
as  possible,  the  transfer  of  title  to  a  corporation  could  not  be  made 
until  important  adjustments  had  been  effected  between  the  Beth- 
lehem Congregation,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Unity's  Wardens  in 
Europe  and  the  Sustentation  Diacony  instituted  in  1771  and  con- 
trolled by  the  Provincial  Board  at  Bethlehem,  on  the  other  hand. 
There  were  thus  three  parties  to  the  pending  financial  settlements, 
the  Congregation,  the  Administration— that  is,  the  agency  of  the 
General  Wardens  of  the  Unity — and  the  Sustentation — that  is,  the 
treasury  which  supported  the  government  of  the  Church  in  America, 
excepting  the  North  Carolina  Province,  and  provided  for  the  estab- 
lished ])ensions  and  educational  privileges  of  the  ministrv  and  sundrv 


1846 1876.  685, 

other  objects.  Up  to  1847,  the  Congregation,  as  well  as  the  Sus- 
tentation,  continued  to  owe  a  large  amount  to  the  Administration, 
and  the  resources  of  the  Sustentation,  which  had  no  endowment 
worth  speaking  of,  were  meagre  and  quite  inadequate.  The  two 
most  important  measures  planned  to  solve  the  whole  situation, 
extricate  the  Congregation  and  clear  the  way  for  the  ultimate  steps, 
were  to  extinguish  its  indebtedness  to  the  Administration  and  to 
discharge  its  obligations  to  the  Sustentation  by  a  liberal  endowment 
instead  of  a  mere  annual  contribution  under  the  old  contract  of  1771- 
After  this  matter  had  been  thoroughly  discussed  by  the  Synod  held 
at  Bethlehem,  May  2-20,  1847 — similar  provisions  for  the  Susten- 
tation by  Nazareth  and  Lititz,  which  were  made  later,  being  also  in 
mind — the  Congregation  Council  at  Bethlehem  took  favorable 
action.  May  2"^,  1847,  o^  ^  proposition  by  Administrator  Goepp  to 
sell  to  the  Administration  a  body  of  1,380  acres  of  the  Bethlehem 
land,  embracing  seven  farms  and  considerable  woodland,  at  $75  per 
acre.  This  sale  very  nearly  covered  the  debt  of  the  Congregation. 
After  arranging  to  dispose  of  the  bulk  of  this  land  to  private  parties, 
Goepp  went  to  Europe  in  the  summer  of  1847  to  consummate  the 
transaction  with  the  Wardens  of  the  Unity.  He  returned  to  Beth- 
lehem on  November  9. 

Before  the  next  steps  were  taken,  a  change  in  the  government  of 
the  Church  in  America  took  place  which  was  of  importance  among 
the  closely  related  forward  movements.  The  Synod  which  met  at 
Bethlehem  in  1849,  was  the  first  of  these  convocations  that  was 
officially  called  a  Synod  since  1768.  During  all  that  interval,  with 
their  very  Hmited  authority,  they  were  called  merely  conferences. 
Constitutional  changes  had  been  conceded  by  the  General  Synod  of 
the  previous  year  which  invested  them  with  new  powers  that  ren- 
dered them  properly  Synods,  and  gave  the  body  of  American  Con- 
gregations more  character  as  a  distinct  integral  Province  of  the 
Unity.  Its  Executive  Board,  called  yet  the  Provincial  Helpers' 
Conference,  continued,  to  this  time,  to  be  constituted  as  since  1818, 
consisting  of  a  Presiding  Bishop,  the  Administrator  and  the  Head 
Pastors  of  the  three  church-villages — Bethlehem,  Nazareth  and 
Lititz — all  being  appointees  of  the  Unity's  Elders'  Conference.  Now 
this  Provincial  Board  consisted  of  three  members ;  two  elected  by 
the  Svnod  and  holding  no  other  office,  and  the  Administrator  ex 
officio.  Bishop  Benade,  the  President,  had  retired  before  the  Synod 
of  1849  "ist,  and  the  first  two  members  of  the  Provincial  Board 
elected  by  the  Synod  were  Bishop  John  C.  Jacobson  and  the  Rev. 


686  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Henry  A.  Shultz,  associate  pastor  at  Bethlehem.  Subsequently  it 
was  called  the  Provincial  Elders'  Conference,  the  name  by  which  it 
is  constitutionally  yet  known,  and  after  1857  all  of  its  members  were 
elected  by  the  Synod  and  chose  their  own  President.  As  constituted 
in  1849,  this  board  had  more  of  the  character  desirable  to  secure  for 
it  a  charter  of  incorporation,  qualifying  it  to  hold  and  control  prop- 
erty under  the  laws  of  the  Commonwealth,  than  before.  In  view 
of  plans  at  Bethlehem  for  the  Sustentation,  that  step  was  had  in 
mind  in  the  final  settlement  of  affairs,  as  well  as  the  incorporation 
of  the  Congregation.  After  further  preliminary  consultations  and 
arrangements,  the  next  distinct  step  in  the  process  was  taken, 
December  26,  1850,  when  the  Congregation  Council  formally 
adopted  three  important  propositions :  that  the  Congregation  should 
be  incorporated  in  order  to  legally  hold  and  manage  its  property ; 
that  its  real  estate  should,  for  the  most  part,  be  converted  into  cash ; 
and  that  a  division  of  property  and  settlement  should  be  made  with 
the  Sustentation  Diacony.  A  committee  of  seven  was  appointed  to 
take  the  whole  subject  into  consideration  in  conjunction  with  the 
Warden,  John  C.  Brickenstein,  and  the  Provincial  Board.  The  com- 
mittee were  Charles  Augustus  Luckenbach,  the  mover  of  the  propo- 
sitions; Jacob  Rice,  John  M.  Miksch,  James  T.  Borhek,  Ernst  F. 
Bleck,  William  Eberman  and  John  F.  Ranch.  They  submitted  a 
printed  report,  together  with  a  draft  of  an  Act  of  Incorporation,  on 
January  30,  185 1.  The  report  dealt  with  the  general  question  of 
incorporation,  discussed  the  proposed  sale  of  real  estate  and  set 
forth  the  plan  of  settlement  with  the  Sustentation,  elaborating 
details  of  the  course  to  be  taken  in  pursuance  of  the  above  proposi- 
tions. It  was  recommended  that,  following  upon  the  incorporation 
and  in  connection  with  the  division  of  property  with  the  Sustenta- 
tion, the  entire  estate  of  every  kind  whatsoever  be  put  into  the 
hands  of  a  Liquidation  Committee  after  June  i,  1851,  if  the  charter 
of  incorporation  had  been  secured.  That  committee  was  to  consist 
of  three  men,  one  appointed  by  the  Trustees  of  the  incorporated 
Congregation,  another  by  the  Proprietor,  and  the  third  by  the  Pro- 
vincial Board.  It  thus  represented  the  three  parties  to  the  settle- 
ment— the  Congregation,  the  Administration  and  the  Sustentation. 
On  a  second  reading  the  report  was  adopted,  with  slight  altera- 
tions, at  another  meeting  of  the  Congregation  Council  on  February 
13.  and  the  committee  was  continued  to  carry  out  the  plans.  Admin- 
istrator Goepp  and  Ernst  F.  Bleck  went  to  Harrisburg,  February 
19,  to  secure  the  passage  of  the  Act  of  Incorporation  and,  at  the 


68e 

H( 

W£ 

is 

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in 

it 

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I 


CHARLES    FREDERICK    BECKEL  THEODORE    FRANCIS    WOLLE 

CHARLES    DAVID    BISHOP 

JOHN    SEBASTIAN    GOUNDIE  HENRY   GOTTLOB    GUETTER 


1S40 iSjG.  689 

when  llu'  sclllriiKiil  111  pioprrlN  was  coiiipKird,  ami  n'lnaiiu'd  in  ils 
possession  lor  some  \  ears,  llie  SisU'is'  1  louse  e\en  to  lS()^^;  llie  luili- 
Icheni  C'on<;regalion  lia\in^,  in  llie  dixision,  made  o\er  lo  that 
treasury  alniosl  half  of  ils  estate  after  tlu'  laii^e  land  sale  ol  1S.17.  As 
regards  the  Administration  at  1 '.ethUluin  and  its  rrmainiui;  property 
which  was  now  disiiiuth  the  proprrt\  of  tlu'  C'hnreh  in  (  ierman\  . 
till'  l\e\.  I'liilip  II.  (  lorpp  eontinneil  in  eharj^e  as  I'loprietor  and 
Administratoi-  until  iSsO,  wIumi  he  dmU'd  tlu'  estate  \et  lelt  to  the 
l\ew  l'',u.i;em'  A.  I'rneanlT,  with  W  .  I'.  Uoepper  in  eharj^i'  as  eashiei" 
until  iS(k).  when  tlu'  remaincU'r  was  so  disposed  ol  h\  him  that  the 
husiness  eonld  he  elosed  out,  and  the    Adnunisl  lation  eaiui'  to  an  riid. 

In  this  eonneetion,  hefori'  oihei'  matters  are  turned  to.  a  U'w  notes 
on  the  eoiusr  of  things  with  tlu'  Moraxian  (, 'on,L;rei;ation  dnrinL;  the 
yeai's  immedialeh  following;  ils  ineorporatii  >n  ma\  Ix.'  added.  Its 
entire  memhership  at  the  elost-  of  that  important  \t'ar,  1S51,  luuu 
hered  1007  souls,  an  inen-ase  of  ii)i)  siuii'  iS.|S,  when  the  r>oroui;h 
WEvS  organized.'' 

After  the  ineorporation  of  the  (  oni^ri'^at  ion  it  heeaini'  nei-essary 
to  revise  its  rules  and  regulali(»ns  in  \arious  partietdai's.  The  new 
rules  adopli'(l  rm:dl\,  \u,L;ust  jS,  1S51,  ;ind  dislrihuled  in  print, 
remained  in  fone  imallert'd  until  |S()().  The  i  hanges  in  the  pastorale 
wvvv  till'  following:  The  Kev.  ('.  I'\  Seidi'l  retiring  in  I  )eeemhei-. 
1851.  r.ishop  William  llenr\  \  an  \  leek  look  his  plaee  as  .Senior 
l'ast(tr  with  the  l\e\.  Lewis  I''.  Kauii)maun  as  junior  Tastoi-;  his 
plaee,  until  his  ani\al  in  Ma\-,  1S5J,  ixing  l.aken  hy  tlu'  Ktw.  II.  A. 
Sluiltz,  a  former  pastoi,  then  resting.  T.ishop  \  an  \  leek  died  sud 
(lcnl\'  on  |anuar\  iS.  iSs,^,  and  the  \cteran  pastoi',  .Sei(K'l,  then  in 
retirement,  took  tlu-  position  om-e  inoic  for  an  interwd  until  the 
arri\al  of  the  new   pastor,  the    l\e\.   .Sanmel    Keinke.   who,   Irom    |S|| 

3'1'lic  iiopiilatioi)  of  tlu-  Itnioii^ii  li;i(l  iiicitMSoi  (Voiii  ;ili<)iil  1  Km  in  iS|i;,  lo  I  S<'i>  1')'  exacl 
census  at  tlie  end  of  l.Sc;().  .'\n  iiilcri-sliiit^  loiiiil  ol  (In-  |)(iiiul;ili<m  iiy  sIkh'Is.  I  ){-cciiiIi<'V  J(), 
1847,  is  on  record.      It  is  as  (oiiows: 

Uroad  Street '•    •      j.54 

Water  Street,  includiii^  ( )id  Alley 74 

South    Helldeheni  (Old  Soiilli  lu'lldelicm  aloii^  the  canal)  ....         ()2 

Cednr  Alley 29 

Main  Street,  includinj^  r.oardiiu'.  Si  hnol 436 

Market   Street 124 

New  Street » •  S 

( 'Imnh   Street '  ,?S 

'I'otal i.U-: 

45 


690  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

lo  1847,  ^'^^^  served  as  head  pastor  under  the  old  organization.  This 
liis  second  term  extended  only  from  May,  1853,  to  November,  1854; 
Junior  Pastor  Kampmann  remaining  until  September,  1855.  After 
a  temporary  supply  of  the  pastorate  the  Rev.  H.  A.  Shultz  and  the 
Rev.  David  Uigler,  who  became  bishops  in  1864,  took  pastoral  charge 
before  the  end  of  1855,  the  first  as  "German  preacher"  and  the  second 
as  "English  preacher;"  experiments  to  meet  difficulties  resulting 
from  the  rapid  ascendency  of  English  having  commenced.  The  first- 
named  remained  pastor  until  June,  1865,  the  last-named  until 
October,  1864. 

Some  changes  made  in  the  places  of  worship  may  also  be  noted. 
From  1816,  when  the  exterior  form  of  the  church  was  greatly  altered 
by  running  the  gable  roof  out  to  both  ends,  no  radical  changes  were 
made  in  the  building  until  185 1.  In  1824,  the  clock-works  had  been 
taken  out  of  the  little  bell-turret  on  the  old  school  building  on  Church 
Street  and  transferred  to  the  church,  and  in  July,  1838,  the  spire  on 
the  belfry  was  shortened  somewhat.  In  1833,  plans  for  improving 
the  exterior  casings  of  the  windows  were  adopted  and,  in  accordance 
with  those  plans,  the  present  plaster  block-work  was  then  put  in 
place.  In  1838,  improved  lighting  faciHties  were  introduced  in  the 
shape  of  thirty-eight  oil  lamps  of  the  most  satisfactory  pattern  to 
be  found.  They  did  duty  until  the  introduction  of  gas,  January  8, 
1854.  The  Congregation  Council,  on  February  6,  1850,  adopted  plans 
for  a  new  pulpit  and  enlarged  organ  gallery,  presented  by  a  com- 
mittee composed  of  the  Rev.  C.  F.  Seidel;  E.  F.  Bleck,  the  organist; 
Reuben  O.  Luckenbach  and  William  Luckenbach.  The  new  pulpit 
was  designed  by  Bishop  Van  Vleck,  who,  on  September  28,  185 1, 
preached  the  last  sermon  in  the  old  one,  perched  high  against  the 
wall,' which  was  then  taken  down  and  eventually  conveyed  to  its 
resting-place  in  the  garret  where  it  may  yet  be  seen.  The  alterations 
were  finished  in  less  than  two  months  and  on  November  28,  the 
Risho])  preached  for  the  first  time  in  the  new  one  which  remained  in 
use  until  1867.  It  is  now,  as  previously  stated,  doing  duty  in  the 
South  Bethlehem  Moravian  Church,  to  which  building  it  was  trans- 
ferred when  his  son,  the  present  Bishop  H.  J.  Van  Vleck,  ministered 
as  pastor  in  that  new  sanctuary.  In  June,  1857,  the  old  stone  wall 
which  surrounded  the  church-yard  was  removed  to  be  replaced  by 
the  present  iron  fence.  In  the  spring  of  t86o,  plans  for  collecting 
and  properly  arranging  the  library  and  archives  in  the  up-stairs, 
east-end  room  of  the  church  were  ofificially  discussed.  In  accordance 
with  a  resolution  of  the  Provincial  Svnod  in  t86i,  the  general  archives 


1846 1876.  691 

of  the  Church  were  consoUdated  with  those  of  the  Bethlehem  Con- 
gregation and  were  given  a  permanent  home  in  that  room,  the 
Trustees  of  the  Congregation  defraying  all  the  expenses  connected 
W'ith  their  preservation  and  increase  up  to  the  present  time.  In  1867, 
the  most  extensive  alterations  that  have  thus  far  taken  place  were 
made  in  the  interior  of  the  church.  The  little  corner  galleries  at 
the  east  end  were  removed,  the  alcove  and  present  pulpit  were  con- 
structed, the  stairway  at  the  south-east  corner  was  taken  away,  the 
present  gallery  at  the  west  end  was  built  and  the  present  pews  were 
substituted  for  the  loose  benches  then  yet  in  use.  The  walls  were 
frescoed,  the  present  ground  glass  was  put  into  the  windows,  heavy 
gas  chandeliers,  some  of  which  are  now  doing  service  in  the  West 
Bethlehem  Chapel,  were  hung  and  for  the  first  time  the  floors  were 
carpeted.  It  was  re-opened  with  elaborate  services  on  June  30,  1867, 
when  the  anniversary  of  the  Congregation  was  celebrated.  The  inter- 
ior of  the  church  remained  in  the  shape  into  which  it  was  then  put 
until  1888,  when  another  renovation  of  the  frescoing  and  painting- 
took  place.  The  replacing  of  the  original  organ  by  the  present  one 
in  1873,  has  been  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter.  The  present  bell 
was  hung  in  the  steeple,  October  23,  1868.  The  old  one  is  now  in 
use  in  the  steeple  of  the  West  Bethlehem  Chapel.  The  fiftieth  anni- 
versary of  the  consecration  of  the  church  was  specially  celebrated 
on  June  22,  1856.  The  Rev.  C.  F.  Seidel,  who  participated,  referred 
to  his  having  preached  in  it  directly  after  his  arrival  in  America, 
six  months  after  its  consecration.  The  venerable  Bishop  Andrew 
Benade,  who  preached  the  first  English  sermon  in  the  church  on  the 
day  of  its  consecration-,  was  yet  living  at  this  time,  but  was  too 
feeble  to  attend  the  services.  At  the  beginning  of  1856.  the  Old 
Chapel,  in  which,  during  that  year,  some  interior  alterations  were 
made,  again  became  a  regular  place  of  worship.  The  organ  at  present 
in  use  in  that  chapel  was  built  in  1859,  and  used  the  first  time  on 
June  28,  of  that  year.  Early  in  1865,  the  interior  of  the  building  was 
entirely  reconstructed,  the  present  north  facade  was  built,  and  its 
re-opening  for  worship  took  place,  April  2,  of  that  year.  It  remained 
unaltered  until  1897.  These  notes  complete  all  reference  to  these 
buildings  that  needs  to  be  made. 

Yet  another  prominent  enterprise  of  the  Moravian  Congregation 
that  lies  within  the  period  of  this  chapter  and  has  given  to  Bethlehem 
one  of  its  notable  features,  was  the  opening  of  the  Nisky  Hill  Cem- 
etery. The  first  section  of  that  tract,  so  finely  located  and  well 
adapted  for  the  puri)ose,  was  staked  off  to  be  reserved  as  a  cemetery 


692  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

in  August,  1849.  ^^^^  pl'ii^  from  the  beginning"  was  to  use  a  portion 
of  it  for  interments  in  the  manner  foUowed  in  the  old  cemetery,  and 
to  lay  out  the  rest  to  be  sold  in  lots  in  the  customary  way.  With  the 
exception  of  that  part  of  Xisky  Hill  which  was  sold  to  the  Lutheran 
and  Reformed  Congregations  as  a  Union  Cemetery  in  1850,  with 
an  addition  in  i860 — the  first  interment  in  which  was  made  July  7, 
1851 — no  actual  use  of  any  ground  was  made  there  in  pursuance  of 
this  project  until  more  than  a  decade  later,  when  the  rapid  filling  up 
of  the  old  cemetery  and  the  expressed  desire  of  many  residents  for 
a  general  cemetery  led  to  the  execution  of  the  plan.  The  first  inter- 
ment was  made  on  May  i,  1864,  and  the  first  adult  member  of  the 
Moravian  Church  there  laid  to  rest  was  the  Treasurer  of  the  Congre- 
gation, Matthew  Krause,  November  20,  1865;  the  man  who  was  the 
original  projector  of  the  enterprise,  its  chief  advocate  and  most 
energetic  promoter.  Many  years  of  careful  eiTort,  with  progressing 
improvements  and  repeated  extensions  made  by  the  Trustees  of  the 
Congregation,  have  resulted  in  one  of  the  most  attractive  cemeteries 
in  the  Lehigh  Valley.  Both  the  natural  agreeableness  of  the  locality 
and  the  care  bestowed  upon  every  part  of  it,  soften  to  a  degree  not 
common  in  places  of  burial,  the  marks  of  contrast  between  the  rich 
and  the  poor  there  met  together ;  a  contrast  which  is  entirely  invisible 
in  the  historic  old  cemetery  of  Bethlehem,  where  row  had  been  added 
to  row  of  green  mounds,  all  alike,  for  it  was  a  "God's  Acre,"  nearly 
a  full  century  and  a  quarter  before  the  new  one  was  opened. 

The  period  during  which  the  complete  re-organization  of  the  Mora- 
vian Congregation  was  in  progress  constituted  an  ecclesiastical  epoch 
in  Bethlehem  also  in  the  fact  that  the  beginnings^  of  other  denomin- 
ational religious  work  in  the  town  lie  in  those  years.  These  begin- 
nings can  suitably  be  introduced  at  this  point.  It  was  natural  that 
the  variegated  accretions  of  population  added  to  the  original  Church 
of  the  town  a  variety  of  denominational  types  in  a  few  years.  Before 
the  time  to  which  this  chapter  runs  had  been  reached,  congregations 
representing  nearly  all  of  these  variations  had  been  organized  in 
Bethlehem.  It  was  also  natural,  in  view  of  traditional  associations 
and  the  principal  denominational  surroundings,  that  the  Lutheran 
and  Reformed  Churches  should  be  the  first  to  organize  among  the 
new  residents  of  Bethlehem  ;  and  that  the  first  church  built  in  the 
place  that  was  not  a  Moravian  church  should  be  one  of  the  union 
churches  of  these  two  bodies,  which  had  become  so  numerous  about 
the  country.  Therefore  the  first  modern  church  edifice  in  Bethlehem 
was  vSalcm   Church   on   High   Street,  which  was  built  by  these  two 


1846 1876.  693 

denominations,  was  used  by  them  jointly  until  1869,  and  stood  until 
the  present  structure,  on  its  site,  took  its  place  in  1886.  The  Rev. 
Joshua  Jaeger  introduced  stated  Lutheran  preaching  at  Bethlehem 
in  October,  1849,  in  the  "Armory,"  now  the  Market  House,  on 
Broad  Street.  On  December  9,  he  preached  in  the  Moravian  church, 
on  invitation  of  its  clergy.  The  Lutheran  pastor,  Wenzel,  of  Heck- 
town,  also  officiated  in  the  Armory  on  December  2.  Services  by 
pastors  of  Reformed  churches  of  the  neighborhood  began  on  Decem- 
ber 23,  1849,  when  the  Rev.  J.  C.  Becker,  D.  D.,  offtciated  in  the 
Armory.  On  January  13,  1850,  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Dubbs,  D.  D.,  preached 
in  the  Moravian  church.  On  December  26,  1849,  the  Rev.  J.  W. 
Richards,  D.  D.,  Lutheran,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Becker,  Reformed,  in  con- 
sultation with  the  Rev.  H.  A.  Shultz,  of  the  Moravian  Church,  drafted 
a  constitution  for  the  proposed  "Union  Church,"  which  contained  a 
clause  giving  Moravian  ministers  also  the  privilege  of  preaching  in 
it.  Sundry  members  of  the  several  denominations  living  in  Beth- 
lehem were  present  on  that  occasion.  They  met  in  the  Aloravian 
school-house  on  Cedar  Street.  That  constitution  was  adopted, 
August  24,  1850.  Previously,  on  November  6,  1849,  two  building 
lots  had  been  granted  on  ground-rent  to  the  appointed  applicants, 
John  Berger  and  John  K.  Dech,  together  with  Josiah  George,  who 
had  joined  the  Aloravian  Church.  The  purchase  of  the  site  was 
made  by  Joseph  Hess  and  John  Nace,  Trustees,  on  June  18,  1850, 
for  $133.34,  and  an  annual  ground  rent  of  $8,  which  latter  was 
remitted  in  1853.  The  corner-stone  of  the  church  was  laid  on 
Sunday,  September  i,  1850.  The  forenoon  service  in  the  Moravian 
church  was  held  earlier  than  usual  to  enable  all  to  attend  the  cere- 
mony who  wished  to  do  so,  for  it  was  a  notable  event.  There  were 
services  in  the  forenoon  and  in  the  afternoon,  the  former  seriously 
interfered  with  by  rain  but  the  latter  attended  by  a  great  throng  of 
people.  Of  Lutheran  ministers,  Pastors  Jaeger,  Richards  and  Stern; 
of  Reformed  ministers.  Pastor  Becker  and  Candidate  Santee ;  of 
Moravian  ministers.  Bishop  Jacobson  and  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Goepp, 
Shultz  and  Seidel  participated  in  the  services,  and  the  Moravian 
church  choir  rendered  an  anthem  and  led  the  congregational  singing. 
In  the  stone  were  deposited,  besides  the  customary  kind  of  a  docu- 
ment, a  Bible,  the  constitution  and  hymnal  of  the  L^nion  Church,  the 
symbolical  books  of  the  two  denominations  and,  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  ministers,  a  ^loravian  hymnal  and 
catechism.  That  occasion  which  marked  the  beginning  of  denom- 
inational diversity  at  Bethlehem,  was  indicative  of  the  position  taken 


694  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

by  the  best  spirit  of  Protestantism  in  the  matter  of  relations ;  that  of 
concord  without  interference  with  distinctive  standards.  It  was  a 
reminder  of  historic  efforts  to  reahze  this  position  as  far  back  as 
the  Consensus  of  Sendomir,  in  1570.  That  corner-stone  of  Salem 
Church  was  a  witness  to  something  which  deserves  to  be  remem- 
bered. 

Easter  Day,  April  20,  1851,  was  settled  upon  by  the  church  officers 
for  the  consecration  of  the  church.  The  pastors  of  the  neighborhood 
could  not  absent  themselves  from  their  churches  on  that  day  and 
therefore,  by  special  arrangement,  the  dedicatory  services  were 
taken  charge  of  by  the  Moravian  ministers  Seidel  and  Shultz.  At 
the  afternoon  service  Pastor  Becker  and  Candidate  Santee  were 
present  and  the  Lutheran  clergy  were  represented  by  the  Rev.  S.  K. 
Brobst,  D.  D.,  of  Allentown.  The  musicians  of  the  Moravian  Church 
again  rendered  service.  The  festivities  were  continued  on  Easter 
^Monday,  when,  besides  the  ministers  just  named,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dubbs 
and  Bishop  \^an  Vleck  participated.  The  first  Lutheran  pastor  in 
Bethlehem  was  the  late  Rev.  C.  F.  Welden,  D.  D.,  who  preached 
his  introductory  sermon  on  November  16,  185 1.  He  served  in  this 
pastorate  until  1865,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Rath. 
The  first  Reformed  pastor  was  the  Rev.  J.  C.  Becker,  D.  D.,  who 
preached  his  introductory  sermon  on  July  20,  185 1,  and  his  final 
sermon,  October  21,  1855.  His  successor,  after  an  interval  of  tem- 
porary supply,  was  the  Rev.  D.  Y.  Heisler  and  he  was  followed  by 
the  late  Rev.  L  K.  Loos,  D.  D.,  who  began  his  labors  in  December, 
1866,  and  with  pastor  Rath,  was  serving  in  1868,  when  the  two 
congregations  decided  to  separate,  the  Lutherans  acquiring  sole 
possession  of  the  church  by  purchase.  Then  the  Reformed  congre- 
gation erected  Christ  Church  on  Center  Street.  The  corner-stone 
was  laid,  on  June  6,  1869.  The  basement  was  opened  for  worship, 
January  15,  1870,  and  the  edifice  was  consecrated.  December  22,1872. 
Dr.  Loos  remained  pastor  until  1888,  when,  with  a  colony  of  the 
membership,  he  organized  St.  Paul's  Church  on  December  4.  Their 
place  of  worship  at  the  corner  of  High  and  North  Streets  was  com- 
menced in  December,  1889,  the  corner-stone  being  laid  on  the  15th  of 
that  month.    The  church  was  consecrated,  February  15,  1891. 

A  further  important  evolution  from  Salem  Church  was  the  for- 
mation, in  1872 — when  the  Lutheran  congregation  had  quite  out- 
grown the  capacity  of  the  church — of  a  separate  English  congre- 
gation, and  the  erection,  on  Broad  Street,  of  the  second  Lutheran 
church    in    Bethlehem,  which    was    given    the    name    Grace    Church. 


WILLIAM    CORNELIUS    REICHEL 

CHRISTIAN    FREDERICK    WELDEN 
AMBROSE   RONDTHALER 
ISAAC    KALBACH   LOOS 

MICHAEL  ANDREW   DAY 


1846 1876.  697 

centered,  the  several  organizations  of  the  Evangelical  Association, 
in  its  present  two  divisions  which  now  exist  in  the  comminiity, 
emanated  during  the  last  two  decades  of  the  century. 

The  next  Church,  in  point  of  time,  to  begin  work  in  Bethlehem 
was  the  Roman  Catholic,  the  first  public  service  of  which  was  held 
in  the  Odd  Fellows'  Hall  on  March  11,  1855;  although  a  priest  from 
a  neighboring  town  seems  to  have  ministered  at  a  private  house 
already  in  1854.  The  Church  of  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord  was  built 
on  Union  Street  in  1856,  and  so  far  completed  that  the  first  service 
was  held  in  it  at  Christmas  of  that  year.  There,  both  the  German 
and  English-speaking  Roman  Catholic  population  of  the  vicinity 
worshiped  until  1863,  when  their  first  church  on  the  south  side  of 
the  river,  which  will  be  mentioned  in  another  connection,  was  built. 
The  next  in  order  was  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  On  Nov- 
ember 24,  1854,  Bishop  Alonzo  Potter  preached  in  the  Moravian 
Church.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Osgood,  of  Easton,  read  the  service  on  that 
occasion.  During  the  summer  of  1855,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Christman,  of 
Philadelphia,  and  Mr.  Latimer,  a  member  of  St.  Stephen's  Church, 
of  that  city,  for  many  years  a  visitor  at  Bethlehem,  read  service  in 
the  hotel  parlors  several  times,  and  other  visiting  clergy  officiated 
occasionally  in  Temperance  Hall.  Such  ministrations  continued  at 
intervals  and,  on  August  28,  1859,  Bishop  Samuel  Bowman  preached 
in  Citizens'  Hall,  which  had  been  opened  in  1856.  The  leading  resi- 
dent members  of  this  Church  lived  on  the  south  side,  where  the  first 
regular  services  by  lay-readers  were  instituted  and  the  first  organi- 
zation was  efifected.  The  beginnings  on  that  side  of  the  river  which 
have  not  yet  been  treated  of  must  be  anticipated  here  in  bringing  all 
the  church  activities  of  that  period  into  connection.  On  Christmas 
Day,  1862,  Bishop  Potter  again  visited  Bethlehem  and  officiated  at 
a  service  in  the  parlor  of  the  "Bethlehem  House" — previously,  and 
again  subsequently,  the  "American  House" — and  on  May  8,  1862, 
Bishop  Stevens  conducted  service  and  preached  in  the  'Old  Chapel 
of  the  Moravian  Congregation  which  was  later  tendered  for  the  stated 
use  of  the  Episcopalians  of  the  vicinity.  They  had  services  there  and 
in  the  chapel  of  the  Parochial  School  with  considerable  regularity  for 
more  than  a  year  after  July.  1863.  On  Maundy  Thursday.  March  24. 
1864,  Bishop  Potter  administered  confirmation  in  the  Old  Chapel.  .\ 
few  years  after  the  parish  on  the  south  side  was  founded  and  the 
Church  of  the  Nativitv  was  built,  to  which  more  definite  reference 
will  be  made  in  sketching  South  Bethlehem  l)cginnings,  some  of  its 
members  commenced  a  branch  work  in  BetlTlelicni.    A  Sunday-school 


698  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

was  opened  in  April,  1869,  by  the  late  H.  Stanley  Goodwin  in  the 
Wall  Street  school-house,  and  from  that  beginning  arose  Trinity 
Church  on  Market  Street.  The  corner-stone  of  that  church  was  laid 
on  August  29,  1871.  The  basement  story  was  opened  for  Divine 
service  on  January  16,  1872,  and  was  consecrated,  January  29,  by 
Bishop  Howe.  A  separate  parish  was  organized  in  April  and  legal 
incorporation  was  secured,  January  25,  1873.  The  first  distinct  rector 
of  Trinity  Church  was  the  Rev.  Charles  Morrison.  The  finished 
church  was  consecrated  April  i,  1880. 

The  beginning  of  Presbyterian  activity  at  Bethlehem  took  place 
on  the  south  side  and  will  be  mentioned  more  particularly  later  on. 
The  first  congregation  -there  took  the  name  "The  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Bethlehem."  Some  of  its  leading  families  lived  on  the 
north  side,  where  an  affiliated  Sunday-school  was  opened.  The  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Bethlehem  was  organized  in  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  building,  November  14,  1875.  Services 
were  held  at  a  private  residence  on  Broad  Street  until,  on  February 
14,  1876,  a  little  meeting-house,  built  on  Union  Street  a  number  of 
years  before,  for  the  establishment  of  a  congregation  of  the  United 
Brethren  in  Christ,  which  came  to  nought,  was  first  occupied  as  the 
place  of  worship.  It  continued  to  be  used  until  the  dedication,  April 
7,  1878,  of  the  church  on  Centre  Street,  erected  largely  through  the 
generous  aid  of  the  Rev.  G.  W.  Musgrave,  D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia, 
and  for  some  years  commonly  called  Musgrave  Chapel.  The  first 
located  pastor,  the  Rev.  Alexander  D.  Moore  entered  upon  his 
labors  at  the  beginning  of  April,  1876,  and  remained  until  August, 
1 891.  The  first  Baptist  organization  in  Bethlehem  took  place,  as 
records  show,  on  April  6,  1869.  Services  were  held  at  a  private 
house  and  then  for  some  time  in  a  hall  above  the  former  smith-shop 
of  the  Rices  on  the  west  side  of  New  Street,  between  Market  and 
Broad.  The  Rev.  E.  Packwood,  of  Allentown,  fostered  the  work 
during  those  years,  until  the  first  stationed  pastor,  the  Rev.  I.  P. 
Meeks,  took  charge.  The  lot  on  which  the  church  stands  at  the 
corner  of  New  and  Lehigh  Streets  was  secured  in  1872,  and  on  Sep- 
tember 17  of  that  year,  a  temporary  structure  spoken  of  as  the 
"wigwam"  was  opened  for  services  at  the  place.  In  October,  1873, 
work  was  commenced  at  the  foundation  of  the  church,  but  the 
financial  panic  of  that  time  caused  a  long  delay.  The  corner-stone 
was  laid,  October  15,  1874.  The  building  progressed  slowly  until 
the  basement  story  could  at  last  be  occupied  and  it  was  used  in  an 
unfinished  state  some  vears  imtil  finally  the  entire  church  w-as  com- 


1846 1876.  699 

pleted  and  dedicated,  February  3,  1884.  The  regular  organization 
of  the  ^lennonite  Brethren  in  Bethlehem,  whose  place  of  worship, 
Ebenezer  Church  on  Laurel  Street,  was  dedicated,  November  10, 
1888,  dates  from  1884.  They  erected  a  "tabernacle"  on  Garrison 
Street,  in  that  year,  worshiped  later  in  Citizens'  Hall,  and  then  built 
another  temporary  structure  at  the  corner  of  Centre  and  Goepp 
Streets  in  the  autumn  of  1885.  In  February,  1887,  the  Rev.  W.  B. 
Musselman  became  their  temporary  minister.  He  officiated  in  a 
temporary  chapel  on  Alain  Street,  south  of  Fairview  Street,  until  the 
erection  of  the  present  church.  This  may  sufftce  in  the  way  of  refer- 
ence to  new  church  beginnings  in  Bethlehem  after  the  incorporation 
of  the  Borough. 

A  few  items  of  general  religious  activity,  not  strictly  denomina- 
tional, during  the  three  decades  covered  by  this  chapter  deserve 
mention.  On  June  23,  1847,  the  first  appeal  of  the  Philadelphia 
Sabbath  Association,  through  its  canal-boat  missionary,  the  Rev. 
William  Hance,  in  behalf  of  evangeUstic  work  among  the  boatmen 
on  the  Lehigh  Canal,  was  favorably  acted  upon  by  the  Moravian 
clergy.  Not  only  did  the  stated  collections  for  that  Association, 
which  have  continued  to  this  time,  commence  then,  but  personal 
work  among  the  boatmen  who  tied  up  at  Bethlehem  and  Freemans- 
burg  over  Sunday  was  undertaken.  October  20,  1850,  the  Rev. 
William  Eberman,  wdio  took  an  active  interest  in  this  cause,  officiated 
at  the  first  Sunday  afternoon  service  held  for  those  men  in  a  room 
over  Knauss  and  Borhek's  store  in  Old  South  Bethlehem.  Other 
people  living  in  the  vicinity  and  up  the  canal  attended,  and  the 
considerable  number  of  neglected  children  belonging  to  such  families 
led  him  to  open  a  Sunday-school  there  in  February,  185 1.  This  work 
was  for  a  while  so  promising  that  the  idea  was  officially  entertained 
of  building  a  chapel  for  its  accommodation,  somewdiere  about  the 
foot  of  Mnevard  Street.  The  interest  was  afterwards  allowed  to 
flag  and  no  chapel  was  built,  although,  in  June,  1856,  after  the  erec- 
tion of  a  little  school-house  across  the  Monocacy,  it  was  revived. 
There  students  of  the  Theological  Seminary  also  began,  in  1859.  to 
keep  praver-meetings  and.  on  May  6,  i860,  opened  another  Sunday- 
school  with  thirty  scholars.  That  was  the  beginning  of  the  present 
West  Bethlehem  Moravian  Sunday-school. 

The  interest  in  the  canal-boat  mission  led  to  the  revival  of  the  Tract 
Society  at  Bethlehem  which  had  become  defunct.  When  the  agent 
of  the  American  Tract  Society,  the  Rev.  Reuben  Weiser.  a  great- 
f^rand-son    of    the    famcms    Conrad    ^^'ciser.    visited    Bethlehem    in 


JOO  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

October,  1850,  the  organization  was  resuscitated  on  the  7th  of  that 
month,  and  on  the  nth  a  new  constitution  was  adopted.  It  was 
participated  in  by  ministers  of  all  denominations  at  Bethlehem  dur- 
ing the  subsequent  years.  The  first  tract  depository  was  opened, 
March  22,  1851,  in  a  room  in  the  Sisters"  House  known  as  the  sales- 
room, wliere  in  former  years,  even  back  to  Revolutionary  days,  the 
handiwork  produced  by  occupants  of  the  house  was  disposed  of  to 
visitors.  Then  came  a  revival  of  organized  activity  in  the  interest 
of  Bible  distribution.  The  Bible  Society  formed  thirty  years  before 
had  sunk  into  decadence.  The  new  movement  occurred  in  Novem- 
ber, 1852,  and  was  also  participated  in  harmoniously  by  ministers 
and  laymen  of  the  several  denominations.  This  time  it  was  directly 
auxiliary  to  the  American'  Bible  Society.  A  regular  organization 
was  formed,  Alarch  24,  1853.  For  a  number  of  years  annual  meet- 
ings and  collections  for  the  cause  took  place  on  Thanksgiving  Day. 
Pastor  Welden.  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  was  for  some  time  one  of 
the  zealous  and  energetic  leaders  in  this  branch  of  activity.  More 
conspicuous  among  such  general  movements,  was.  however,  that 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  epoch  in  the  following 
decade.  Marked  enthusiasm  was  awakened  by  the  celebration  of 
the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  Young  Men's  Missionary  Society 
on  September  7,  1865.  At  a  reunion  of  its  members  on  that  occa- 
sion, under  the  inspiration  of  the  new  Y.  M.  C.  A.  impulse  of  those 
times,  the  idea  of  a  more  developed  institutional  center  for  young 
men,  in  a  building  constructed  and  equipped  for  the  purpose,  was 
broached.  Out  of  that  arose  the  first  such  Association  at  Bethle- 
hem and  its  building — the  structure  on  Main  Street  adjoining  the 
present  Moravian  Publication  Office  on  the  north.  A  committee  of 
twenty-one  was  constituted  to  develop  the  project,  which  finally 
took  tangible  shape  in  March,  1867,  when  the  Rev.  Edmund  de 
Schweinitz — who  had  succeeded  Bishop  Bigler  in  the  Moravian  pas- 
torate in  October.  1864,  and  was  at  this  time  in  the  midst  of  his 
well-remembered  influential  and  fruitful  labors  in  Bethlehem,  where 
he  was  consecrated  a  bishop  with  the  Rev.  Amadeus  A.  Reinke  in 
1870 — reported  as  chairman  of  the  committee  that  the  Rev.  Francis 
Wolle.  Principal  of  the  Seminary  for  Young  Ladies,  had.  in  behalf 
of  the  Trustees  of  that  institution — the  Provincial  Elders'  Confer- 
ence— offered  a  site  on  Main  Street  for  the  proposed  building.  Plans 
of  ])rocedure  took  shape  and  their  further  working  out  and  execu- 
tion was  undertaken  by  a  smaller  committee  of  five.  On  April  2, 
they  reported   enough   money   secured    to    begin    operations.      On 


A^3USTUS    WOLLE  CHARLES   WILLIAM    RAUCH 

MAURICE    CHARLES   JONES 
DAVID    HENRY    BISHOP  JACOB    BOEHM    RATH 


1846 1876.  jo-^ 

inar}-,  the  "bell  house,"  which  was  called  the  old  Kindcrliaiis.  The 
school  for  smaller  girls  under  Miss  Frederica  Traeger,  kept  first  in 
Matthew  Christ's  house  and  then  in  the  Sisters'  House,  was  trans- 
ferred, in  April,  1851,  to  another  room  in  the  stone  building  occu- 
pied by  Aliss  Bleck's  school.  The  boys"  school  remained  in  its 
former  quarters  in  the  school  house  on  Cedar  Street.  '  Francis 
WoUe,  who  had  been  teaching  the  lirst  class  of  boys  for  several 
years,  was  succeeded,  in  the  summer  of  .1851,  by  WiUiam  C.  Reichel, 
until  F"ebruary,  1852,  when  the  latter  became  teacher  of  natural  science 
in  the  Young  Ladies'  Seminary  and  was  followed  temporarily  by 
David  Z.  Smith  and  then,  in  April,  by  Herman  Ruede  until  1858. 
Alatthew  Christ  and  his  wife  were  yet  connected  with  the  Parochial 
Schools  and  he  continued  until  after  the  new  epoch  of  1858.  Mrs. 
Theodora  Beear  also  remained  one  of  the  teachers  of  younger  girls 
and  boys  until  1855.  Others  were  Mrs.  Lydia  Rice,  at  intervals,  1849 
to  1855;  Josephine  Fenner,  1853  to  1855,  when  she  was  succeeded  by 
Harriet  Fuehrer;  Lucia  Benade,  who  fohowed  Caroline  Bleck  in  1854, 
and  Augusta  Stoltzenbach,  who  had  charge  of  the  new  department, 
from  1855  to  1857,  and  a  few  years  later  taught  again  for  a  while. 

Wise  provision  had  been  made  for  the  Parochial  Schools  in  the 
charter  of  the  Congregation,  the  benefit  of  which  began  to  be  real- 
ized after  the  Liquidation  Committee  finished  its  work  in  1852. 
Financial  obstacles  to  the  betterment  of  school  facilities  had  disap- 
peared and  on  December  13.  1855,  the  Congregation  Council 
resolved  to  "recommend  to  the  School  Board  an  inquiry  into  the 
condition  of  the  Parochial  Schools  with  a  view  to  the  development 
of  a  plan  or  plans  for  the  material  improvement,  both  internal  and 
external,  of  said  schools."  A  committee  w^as  appointed  by  the 
board,  the  following  Alarch,  to  prepare  a  report  in  pursuance  of 
that  resolution.  The  scheme  reported  and  approved  led  to  two 
important  results.  One  was  the  erection  of  a  new  school  house  of 
suf^cient  capacity  and  the  other  was  the  consolidation  of  the  boys' 
and  girls'  schools  of  all  grades  in  one  organization  under  a  Superin- 
tendent. The  Congregation  Council  having,  on  December  11,  1856, 
declared  in  favor  of  these  steps,  it  was  resolved  by  the  Board  of 
Trustees  at  a  joint  meeting  with  the  School  Board,  January  12, 
1857,  to  "appropriate  the  lot  of  ground  on  which  the  stone  school 
house  now  stands  and  as  much  more  as  may  be  needed  for  the  pur- 
pose of  erecting  thereon  a  suitable  school  house  and  out-buildings, 
not  to  exceed  in  cost  the  sum  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  this 
amount  to  cover  the  fixtures  and  arrangements,"  etc.     A  building 


704  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

coniinittee  was  appointed,  composed  of  two  Trustees,  Henry  B. 
Luckenbach  and  Ambrose  H.  Ranch,  the  latter  succeeded  by  C.  A. 
Luckenbach ;  two  School  Directors,  James  T.  Borhek  and  Francis 
W'olle.  the  place  on  the  committee  of  the  latter  being  taken  later 
bv  his  successor  as  Elder  and  cx-officio  School  Director,  John  C. 
Weber;  and  the  Treasurer  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  Matthew 
Krause.  A  plan  of  the  proposed  building  was  adopted  by  the  School 
Board  after  certain  alterations,  February  24,  1857.  In  March  the 
services  of  the  R'ev.  Ambrose  Rondthaler,  of  York,  Pa.,  were 
secured  as  Superintendent.  He  arrived  in  July,  when  the  new  build- 
ing was  in  course  of  erection.  The  school  departments  that  occu- 
pied rooms  in  the  old  stone  building  had  been  temporarily  removed 
to  the  west-end  rooms  of  the  church  in  April,  the  persons  who  lived 
in  other  rooms  of  the  house  had  been  furnished  quarters  elsewhere 
and  the  vacated  structure  had  been  demolished  in  May.  The  old 
corner-stone,  lifted  from  its  place  on  May  22,  was  relaid  in  the  new 
building.  When  it  was  removed  and  the  box  of  deposits  was  taken 
out  of  it,  a  venerable  woman,  the  sole  survivor  of  the  girls  who  had 
belonged  to  the  old  boarding-school  at  the  time  of  the  re-organiza- 
tion in  1785,  was  present.  This  was  Johanna  Maria  Heckewelder, 
familiarly  called  "Aunt  Polly  Heckewelder,"  daughter  of  the  mis- 
sionary John  Heckewelder.  It  was  ascertained  that  seven  of  the 
pupils  of  1790  whose  names  appeared  on  the  document  in  the  stone, 
were  yet  living.'^  To  the  regret  of  all.  Miss  Heckewelder  was  pre- 
vented by  illness  from  being  present  when  the  old  stone  was  placed 
in  the  south-west  corner  of  the  new  building  with  prayer  and  praise 
on  May  27.  The  old  document,  well  preserved,  was  replaced  in 
the  stone  and  with  it  was  deposited  a  new  one  of  the  usual  character 
on  which  the  names  of  the  church  authorities,  general  and  local, 
the  building  committee  and  the  teachers  and  scholars  of  the  Paro- 
chial Schools  in  1857  were  engrossed.  The  finished  building  was 
formally  opened  and  its  chapel  on  the  third  floor  dedicated,  Febru- 
ary 15,  1858.  The  teachers,  besides  the  new  Superintendent,  were 
at  that  time  Herman  Ruede,  Matthew  Christ,  Lucia  Benade. 
Frederica  Traeger,  succeeded  that  year  by  William  Brown,  Harriet 
Fuehrer,    Mrs.    Cornelia    Blank    and   Augusta    Belling.     In    August 

7  Salome  Fetter,  widow  of  Dr.  Eberhard  Freitag,  Anna  Rosina  Kornman,  wife  of  William 
Rauch,  Anna  Dorothea  Warner,  wife  of  Jacob  Blum,  Elizabeth  Kampmann,  widow  of 
Bishop  William  Henry  Van  Vleck,  Agnes  Bininger,  wife  of  Abraham  B.  Clark,  Dorothea 
Sophia  Reichel,  wife  of  the  Rev.  Charles  F.  Seidel,  and  Margaret  Catherine  Vriehuis,  of  St. 
Ian,  W.  I. 


I  > 


^     2 


1846 1876.  joy 

E.  Schoedler  was  elected  to  this  position,  as  it  then  existed.  Two 
more  of  the  prominent  and  well-remembered  pedagogues  of  those 
years  were  A.  A.  Campbell,  who  began  to  teach  in  1866,  and  Gottlieb 
C.  Souders,  who  entered  in  1867.  The  latter  being  a  man  of  some 
musical  ability  and  fond  of  singing,  generously  offered  to  drill  the 
boys  and  girls  of  the  schools  in  vocal  music  gratuitously  and  with- 
out interference  with  other  school  work.  This  was  an  ofTer  which 
the  School  Directors  found  it  easy  to  accept.^  In  1865  the  rooms 
in  the  Wall  Street  school  house  had  become  inadequate,  and  in  Sep- 
tember, the  use  of  the  basement  of  St.  John's  Evangelical  Associa- 
tion Church  was  secured  for  one  school  year,  to  accommodate  the 
overflow,  while  the  need  of  a  new  and  much  larger  school-house 
began  to  be  discussed.  A  site  was  purchased  in  1866  at  the  north- 
east corner  of  North  and  Center  Streets,  but  steps  towards  actual 
building  operations  were  not  immediately  taken.  Meanwhile,  the 
Trustees  of  the  aforesaid  church  declining  to  further  rent  the  base- 
ment for  school  purposes,  the  Board  of  Directors,  in  the  summer  of 
that  year,  purchased  and  fitted  up  a  building  at  the  corner  of  Garri- 
son Street  and  Long  Alley  to  serve  the  immediate  need.  January 
6,  1869,  the  Directors  decided  to  proceed  in  the  matter  of  erecting  a 
new  school  house  ''commensurate  to  the  -needs  of  the  district ;" 
this  meaning,  to  the  minds  of  some,  a  building  not  only  large  enough 
but  of  a  quality  and  appearance  that  would  do  honor  to  the  town. 
Their  aspirations  in  this  respect  were  eventually  attained  by  very 
slow  steps,  in  the  face  of  considerable  opposition  and  with  an  expen- 
diture of  over  $66,000  in  the  completion  of  Franklin  School  House, 
which  was  formally  opened  and  dedicated  on  September  30,  1871. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  for  the  public  schools  of  Beth- 
lehem. Lifted  then  to  a  higher  plane  they  have  steadily  progressed.® 


8  Besides  those  mentioned  above,  the  names  of  the  following  women  and  additional  men 
who  for  longer  or  shorter  terms  served  as  teachers  in  the  public  schools  between  1855  and 
1 87 1,  given  in  the  general  order  of  succession  in  which  they  first  appear,  may  be  noted, 
without  claiming  perfect  accuracy  and  completeness  for  the  list :  Louisa  C.  Cole,  Helen 
Cole,  Amanda  A.  Bast,  Rebecca  S.  Ritter,  Sarah  E.  Spinner,  Anna  B.  Schmich,  Alice  Kidd, 
Frederick  A.  Welden.  Sabina  Wolle,  Ellen  Ritter,  Lizzie  J.  Weaver,  Jacob  Nickum,  Emma 
J.  George,  Clara  V.  Reich,  Gertrude  Wertz,  Lizzie  Teussig,  Olivia  Mease. 

9  The  School  Board,  in  January,  1869,  were  Rev.  D.  F.  Brendle,  President;  Charles  N. 
Beckel,  Secretary;  William  Leibert,  Treasurer;  Augustus  Wolle,  Dr.  J.  H.  Wilson,  C.  E- 
Kummer  and  Anton  Hesse. 

The  Building  Committee  of  1869  were  Augustus  Wolle,  D.  F.  Brendle,  J.  H.  Wilson  and 


7o8  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

In  connection  with  these  references  to  the  schools  of  JJclhlehem 
during  the  thirty  years  embraced  in  this  chapter,  it  is  proper  to 
alkide  to  the  efforts  of  those  who  endeavored  to  foster  the  various 
refinements  of  general  culture  in  the  community,  even  amid 
untoward  conditions  at  some  periods.  Although,  at  times,  the 
influence  of  men  who  attach  no  value  to  any  interests  or  activities 
beyond  those  covered  by  the  word  business,  bore  down  hard  on  the 
town,  there  were  always  more  people  than  in  most  Pennsylvania 
communities  of  like  size  who  welcomed  what  the  men  of  literature 
and  science,  the  musicians  and  the  artists  had  to  dispense.  Older 
residents  of  Bethlehem  will  recall  the  laudable  exertions  of  the 
Young  Men's  Missionary  Society  at  different  periods,  the  proprie- 
tors of  Citizens'  Hall  when  it  was  in  its  best  days,  and  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  for  a  while,  to  provide  instruction  and 
entertainment  of  an  elevating  character  for  the  people  of  the  place, 
by  means  of  courses  of  lectures  and  concerts.  In  these  efforts,  home 
talent  sometimes  met  the  demand  to  a  surprising  extent,  especially 
during  the  fifties  and  sixties  of  the  century,  while  the  financial  possi- 
bility, then  and  later,  of  engaging  high-priced  lecturers  and  high- 
class  musicians  from  elsewhere,  bringing  men  of  distinction  in 
various   lines   to   Bethlehem,   was   creditable   to   the   community. 

Although  the  Philharmonic  Society  retrograded  somewhat  after  its 
achievements  referred  to  in  the  preceding  chapter,  and  for  some 
years  did  not  add  any  specially  notable  performances  to  its  record, 
it  again  came  to  the  front  in  ministering  to  the  musical  tastes  of 
the  people  during  the  second  of  the  three  decades  covered  by  this 
chapter.  Two  conspicuous  names  connected  with  its  history  then, 
in  addition  to  those  already  mentioned,  deserve  a  place  here.  Prof. 
Theodore  F.  Wollc,  who  figured  among  the  young  musicians  of 
Bethlehem  from  1847  to  1852,  returned  after  an  absence  of  thirteen 
years,  and  then,  until  his  death  in  1885,  held  a  front  place  in  music 


Charles  N.  Beckel,  the  place  of  the  last-named  being  taken  in  June  by  his  successor  in  the 
Board,  Charles  B.  Daniel. 

The  successor  of  Mr.  Beckel  as  Secretary  was  Mr.  Kummer.  Mr.  Brendle  resigned  and 
Charles  Augustus  Luckenbach  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy  and  succeeded  Mr.  Leibert  as 
Treasurer,  while  Mr.  Wolle  became  President  of  the  Board,  which  was  composed,  when  the 
new  building  was  finished,  of  A.  Wolle,  President;  M.  H.  Snyder,  Secretary;  C.  A.  Lucken- 
bach, Treasurer ;  C.  E.  Kummer.  C.  B.  Daniel  and  A.  Hesse. 

The  following  was  the  staff  of  teachers  elected  in  July,  1871  ;  A.  A.  Campbell,  G.  C. 
Souders,  J.  Nickum,  Chas.  H.  Cline,  Edward  Cressman,  Robert  Lyttle,  and  the  Misses  Olivia 
Mease,  Sarah  Spinner,  Ellen  Ritter,  Elma  Chandlee,  Emma  Ritter  and  Virginia  Huebener. 
The  first  janitor  of  the  Franklin  School  House  was  Herman  Schippang. 


BETHLEHEM    VIEWS 
From   Paintings   by   Ghunewald 


1846 1876.  709 

as  a  teacher  in  the  Seminary  for  Young  Ladies,  as  organist  and 
choir-master  of  the  Moravian  Church — succeeding  Prof.  Ernst  F. 
Bleck — and  in  connection  with  the  Philharmonic  Society.  There 
are  many  of  his  remaining  musical  associates  and  people  of  Bethle- 
hem generally,  who  will  concur  in  the  tribute  due  him  in  these 
pages.  Closely  associated  with  him  for  twenty  years  was  one  who 
entered  the  Seminary  as  professor  of  music  in  1864  and  is  still  con- 
nected with  that  institution.  Prof.  Wilham  K.  Graber,  organist  and 
choir-master  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Infancy  in  South  Bethlehem. 
When  the  Philharmonic  Society  was  re-organized  in  1869,  he 
became  its  conductor,  and  by  his  assiduous  efforts  brought  its  work 
to  a  standard  which  stood  in  widely  acknowledged  credit.  His  lead- 
ership is  inseparably  connected,  in  the  minds  of  those  who  remem- 
ber them,  with  the  numerous  enjoyable  performances  of  the  organi- 
zation during  the  years  of  revival  that  followed.^'^ 

Another  tradition  of  Bethlehem  in  the  cultivation  of  accomplish- 
ments was  perpetuated  in  that  it  did  not  cease,  after  it  became  a 
borough,  to  have  those  among  its  educators  who  delighted  in  work 
with  the  pencil  and  brush.  There  had  been  such  at  all  periods.  No 
relic  remains  of  the  work  of  Zinzendorf's  artist,  John  Jacob  Mueller, 
who  furnished  the  first  temporary  adornment  for  Bethlehem's 
original  chapel  in  the  Community  House,  but  many  are  the  portraits 
and  representations  of  Bible  scenes  painted  in  oil  that  were  left  by 
good  Valentine  Haidt.  One  of  the  treasured  views  of  Bethlehem 
is  the  work  of  Nicholas  Garrison,  Jr.  Others  were  produced  by  George 
Fetter,  of  later  times,  who  also  preserved  the  lineaments  of  man}-  a 
revered  face  in  water-color  portraits ;  which  latter  filial  task  was, 
likewise  early  in  the  nineteenth  century,  performed  for  the  pos- 
terity of  many  a  one  by  Bishop  Samuel  Reinke,  when  he  was  yet 
a  young  man.  Gustavus  Grunewald,  who  came  to  Bethlehem  in 
183 1,  taught  drawing  and  painting  in  the  Young  Ladies'  Seminary, 
from  1836  to  1866,  and  returned  to  Europe  in  1868,  painted  many 
pictures  in  oil,  of  scenes  in  and  about  Bethlehem,  which  remain  to 
his  credit  and  that  of  the  school  and  town.  More  than  one  person 
in  the  place  also  possesses  treasured  specimens  of  the  handiwork 
of  two   of  his   prominent   Bethlehem   pupils     One   was    Reuben   O. 

10  In  denying  himself  the  pleasure  of  extending  the  mention  of  individuals  among  the 
singers  and  players  on  instruments  to  others  of  those  years  who  ministered  conspicuously  to 
the  enjoyment  of  music-loving  people,  the  writer  yields  to  the  conviction  that  the  space 
which  can  properly  be  given  to  this  subject,  as  well  as  the  limits  of  discretion,  in  view  of 
their  being  so  numerous  and  so  recent,  would  be  exceeded  by  its  indulgence. 


yiO  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Luckenbach,  who  succeeded  him  at  the  Seminary  as  the  drawing 
and  painting-master  of  troops  of  girls  and  even  kindly  and  patiently 
tried  to  teach  some  clumsy  theological  students  to  draw.  The  other 
was  the  Rev.  William  C.  Reichel,  who  was  an  artist  as  well  as  a 
student  of  nature  and,  in  his  day,  the  chief  writer  of  local  and 
neighborhood  history.  Rufus  A.  Grider,  in  sundry  pencil  and  water- 
color  sketches  now  in  the  Moravian  archives,  preserved  from 
oblivion  the  form  and  appearance  of  various  historic  buildings  and 
picturesque  places  about  the  old  town  that  have  disappeared  or  have 
been  altered  beyond  recognition.  Another  more  prominent  Beth- 
lehem artist,  D.  C.  Boutelle,  executed  some  work  in  oil  which 
attained  a  distinct  reputation,  even  among  the  critics,  and  is  prized 
by  those  who  possess  pieces ;  and  sundry  paintings  by  his  son, 
Edward  Boutelle,  are  preserved  by  Bethlehem  people  as  creditable 
products  of  local  talent."  Many  interesting  pictures  of  buildings  and 
places  about  Bethlehem  made  during  the  years  here  in  review, 
existing  in  the  form  of  lithograph,  steel-plate  or  wood-cut,  to  be 
found  in  collections  or  as  illustrations  in  the  pages  of  publications, 
were  the  work  of  artists  from  other  places. 

An  easy  transition  from  education  and  culture  to  more  material 
business  activity  may  be  made  in  some  reference  to  the  press  of 
Bethlehem,  historically  within  the  compass  of  this  chapter,  for 
viewed  in  different  aspects  it  lies  in  both  of  those  domains.  It  is  a 
remarkable  fact  that  Bethlehem  had  no  established  printing-press 
prior  to  1830,  when  Henry  Held,  son-in-law  of  Joseph  Till,  the  shoe- 
maker, who  sold  vinegar  and  was  dubbed  ''Vinegar  Till,"  began  to 
do  printing,  in  which  occupation  his  better-known  sons,  the  brothers 
Julius  W.  Held  and  William  Held,  were  also  later  engaged.  After 
the  early  achievements  of  John  Brandmiller,  the  first  printer  in  the 
Forks  of  the  Delaware,  referred  to  in  a  former  chapter,  and  a  little 


"  This  by  no  means  completes  the  list  of  those  who  might  be  mentioned  among  teachers 
and  amateurs.  One  of  the  valuable  sketches  of  Bethlehem  localities  now  greatly  changed, 
South  Main  Street,  east  side  from  the  church  up  towards  Market  Street,  half  a  century  ago, 
was  made  by  the  late  Bishop  A.  A.  Reinke  and  has  been  recently  reproduced  in  tints  by  the 
Rev.  Eugene  Leibert,  of  Nazareth,  whose  choice  rural  views  in  water  colors  are  in  much 
repute.  It  is  among  the  collections  of  such  matter  in  the  archives,  which  possess  several 
specimens  tf  local  interest  from  other  sources,  one  of  these  being  a  portrait  of  the  old 
organist,  John  Christian  Till,  by  H.  E.  Brown.  The  largest  number  of  pictures  there 
gathered,  in  the  line  of  local  topography  and  notable  scenes,  are,  of  course,  products  of  the 
photographer's  art,  in  more  recent  times,  from  the  days  of  Osborne,  Kleckner  and  Stuber  to 
the  present  skillful  professionals  and  amateurs  diligently  adding  to  the  town's  store. 


MAIN    STREE.T,   1862 
West  Side 
East  Side 


1846 1876.  y\i 

work  done  at  Bethlehem  for  a  brief  season  by  the  famous  Henry 
Miller  on  one  of  the  small  presses  which  he  transferred  from  place 
to  place  before  he  settled  in  Philadelphia,  all  the  Bethlehem  printing 
was  done  by  contract  elsewhere,  until  the  advent  of  the  Helds. 
Prior  to  that  time,  miscellaneous  job  printing  was  not  a  branch  of 
business  which  the  authorities  of  Bethlehem  would  have  deemed  it 
desirable  to  have  carried  on  in  the  town.  In  order  to  make  it  profit- 
able the  degree  of  discrimination  in  the  kind  of  work  permissible, 
which  they  would  have  insisted  on,  could  not  have  been  observed, 
and  the  Moravian  printing  was  not  sufficient  to  incur  the  expense 
of  maintaining  a  printing  office.  The  first  Moravian  publication 
officially  issued  at  Bethlehem  was  a  quarterly,  "Tlie  United  Brethren's 
Missionary  Intelligencer  and  Religious  Miscellany — Published  quarterly 
for  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  the  United  Brethren."  It 
was  founded  in  1822,  continued  until  1849,  ^^^  "^^'^^  printed  in  city 
offices.  It  was  edited  by  Moravian  clergy  and  its  first  printer  was 
John  Binns,  of  Philadelphia.  Its  successor  was  a  monthly  called 
''Tlie  Moravian  Church  Miscellany,''  from  January,  1850,  to  Decem- 
ber, 1855.  This  was  both  edited  and  pubHshed  at  Bethlehem,  the 
printer  being  Julius  Held,  with  Herman  Ruede,  teacher  at  Bethle- 
hem, but  printer  by  trade,  performing  the  functions  of  office-editor 
and  proof-reader  during  part  of  its  latter  period.  Its  several  editors 
were  Moravian  clergymen.  The  first  local  newspaper  was  a  Ger- 
man bi-weekly  called  Die  Biene  (the  Bee),  undertaken  by  Julius  Held 
and  then  continued  in  partnership  with  his  brother,  William  Held, 
in  1846,  with  Dr.  Abraham  L.  Huebener  as  editor.  The  first  num- 
ber appeared,  January  3,  1846.  It  was  not  a  political  paper  nor  to 
any  considerable  extent  a  mere  chronicle  of  town  and  neighborhood 
happenings.  Its  purpose,  as  it  announced  under  its  heading,  was 
"the  propagation  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  the  advancement  of  pure 
morals,  the  improvement  of  educational  work  and  the  dissemination 
of  useful  general  knowledge."  It  dealt,  to  a  large  extent,  with 
Moravian  Church  afifairs  and  missions,  published  many  articles  in  the 
domain  of  natural  history,  advocated  temperance  reform,  contained 
much  interesting  historical  matter,  treated  of  the  most  important 
events  of  the  period — it  being  at  the  time  of  the  Mexican  War — and 
contained  the  advertisements  of  sundry  Bethlehem  business  men. 
Dr.  Huebener  bought  out  the  Held  brothers  in  1848.  and  became 
sole  owner  as  well  as  editor,  but  it  did  not  prosper  financially,  and  at 
the  end  of  1848,  he  was  compelled  to  suspend  publication.  The  next 
in  order  was  The  Lchi^rh   J^allcv  Times,  a  weeklv  with  more  of  the 


712  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

general  character  of  a  village  newspaper,  founded  by  the  late 
veteran  editor.  Captain  Edward  H.  Ranch,  who  removed  to  Beth- 
lehem from  Lancaster  in  1852,  and  established  the  paper.  It  dealt 
freely  with  political  affairs  and  continued  to  be  published  until  1857 — 
during  the  latter  part  of  this  time  by  Gangewere  and  Masslich,  as  it 
seems,  who  in  the  autumn  of  1856,  attempted  the  publication  also  of 
a  German  bi-weekly  under  the  name  Ackerbau  Zeitung.  What  rela- 
tions may  have  existed  with  the  publishers  of  the  Easton  Free  Press 
at  that  time  is  not  made  quite  clear  by  a  paragraph  of  a  correspondent 
in  an  issue  of  the  next  Bethlehem  newspaper,  TAe  Advocate,  on  March 
12,  1859,  i"  which  he  refers  to  Tlw  Lehigh  Valley  Times  as  having 
"flourished  a  number  of  years"  and  then  been  "transferred  over  to 
the  Easton  Free  Press,  leaving  Bethlehem  without  a  newspaper." 
The  first  number  of  the  weekly  Bethlehem  Advocate  was  issued, 
October  9,  1858,  by  Herman  Ruede,  editor  and  publisher.  The 
existence  of  this  paper  was  also  brief.  In  1861  it  had  ceased  and  in 
its  place,  The  Lehigh  Valley  Times  had  reappeared,  published  by  J.  D. 
Laciar.  How  long  it  continued  has  not  been  ascertained.  Mean- 
while the  publication  of  The  Moravian  had,  at  the  beginning  of  1859, 
been  transferred  from  Philadelphia  to  Bethlehem.  This  was  a  weekly 
paper  which,  by  action  of  the  Provincial  Synod  of  the  Moravian 
Church,  had  taken  the  place  of  the  monthly  Moravian  Church  Mis- 
cellany. Its  first  number  was  issued,  January  i,  1856,  at  Phila- 
delphia.^- 

Herman  Ruede,  who  had  published  The  Advocate,  became  the 
printer  of  The  Moravian  and  remained  in  the  office  until  1865,  when 
Amos  Comcnius  Clauder  succeeded  him.  Subsequently  associated  with 
the  latter  was  his  brother,  Henry  T.  Clauder,  who  after  the  death 
of  the  elder  brother,  in  1868,  became  his  successor,  as  pub- 
lisher. The  printing  ofifice  was  removed,  at  the  end  of 
October,  1865.  into  apartments  in  the  rear  of  the  store 
of  W'olle,  Krausc  and  Erwin,  on  Main  Street,  with  its  entrance 
from  Market  Street.  There  it  remained  until  transferred  to  the 
new  Publication  Building,  March  6.  1871,  when  the  Rev.  H.  A. 
Brickenstein  was  Secretary  of  Publications.  The  book-store  had 
been  removed  to  the  adjoining  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building  not  long  after 
the  completion  of  that  structure  in   t868.     In  the  new  publication 

12  Bishop  Edmund  de  Schweinitz,  then  pastor  in  Philadelphia,  the  Rev.  L.  F.  Kamp- 
mann  and  the  Rev.  F.  F.  Hagen  were  jointly  its  first  editors.  Its  printer,  to  the  end 
of  1858,  was  Wm  S.  Young,  50  North  6th  Street.  Philadelphia.  The  Moravian  Publication 
Office  and  book-store  were  at  241  Arch  Street,  Philadelphia,  until  removed,  at  the  close  of 
1858,  to  37  Broad  Street,  Bethlehem. 


1846 1876.  7^3 

office  were  then  concentrated,  before  the  end  of  1871,  the  printing 
office,  the  book-store  and  the  old  bindery,  in  charge  of  Anton  Hesse. 
Tliey  have  all  remained  in  that  building  to  the  present  time.  In 
1866,  the  publication  of  the  new  German  Moravian  Church  paper 
called  Dcr  Brueder  Botschaftcr,  and  at  first  issvied  bi-weekly,  com- 
menced. It  had  been  preceded  by  a  monthly,  from  1854  to  1861, 
called  Das  Bnicdcr  Blatt.  Later  periodicals  issued  from  the  Mora- 
vian Publication  Office  at  Bethlehem  are  The  Little  Missionary, stdiVttd 
in  1871,  and  Dcr  Missions  Freund,  1889.^^  On  January  27,  1866,  was 
printed  on  the  press  of  The  Moravian,  the  first  number  of  The  Beth- 
lehem Chronicle,  a  new  secular  weekly,  successor  of  The  Lehigh  Valley 
Times.  Its  publishers  were  D.  J.  Godshalk  and  William  Eichman. 
The  latter  withdrew  six  months  later  and  D.  J.  Godshalk  and  Co. 
continued  to  publish  it  as  The  Lehigh  Valley  Chronicle  to  the  end  of 
the  first  year.  Then,  on  February  4,  1867,  they  issued  the  first 
number  of  the  first  daily  newspaper  attempted  in  Bethlehem,  The 
Daily  Times.  In  1869,  the  late  Owen  B.  Sigley,  wdio  had  worked  in 
the  offices  of  The  Moravian  and  The  Daily  Times,  founded,  with  the 
co-operation  of  several  leading  men  on  the  south  side,  under  the 
firm  name  of  Owen  B.  Sigley  and  Co.,  Tlie  Weekly  Progress,  with 
Daniel  E.  Schoedler,  previously  connected  with  the  Bethlehem  public 
schools,  as  editor.  Another  weekly,  The  Northampton  Conservative, 
started  September  30,  1868,  by  M.  F.  Gushing,  had  an  ephemeral 
existence  on  the  south  side.  On  April  3,  1871,  The  Progress  began 
to  be  issued  as  a  morning  daily ;  The  Times  having,  from  the  first, 
been  an  evening  paper.  In  April,  1872,  The  Morning  Progress  estab- 
lished its  office  in  the  new  "Anthracite  Building,"  with  Charles  Hol- 
land Kidder  as  its  new  editor.  In  March,  1874,  the  paper  passed 
into  the  hands  of  C.  O.  Ziegenfuss,  previously  connected  with  the 
Times,  who  secured  control  of  the  consolidated  weekly,  Spirit  of  the 
Times  and  Northampton  Educator,  that  had  been  issued  for  a  while 
from  the  office  of  the  Daily  Times,  and  named  it  The  Weekly  Standard. 
For  a  short  time  in  April,  1874,  the  Times  and  Progress  united  their 
fortunes,  but  before  the  end  of  that  month  the  Times  resumed  its 
distinct  character  on  the  north  side,  and  the  south  side  paper  ceased. 
Subsequently  appeared  The  Star,  first,  January  18,  1877,  ^s  a  morn- 
ing daily  started  by  A.  F.  Yost,  then  as  a  weekly  and  then  as  an 
evening  daily,  of  which  D.  J.  Godshalk,  founder  and  first  editor  of 

13  T/te    AIo7-avian    and    Little    Missionary  continue  to  be  published  at  Bethlehem  ;  the 
Briieder  Botschafler  and  Missions  Freund,  since  1898,  at  Watertown,  Wis. 


yi4  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

the  Ti)itcs,  became  the  proprietor,  pubHshing  it  for  some  years. 
Meanwhile,  in  1894,  a  new  daily  which  had  no  kind  of  historical  con- 
nection with  any  of  the  preceding,  Tlie  South  Bethlehem  Globe,  made 
its  appearance.  As  for  the  oldest  of  the  existing  three  newspapers 
of  the  Bethlchems,  the  advance  of  the  enterprise  from  its  unpreten- 
tious beginning  in  the  old  Eggert  house,  where  the  building  of  the 
Lehigh  Valley  National  Bank  now  stands,  and  then  in  its  well- 
remembered  Broad  Street  quarters,  on  to  the  extensive  business  of 
the  Times  Publishing  Company  in  the  present  commodious  and  well- 
equipped  building,  is,  like  the  development  of  the  paper  itself  from 
the  first  issue  in  1867  to  The  Bethlehem  J^imcs  of  now,  in  line  with  the 
general  progress  of  the  town.^* 

According  to  records  preserved,  the  population  of  Bethlehem 
increased  in  ten  years,  after  it  was  incorporated  as  a  Borough,  to 
twice  the  number  of  inhabitants  it  then  had,  and  in  December,  1858, 
the  figures  were  set  at  2,500.  Among  the  public  improvements  of 
those  years,  an  important  one  was  the  introduction  of  gas,  which 
was  lighted  on  the  principal  streets  the  first  time  on  July  13,  1854. 
The  Bethlehem  Gas  Company  was  incorporated,  February  7,  1853, 
by  Philip  H.  Goepp,  C.  A.  Luckenbach,  Sylvester  Wolle,  A.  W.  Rad- 
ley,  James  T.  Borhek,  William  Wilson,  Rufus  A.  Grider,  James 
Rice,  John  M.  Miksch,  W.  T.  Roepper,  Charles  W.  Rauch,  A.  E. 
McCarty  and  James  Leibert.  Its  first  directors,  elected  in  May, 
were  C.  A.  Luckenbach,  P.  H.  Goepp,  A.  W.  Radley,  W.  Wilson, 
Jacob  Rice,  Matthew  Krause,  Ambrose  H.  Rauch,  Sylvester  Wolle 
and  J.  T.  Borhek.  They  organized  by  electing  C.  A.  Luckenbach, 
President,  J.  T.  Borhek,  Secretary,  and  Matthew  Krause,  Treasurer. 
Ambrose  H.  Rauch  became  Superintendent  of  the  works  and  con- 
tinued to  fill  the  position,  supervising  all  of  the  successive  enlarge- 
ments and  improvements,  until  the  corporation,  after  existing  nearly 
half  a  century,  was  merged  in  the  Wyandotte  Gas  Company.  The 
water  and  fire  departments,  as  they  existed  during  those  years,  have 
been  referred  to  in  connection  with  earlier  mention.  No  addition 
was  made  to  the  old  organizations  for  fighting  fire  until  October  26, 
186^).  when  the  Nisky  Hook  and  Ladder  Company  was  formed,  with 
Henry  J.  Seaman  as  President,  Theodore  F.  Levers,  Secretarv,  and 
Isaac  Walp,  Treasurer.       The  streets  of  the  town  that  had  been 


M  The  above  items  gathered  from  many  original  sources,  among  others  the  files  and  parts 
of  files  of  the  several  publications  referred  to  which  are  preserved  in  the  Moravian  Archives, 
would,  where  desirable,  have  been  more  exact  as  to  dates  and  other  points  in  the  case  of 
some  former  newspapers  mentioned  if  data  had  been  obtainable. 


i%   %    *;    ^ 


Ifi 


JACOB    LEWIS    DOSTER  BENJAMIN    EGGERT 

CHARLES    AUGUSTUS    LUCKENBACH 
JAMES    GOTTHOLD    LEIBERT  HENRY    BENJAMIN     LUCKENBACH 


1846 1876.  -Jl-J 

ment  of  a  piano-factory  was  had  in  mind  in  connection  with  negotia- 
tions for  the  lease  of  ground  by  George  Haus,  at  the  south-east 
corner  of  Broad  and  New  Streets.  In  1837,  John  Christian  Alal- 
thaner,  a  piano-maker  from  New  York,  encouraged  by  C.  A.  Luck- 
enbach  to  settle  at  Bethlehem,  came  to  the  place  with  his  family  and 
had  his  first  home  and  shop  in  the  stone  house  at  the  w-est  side  of 
the  grist-mill,  which  was  then  Mr.  Luckenbach's  property.  He  was 
among  those  who  were  driven  from  their  houses  by  the  flood  of  1841. 
For  a  while  he  then  occvipied  quarters  in  the  Old  Economy  house 
on  Main  Street.  He  had  brought  with  him  from  New  York  an 
unfinished  piano,  which  was  the  first  instrument  he  turned  out  at 
Bethlehem.  It  is  still  in  existence  and  is  not  yet  beyond  being  used. 
In  1842,  he  applied  for  lot  No.  23  on  the  east  side  of  New  Street, 
near  Broad.  There,  after  all  the  agreements  and  stipulations  about 
the  building  and  other  matters  then  yet  required,  had  been  arranged, 
he  erected  a  suitable  structure  and  opened  the  widely-known  factory 
which  he  carried  on  until  his  death  in  1873,  after  which  his  sons  con- 
tinued it  some  years  longer.  The  other  establishment  referred  to 
was  the  copper  and  brass-working  shop  and  subsequent  brass- 
foundry,  opened  in  1832  by  Ernst  L.  Lehman,  well  knowai  in  his  day 
among  the  musicians  and  leading  citizens  of  Bethlehem,  like  his  son 
and  successor,  the  late  Bernhard  E.  Lehman,  who  became  the  owner 
and  occupant  of  the  premises  at  the  north-west  corner  of  Market 
and  New  Streets.  From  there  he  transferred  the  foundry  and  shop, 
in  1864,  to  the  south  side,  and  developed  them  into  the  substantial 
industry  so  long  known  under  his  name,  and  yet  existing  among  the 
establishments  that,  in  the  course  of  fifty  years,  have  taken  the  place 
of  the  more  quiet  agricultural  activities  which  had  been  supplying  so 
large  a  part  of  Bethlehem's  subsistence  for  a  hundred  years. 


CHAPTER  XVIll. 


Three  Decades  of  Progress  Continued. 
1846— 1876. 

The  town  of  about  fifteen  hundred  people  that  had  grown  up,  at 
the  period  last  referred  to  in. the  preceding  chapter,  on  the  farms 
across  the  river;  the  smoke  of  furnaces,  the  rumble  of  mills,  the 
shriek  of  locomotive  whistles  and  the  rushing  of  railway  trains  up 
and  down  the  valley  had  for  some  years  attracted  attention,  as  the 
most  conspicuous  product  of  the  new  era  that  opened  after  the  incor- 
poration of  the  Borough  of  Bethlehem. 

The  bulk  of  the  land  sold  by  Administrator  Goepp,  in  1847,  con- 
sisted of  the  four  farms  on  the  south  side  commonly  spoken  of  as 
"The  Fuehrer  Farm,"  embracing  the  nearer  portion  of  what  is  now 
called  Fountain  Hill  and  its  north-eastern  descent  to  and  including 
the  premises  of  the  old  Crown  Inn;  "The  Luckenbach  Farm,"  adjoin- 
ing it  to  the  east  and  extending  down  the  river ;  "The  Jacobi  Farm," 
which  lay  south  of  this  one  along  the  sloping  upland  to  the  base  of 
the  mountain,  from  about  the  present  Five  Points  eastward  far  down 
into  the  heart  of  the  town ;  and  "The  Hoffert  Farm,"  stretching  off 
to  the  south-west,  over  the  farther  part  of  Fountain  Hill,  down  to  the 
Emmaus  Road  and  up  to  the  present  premises  of  the  hospital  and 
Bishopthorpe  School  and  beyond  to  the  Fountain  Hill  Cemetery.^ 
The  original  Hofifert  farm-house  stood  far  up  the  hill-side,  a  short 
distance  north  of  east  from  Bishopthorpe.  The  Fuehrer  farm-house 
was  the  Crown  Inn.  The  Luckenbach  farm-house  near  by,  a  little 
east,  was  replaced  in  1849  by  a  brick  house,  which  was  eventually 
made  to  do  duty  as  a  railroad  office  building.  The  little  stone  house 
of  the  Jacobi  farm  is  yet  standing,  with  modern  alterations,  at  the 
corner  of  Brodhead  Avenue  and  Fourth  Street.  Excepting  the 
buildings  pertaining  to  those  farms  and  several  of  the  old  log  cabins, 


'  Those  who  desire  a  more  complete  and  exact  delineation  of  the  metes  and  bounds  of 
those  old  farms,  from  the  view-point  of  modern  topography,  will  find  it  worked  out  with 
care  in  appendix  5  and  map  of  TAf  Croian  Inn,  by  Wm.  C.  Reichel,  1872.  Their  par- 
tition and  the  conveyances  of  portions  to  different  parties  during  the  first  years  after  their 
sale  are  also  there  set  forth  in  detail. 

718 


1846 1876.  7^9 

the  only  improvements  within  their  bounds  when  the  great  sale  was 
made  in  1847,  were  those  under  way  for  the  famous  Hydropathic 
Institute — or  in  the  sterling  English  of  plain  folk,  the  Water-Cure — 
projected  in  1843,  by  Franz  Heinrich  Oppelt,  who  had  come  from 
Europe ;  a  man  of  former  Moravian  connection,  which  he  resumed  at 
Bethlehem.  In  June,  1843,  ^^^  wrote  to  the  Supervising  Board  of  the 
village :  "The  excellent  water  of  the  Lehigh  ^Mountain  and  the  prox- 
imity of  Bethlehem,  where  patients  could  purchase  or  have  made  all 
necessaries,  and  those  less  seriously  ailing  could  also  secure  board 
and  lodging,  has  awakened  in  me  the  desire  to  establish  a  hydro- 
pathic institute  if  I  could  buy  the  springs  and  the  necessary  ground." 
He  secured  the  use,  rent  free,  that  year,  of  a  little  over  two  acres  on 
the  mountain  side  which  he  began  to  improve  and  then  purchased  in 
April,  1846.  Soon  after  that,  he  opened  the  Water-Cure,  which 
acquired  celebrity,  not  only  as  a  sanitarium  for  invalids,  but  also  as 
a  delightful  summer-resort,  with  its  magnificent  view  to  the  east  and 
north.  It  was  visited,  at  times,  by  people  of  note.  The  locahty  got 
the  name  Oppeltsville,  and  beginning,  September  22,  1850,  when 
Bishop  Van  Vleck  olBciated  there  the  first  time,  stated  services  were 
held  there  by  the  Moravian  clergy  of  Bethlehem  for  a  few  years, 
during  the  months  when  numerous  guests  were  sojourning  at  the 
place. 

In  1845,  Daniel  Desh  had  purchased  somewhat  more  than  an  acre, 
just  across  the  river,  on  the  west  side  of  the  road  near  the  bridge, 
where  the  old  ferry  house  stood,  and  in  1846,  another  piece  west  of 
that,  up  the  hill  where  the  large  railroad  oiBce  buildings  now  stand. 
With  the  exception  of  these  several  parcels  previously  secured  by 
Oppelt  and  Desh.  the  entire  body  of  land  included  in  the  four  farms 
conveyed  to  Philip  H.  Goepp  in  1847,  was,  soon  after  that,  sold  by 
him,  to  Charles  Augustus  Luckenbach,  to  whom  the  deeds  were 
made  on  April  i,  1848.  The  latter  did  not  long  retain  possession  of 
the  whole.  In  the  spring  of  1848,  he  sold  the  entire  Fuehrer  farm  to 
Daniel  Desh,  whose  previous  purchases  lay  in  that  tract,  and  a  little 
more  than  103  acres  embraced  in  the  Jacobi  farm  to  Joseph  Hess. 
The  entire  Hoffert  farm  was  also  disposed  of  in  parcels  to  Charles 
and  Oliver  Tombler  and  F.  H.  Oppelt.  In  1850  and  185 1,  the 
Tombler  purchases  were  conveyed,  in  part,  to  Daniel  C.  Freitag.  but 
the  larger  portion  to  Augustus  Fiot,  of  Philadelphia,  who  added  a 
tract  of  wood-land — another  purchase — and  established  an  attractive 
country-seat,  which  he  named  Fontainebleau.  This,  after  passing 
through  other  ownerships,  became  eventually,  with  the  Freitag  pur- 


720  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

chase,  the  property  of  Tinsley  Jeter,  who  thus,  by  successive  pur- 
chases, acquired  the  entire  Hoffert  farm,  apart  from  what  was  owned 
by  Oppelt.  In  1854,  Daniel  Desh  disposed  of  his  holdings — the 
Fuehrer  farm — to  Rudolph  Kent,  of  Philadelphia,  who  sold  ten  acres, 
embracing-  the  site  of  the  old  Crown  Inn,  to  the  North  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  Company  and  laid  out  the  rest  in  town  lots,  covering  the 
whole  of  east  and  north  Fountain  Hill.  In  1852,  C.  A.  Luckenbach, 
having,  for  the  time  being,  retained  the  Luckenbach  Farm,  east  of 
the  former  inn  along  the  river,  planned  a  town-plot  which  he  named 
Augusta.  He  disposed  of  sundry  parcels  to  different  purchasers,  the 
largest,  upwards  of  97  acres,  to  Charles  W.  and  Ambrose  H.  Ranch, 
in  1854.  In  the  summer  of  that  year,  Charles  Brodhead  purchased 
the  Jacobi  Farm,  103  acres,  of  Joseph  Hess,  and  the  portion  of  the 
Luckenbach  Farm  held  by  the  Rauchs,  enlarged  the  town  plot  and 
gave  it  the  name  Wetherill,  in  honor  of  John  Price  Wetherill,  of 
Philadelphia. .  In  1855,  however,  Mr.  Brodhead  reconveyed  to  the 
Messrs.  Ranch  the  tract  purchased  of  them. 

Meanwhile,  operations  had  commenced  on  a  portion  of  the  former 
Luckenbach  Farm  that  were  indicative  of  what  that  vicinity  on  the 
south  bank  of  the  river  was  to  become.  A  strange  mineral  in  the 
Saucon  Valley  that  had  attracted  attention  for  more  than  twe'nty 
years,  was  examined  in  1845,  by  WilHam  Theodore  Roepper,  of  Beth- 
lehem, and  by  him  first  ascertained  to  be  calamine — the  hydro-silicate 
of  zinc.  An  association,  formed  to  mine  and  work  the  deposit, 
secured  a  site  on  the  Luckenbach  tract  for  the  necessary  buildings, 
the  first  of  which  were  erected  in  1853,  and,  on  October  13  of  that 
year,  produced  there  the  first  white  oxide  of  zinc.  The  buildings 
were  burned  out  in  the  following  December  but  were  soon  restored, 
and  operations  progressed.  May  2,  1855,  the  Pennsylvania  and 
Lehigh  Zinc  Company  was  incorporated.  Samuel  Wetherill  and 
Charles  T.  Gilbert  had  charge  of  the  works  from  the  beginning  to 
September,  1857.  In  1854,  and  the  year  following,  Mr.  Wetherill 
experimented  in  another  building,  near  by,  until  he  succeeded  in 
producing  the  first  spelter  or  metallic  zinc,  but  the  problem  of  cheap- 
ening the  process  to  the  extent  of  making  it  practicable  remained  to 
be  solved.  In  1859,  Joseph  Wharton,  who  managed  the  works  from 
Septeml)er.  1857.  to  September,  i860,  contracted  with  Belgian  experts 
for  the  construction  of  works  to  manufacture  spelter,  and  for  their 
operation.  This  was  successfully  inaugurated  in  July,  1859.  It  may 
yet  be  added,  to  complete  this  reference  to  the  famous  zinc  works, 
that  the  third  department  of  manufacture  was  introduced  in   1865. 


5^.  ^   u 


JOHN    LERCH  SAMUEL    BRUNNER 

JAMES    ALEXANDER    RICE 
DANIEL    DESH  JACOB    LUCKENBACH 


1846 1876.  723 

\yhile  these  great  enterprises  were  being  planned,  schemes  for 
working  iron  at  Bethlehem  in  a  larger  way  than  at  the  old  Beckel 
foundry  were  afloat,  prior  to  the  establishment  of  a  second  foundry 
and  machine  shop  by  Abbott  and  Cortright  on  the  south  side  in  1857. 
In  April,  1849,  the  Supervising  Board  of  the  Moravian  Congregation 
had  under  consideration  an  application  for  the  purchase  or  lease  of 
ground  along  the  canal  for  an  "anthracite  furnace."  The  site  in  view 
w^as  "between  the  Anchor  Hotel  and  the  east  basin  on  the  south 
side  of  the  new  road"  (present  Lehigh  Avenue).  Terms  were  dis- 
cussed, and  in  July  it  was  resolved  to  sell  the  land  "from  the  tavern 
to  the  aqueduct  between  the  canal  and  the  Monocacy,  including  the 
marsh  meadow,  on  both  sides  of  the  new  street,  to  Air.  Noble,"  for 
$2700,  "reserving  for  Dosters  and  the  Water  Company"  their  rights 
along  the  bank  of  the  Monocacy.  The  decision  being  subject  to 
the  concurrence  of  the  Elders'  Conference,  failed  to  meet  their 
approval,  on  account  of  the  proximity  of  the  proposed  site  to  the 
Young  Ladies'  Seminary.  Administrator  Goepp,  who  favored  the 
sale  and  believed  that  in  course  of  time  an  unsuitable  environment 
would  inevitably  crowd  upon  the  school  premises,  broached  the  idea 
of  ultimately  transferring  the  institution  to  a  new  site  on  Nisky  Hill, 
and  then  this  and  the  cemetery  project  seem  to  have  become  for  a 
while  competitive  schemes  in  official  circles.  There  were  among  the 
people  decided  opinions  for  and  against  the  sale  of  land  for  an  iron 
furnace  at  that  point  and  nothing  came  of  it. 

In  August,  1849,  similar  propositions  by  "the  Messrs.  Jones,  of 
Philadelphia,"  and  Samuel  Lewis,  of  the  new  Allentown  furnace,  were 
considered,  having  sites  farther  up  the  canal  in  view,  but  did  not 
result  in  an  agreement.  Mr.  Lewis  entertained  the  thought  of 
purchasing  "twenty  acres  along  the  canal  from  the  upper  basin  nortli- 
\vard." 

While  such  projects  for  new  iron  industries  were  further  slum- 
bering, the  actual  beginning  of  the  long-mooted  railroad  to  run  along 
the  south  bank  of  the  Lehigh  naturally  sugges^ted  to  men's  minds 
that  further  such  developments  would  arise  on  that  side  of  the  river. 
While  various  schemes  were  being  talked  of  by  the  men  already 
mentioned  -who  had  acquired  the  real  estate  on  the  south  side,  and 
by  others,  like  Augustus  Wolle,  one  of  the  enterprising  and  far- 
sighted  men  of  the  time,  who  also  made  considerable  purchases  while 
parcels  on  the  Luckenbach  Farm  were  first  changing  hands,  a  flutter 
was  caused  in  the  summer  of  1854,  by  the  circulation  of  a  rumor  that 
— as   one  record   states  it — "the   LTnited   States  foundrv   was  to  be 


J24  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

established  south  of  the  Lehigh  at  Bethlehem."  A  private  chronicle 
of  the  time  notes,  in  substantiation  of  the  rumor,  that  "Mr.  Charles 
Brodhead,  a  nephew  of  the  Senator  (Richard  BrodheadJ,  had  bought 
two  farms"  on  the  south  side.  The  facts,  as  derived  from  firsl 
sources,  are  the  following:  During  the  years  1854  and  1855,  Mr. 
Brodhead,  having  made  the  purchases  of  land  on  the  south  side 
already  referred  to,  endeavored,  through  his  uncle,  Richard  Brod- 
head, United  States  Senator,  to  secure  the  location  of  a  government 
foundrv  on  the  site  of  the  former  Luckenbach  Farm.  Jefferson 
Davis,  then  Secretary  of  War  in  the  Cabinet  of  President  Pierce, 
favored  the  project  and  recommended  it  to  the  attention  of  Congress. 
The  committee  of  the  Senate  reported  in  favor  of  it,  but  the  plan 
failed  to  secure  Congressional  action  on  account  of  conflicting  inter- 
ests in  the  matter  of  a  location.  Then  the  original  mover  was 
induced  by  Augustus  W'olle  to  join  with  him  in  laying  the  foundation 
of  another  enterprise,  which  he  and  others  had  in  view,  and  which 
eventually  took  the  place  of  that  one  on  the  proposed  site.  ]\Ir.  Wolle 
had  acquired  possession  of  the  deposit  of  iron  ore  known  as  the 
Gangewere  mine  and  was  proceeding  to  develop  the  property.  He 
formed  an  organization  to  erect  a  blast  furnace  on  the  Saucon  Creek, 
at  the  mine,  and  secured  incorporation,  April  8,  1857,  under  the 
name  of  "The  Saucona  Iron  Company."  He  had,  meanwhile,  pur- 
chased the  large  portion  of  the  Luckenbach  Farm  which  'Sir.  Brod- 
head had  conveyed  back  to  Charles  W.  and  Ambrose  H.  Ranch. 
Mr.  Wolle  was  persuaded  by  Mr.  Brodhead  of  the  advisability  of 
erecting  the  works  south  of  the  Lehigh  at  Bethlehem,  rather  than 
at  the  mine,  and  of  having  the  Company  authorized  "to  make  and 
majiufacture  iron  into  any  shape,  form  and  condition,  instead  of 
limiting  its  output  to  that  of  simply  a  blast  furnace."  ^^'ith  \Lr. 
Wolle's  consent  and  approval,  Mr.  Brodhead  drafted  a  supplement  to 
the  charter  of  the  Company,  embodying  this  expansion  and  changing 
its  name  to  that  of  "The  Bethlehem  Rolling  Mills  and  Iron  Com- 
pan}'."  This  supplement  became  a  law  on  March  31,  1857.  Sub- 
scriptions were  then  started,  the  first  subscriber  being  Augustus 
Wolle  with  the  largest  amount.  The  second  was  Charles  Brodhead, 
and  the  next  were  Charles  W.  Ranch,  Ambrose  H.  Ranch  and 
Charles  B.  Daniel.    All  were  Bethlehem  men. 

These  subscriptions,  together  with  one  by  the  Moravian  Congre- 
gation, were  all  that  were  gotten  for  several  years,  in  consequence 
of  the  financial  crisis  of  the  time.  In  1859.  efforts  were  renewed 
and  in  June,  i860,  the  services  of  John  Fritz,  the  noted  iron-master, 


1S46 18/6.  725 

of  Johnstown,  were  secured  to  superintend  the  construction  and 
then  the  operation  of  the  works.  The  confidence  inspired  by  this 
move  resulted  in  the  rapid  raising  of  the  required  capital.  On  June 
14,  i860,  the  Company  elected  the  first  Board  of  Directors  who,  on 
July  7,  organized  with  Alfred  Hunt,  President;  Augustus  Wolle, 
Asa  Packer,  John  Taylor  Johnston,  John  Knecht,  Edward  Roberts, 
Charles  B.  Daniel  and  Charles  W.  Rauch,  Directors;  Charles  B. 
Daniel,  Secretary  and  Treasurer.  The  corporate  title  was  again 
changed  by  Act  of  Legislature,  May  i,  1861,  to  "The  Bethlehem  Iron 
Company."  Ground  was  broken  for  the  first  furnace,  July  16,  1861, 
but  then,  in  consequence  of  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  operations 
lagged  and  w^ere  not  resumed  with  energy  until  the  latter  part  of 

1862.  Fire  to  start  the  first  blast  furnace  was  lighted,  January  4, 

1863,  and  the  next  day  the  blast  was  put  on.  The  rolling  mill,  com- 
menced in  the  spring  of  1861,  was  finished  in  the  summer  of  1863. 
The  first  iron  was  puddled,  July  -zj,  and  the  first  rails — for  the  Lehigh 
Valley  Railroad — were  rolled,  September  26,  of  that  year.  The 
second  furnace,  commenced  in  May,  1864,  was  completed  in  ]\Iarch, 
1867,  and  the  first  iron  was  drawn  on  the  30th  of  that  month.  The 
original  machine  shop  was  built  and  equipped  in  1865,  and  the  foundry 
in  1868.  A  furnace  in  process  of  construction  by  the  Northampton 
Iron  Company  a  little  distance  to  the  south-east  of  the  new^  works 
and  called  The  Northampton  Furnace,  was  put  into  blast  in  Decem- 
ber, 1868,  after  this  company  had  been  merged  with  the  Bethlehem 
Iron  Company  the  previous  September,  and  was  afterwards  known 
as  furnace  No.  3,  in  the  succession  of  six  eventually  built  or  pur- 
chased. The  erection  of  the  large  steel  mill  was  commenced  in 
September,  1868.  The  first  heat  of  Bessemer  steel  was  there  blown. 
October  4,  1873.  and  the  first  steel  rail  was  rolled,  October  18.  At 
this  stage  the  plant  stood  at  the  period  to  which  this  chapter  extends. 
Thus  originated  the  enormous  works  w^hich.  after  the  lapse  of  thirty 
years,  covered  an  area  a  mile  and  a  quarter  long  and  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  w'ide,  having  twenty-five  acres  of  the  space  under  roof,  includ- 
ing the  added  works  for  producing  government  ordnance  and  armor- 
plate  as  well  as  the  heaviest  forgings  and  castings  of  ever\'  kind 
required  on  land  and  water.  Erected  and  equipped  at  a  cost  of  more 
than  $5,000,000.  containing  among  other  notable  features,  manufac- 
tured at  the  spot,  the  largest  hammer  ever  constructed,  these  works 
have  fulfilled  on  a  vast  scale  the  thoughts  of  1854.  and  have  become 
famous  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  United  States.  The  whole,  from 
the  first  blast  furnace  to  these  latest  magnificent  achievements,  was 


726  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

designed,  erected  and  put  into  successful  operation  by  the  Company's 
first  Chief  Engineer  and  General  Superintendent,  Air.  John  Fritz, 
whom  the  men  of  his  craft  in  Europe  and  America  have  united  in 
according  a  foremost  place  among  the  great  engineers  of  the  world.* 
About  the  time  when  the  first  furnace  of  the  Iron  Company  was 
being  built,  a  period  of  much  activity  in  the  purchase  of  town-lots  and 
the  erection  of  buildings  on  the  south  side  opened.  In  1858,  the 
Messrs.  Charles  Brodhead  and  Augustus  Wolle,  when  making  deeds 
for  lots,  began  to  designate  the  property  as  in  "the  southern  addition 
to  the  Borough  of  Bethlehem."  Both  of  the  previous  names,  Augusta 
and  Wetherill,  were  discarded  and  there  seemed  to  be  an  anticipation 
of  a  time  when  a  group  of  sundry  Bethlehems  would  arise,  prepar- 
atory to  a  yet  more  remote  time  when  a  natural  and  sensible  develop- 
ment w^ould  consolidate  them  as  one  greater  Bethlehem.  Then  the 
new  town  got  its  third  name,  Bethlehem  South — this  particular  form 
distinguishing  it  from  that  section  on  the  north  side  which  was  then 
yet  commonly  known  as  South  Bethlehem.  In  1865,  the  long-felt 
necessity  of  a  borough  organization  led  to  action,  and  by  decree  of 
Court  in  August,  such  incorporation  was  authorized.  The  name 
South  Bethlehem  was  chosen.  The  first  borough  election  was  held, 
September  19,  1865,  at  the  Continental  Hotel,  with  David  I.  Yerkes 
as  Judge  of  Election.  The  first  Burgess  elected  was  James  McMahon. 
The  first  Councilmen  were  Lewis  F.  Beckel,  James  McCoy,  James 
Purcell,  E.  P.  Wilbur  and  David  I.  Yerkes.  In  June  of  the  next 
year,  a  separate  post-office  was  established  with  John  Seem  as  the 
first  postmaster.  Already  in  1864,  in  anticipation  of  a  rapidly  growing 
town,  a  few  of  the  men  who  were  prominently  connected  with  the 
Lehigh  Valley  Railroad,  the  Bethlehem  Iron  Company  and  other 
important  enterprises,  and  had  established  their  residence  in  the  new 
place,  had,  along  with  other  foundation-laying  movements,  procured 
a  charter  of  incorporation  for  a  company  to  supply  light  and  water 

4  It  is  not  the  purpose  of  these  pages  to  follow  out  the  history  of  any  of  the  great  indus- 
tries nor  of  the  churches,  schools  and  other  institutions  of  the  Bethlehems  that  have  come 
into  existence  in  modern  times,  but  rather  to  merely  sketch  their  beginnings.  More 
than  this  would  not  only  require  treatment  of  things  outside  the  province  of  the  writer,  but 
would  be  impossible  on  account  of  the  magnitude  of  the  matter  involved.  Much  of  this, 
moreover,  is  recent  and  comprises  facts  well-known  by  all  or  easily  obtainable  from  numer- 
ous sources,  or  is  not  yet  settled  into  fixed  shape  in  historical  retrospect.  These  things  may 
properly  be  left  for  writers  of  future  years  to  compile,  after  they  have  receded  farther  into 
the  back-ground  like  those  which  now  stand  anterior  to  the  personal  recollection  and  par- 
ticipation of  present  actors  on  the  scenes. 


^f    sg-.    «i 


.  i,  I  iij,iii<W;iiw^«;-S^«-!»'W«j»wr«'''*'-^ 


MERIT    ABBOTT  IRA    CORTRIGHT 

SAMUEL    WETHERILL 
JAMES   THEODORE    BORHEK  BENJAMIN    WILHELM 


"^  /!|5fc.     ^1 


■te 


FT 


JOHN    CHRISTIAN    JACOBSON  HENRY    AUGUSTUS    SCHULTZ 

CHARLES    FREDERICK    SEIDEL 
DAVID    BIGLER  SYLVESTER    WOLLE 


1846 1876.  731 

growing — often  extending  beyond  its  resources  in  room  and  funds — 
has  received  loyal  support  from  some  churches,  many  industrial 
establishments,  and  very  many  benevolent  persons  of  the  Lehigh 
Valley. 

Yet  another  public  enterprise  that  has  taken  possession  of  a  portion 
of  the  old  Hoffert  Farm,  off  to  the  west  of  the  Hospital  and  Bishop- 
thorpe,  is  the  Fountain  Hill  Cemetery.  The  company  was  incorpor- 
ated in  June,  1872.  The  cemetery  was  dedicated,  July  7,  by  a  service 
at  the  site,  in  which  Lutheran,  Moravian,  Reformed,  and  other  min- 
isters participated,  and  the  first  interment  was  made,  August  28, 
1872. 

At  that  time  all  of  the  denominations  which,  since  1850,  had  organ- 
ized congregations  or  commenced  services  in  Bethlehem  were  also 
represented  in  the  new  town  on  the  soitth  side.  Some  mention  of 
several  of  them  has  been  made  in  reviewing  the  beginnings  of  the 
Bethlehem  churches,  because  of  the  intimate  connection  that  existed. 
Several  others  were  the  fruit  of  efforts  made  by  pastors  and  members 
of  north  side  churches.  The  origin  of  the  South  Bethlehem  churches 
which  existed  within  the  period  embraced  in  this  review  may  yet 
be  given  briefly  in  chronological  order. 

On  May  i,  1859,  a  Sunday-school  was  opened  in  the  first  district 
school  house  on  the  south  side  by  Miss  Amanda  Jones,  a  member 
of  the  Moravian  Church  in  Bethlehem.  This  was  the  beginning  of 
organized  religious  work  south  of  the  river.  The  following  month, 
the  first  public  services  were  held  in  that  building  by  the  Rev. 
Lewis  F.  Kampmann,  President  of  the  Moravian  College  and  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  assisted  by  several  of  the  students.  July  3.  i860,  a 
memorial  signed  by  sixty  persons, who  lived  south  of  the  river,  asking 
for  the  erection  of  a  place  of  worship  in  Bethlehem  South,  was  received 
and  discussed  by  the  Moravian  Home  Mission  Society  of  Bethlehem. 
In  September,  1861,  the  Sunday-school  was  transferred  to  the  grain- 
depot 'at  the  corner  of  New  and  Second  Streets,  and  services  were 
held  there  with  considerable  regularity  until  the  close  of  1864,  prin- 
cipally by  the  Rev.  F.  F.  Hagen,  a  member  of  the  Executive  Board 
of  the  Moravian  Church.  In  that  grain-house  a  congregation  was 
organized  on  Christmas  Day,  1863.  The  population  of  the  new  town 
which,  at  the  close  of  1861,  was  947  persons,  of  whom  387  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  had,  as  already  noted,  increased 
to  about  1500  at  the  end  of  1863.  The  corner-stone  of  the  church — 
later  "Christmas  Hall."  already  referred  to,  which  was  sold  unfinished 
to  the  Trustees  of  Lehigh  LTniversity  in  April,  1866 — was  laid,  Nov- 


732  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

ember  22,  1863,  and  its  lower  story  was  consecrated  November 
20,  1864.  The  corner-stone  of  the  present  church,  at  the  corner 
of  Elm  Street  and  Packer  Avenue,  was  laid,  October  6,  1867,  and  its 
consecration  took  place,  March  29,  1868.  The  first  stationed  min- 
ister was  the  Rev.  Henry  J.  Van  Vleck,  who  began  his  work  on  April 
22,  1866.  The  congregation  was  German,  but  an  English  one  in 
conjunction  with  it  was  organized,  April  26,  1868,  with  twenty  mem- 
bers under  the  Rev.  J.  Albert  Rondthaler,  as  English  pastor.  Out 
of  the  latter  undertaking  proceeded  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
South  Bethlehem.  Mr.  Rondthaler  and  sundry  English  members — 
some  of  whom  had  previously  been  Presbyterians — transferred  their 
connection  to  that  denomination  in  1869,  and  on  April  29  of  that 
year,  organized,  as  such,  under  the  name  of  "The  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Bethlehem."  Later  developments  on  the  north  side  have 
been  related.  The  Presbyterian  Church-edifice  on  Fourth  Street, 
South  Bethlehem,  was  commenced  in  1870,  began  to  be  used  unfin- 
ished in  April,  1871,  and  on  May  5,  1872,  the  first  service  was  held  in 
the  main  body  of  the  church. 

The  first  services  by  bishops  and  clergy  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  Bethlehem  and  the  lay  services  on  the  south  side,  prior 
to  1862,  have  already  been  mentioned.  A  Sunday-school  was  opened. 
May  II,  1862,  in  the  former  North  Pennsylvania  railroad-station  and 
in  November  of  that  year,  steps  towards  building  a  church  were 
taken,  while  services  were  being  regularly  held  on  the  north  side,  as 
previously  stated.  The  corner-stone  of  the  Church  of  the  Nativity,  at 
the  corner  of  Third  and  Wyandotte  Streets,  was  laid  on  August  6, 
1863,  and  significantly  the  first  service  in  the  church  took  place  on 
Christmas  Day  in  1864.  The  completed  edifice  was  consecrated  by 
Bishop  Stevens  on  April  19,  1865,  a  day  made  memorable  by  the 
funeral  of  the  martyred  President  Lincoln,  some  of  the  clergy  present 
on  that  occasion  particijmting  afterwards  in  the  memorial  services 
in  the  Moravian  church  of  Bethlehem.  The  Rev.  Eliphalet  Nott 
Potter,  who  had  been  connected  with  the  founding  of  the  parish,  as 
missionary  in  charge,  became  the  first  rector  of  the  Church  of  the 
Nativity.  On  the  site  of  the  first  church,  with  a  portion  of  it  retained, 
the  present  handsome  edifice  was  commenced  in  1885.  The  first 
service  was  held  in  the  basement  at  Christmas  of  that  year,  and  in 
the  main  body  of  the  church,  on  Easter  Day,  1887.  The  finished 
building  was  consecrated  on  All  Saints'  Day,  November  i,  1888.  St. 
Mary's  Chapel  at  Lechauweki  Springs,  where  Mr.  John  Sniylie,  one 
of  the  early  prominent  residents  of  Fountain  Hill,  with  others  brought 


M  s.  t 


/^J^^T^^^  ^tJ^-^/y  y^^^y 


1846 1876.  735 

menced  in  June,  1887,  '^he  corner-stone  was  laid,  August  7,  and  the 
basement  dedicated,  December  11,  of  that  year.  The  dedication  of 
the  completed  church  took  place,  November  3,  1889.  Added  to  this 
ecclesiastical  diversity  even  organized  Hebrew  work,  with  a  syna- 
gogue has  come  into  existence  among  the  mixed  population  during 
the  last  two  decades  of  the  century. 

Closing  this  survey  of  beginnings  on  the  south  side,  attention  may 
turn  back  again  some  years  to  the  old  town  on  the  north  side.  The 
river  may  be  recrossed  this  time  not  on  the  old  Main  Street  bridge, 
built  after  its  predecessor  had  been  swept  away  in  1841,  but  on  the 
New  Street  bridge,  which  came  into  existence  to  meet  manifest  needs, 
when  the  forward  strides  along  the  river  on  the  south  side  were  being 
taken  and  the  people  were  pouring  rapidly  into  the  place  at  the  time 
of  the  Borough  organization.  The  project  began  to  be  agitated  in 
1863,  ^rid  definite  steps  were  taken  early  in  1864.  The  New  Street 
Bridge  Company  was  chartered.  May  3,  1864.  The  Commissioners 
were  Aaron  W.  Radley,  John  J.  Levers,  Richard  W.  Leibert,  Herman 
A.  Doster.  The  first  Directors  of  the  Company  were  Charles  N. 
Beckel,  President ;  Robert  H.  Sayre,  Elisha  P.  Wilbur,  John  J. 
Levers,  Robert  A.  Abbott  and  Herman  A.  Doster,  Secretary  and 
Treasurer.  Three  years  elapsed  before  the  new  bridge  was  a  reality. 
The  piers  were  finished,  the  second  week  in  April,  1867,  the  timbers 
were  laid  before  the  end  of  that  month  and,  the  last  week  in  June,  it 
was  open  for  travel.  The  next  great  freshet  in  the  Lehigh,  October 
4,  1869,  seriously  damaged  one  span  and  the  following  year  an  iron 
span  was  built  by  Charles  N.  Beckel,  at  the  old  works  on  Sand  Island. 
It  was  finished  in  November.  It  may  be  remarked  that  Mr.  Beckel's 
reputation  as  a  constructor  of  iron  bridges  was  quite  extensive  at 
that  time.  The  following  year,  1871,  in  August,  he  commenced  the 
erection  of  the  Union  Street  bridge  across  the  Monocacy. 

The  inception  of  the  Broad  Street  bridge  project  dates  from  soon 
after  the  completion  of  the  New  Street  bridge.  The  company  was 
incorporated,  May  i,  1869,  and  commenced  operations  at  once,  pur- 
chasing portions  of  the  Dixon  and  Luckenbach  properties  on  Main 
Street  to  open  an  approach,  and  settling  upon  designs  and  materials. 
Work  at  the  foundations  was  commenced  on  June  10,  and  in  October, 
of  that  year,  the  masonry  was  finished.  After  a  long  delay  in  conse- 
quence of  various  impeding  circumstances,  the  work  was  started 
anew  in  August,  1870.  The  second  week  in  May,  1871,  teams  began 
to  cross  and  on  the  17th  of  that  month  the  finished  bridge  was  for- 
mally opened  to  the  public. 


-Jl^  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

If  the  Xew  Street  bridge,  so  severely  tested  in  1869,  had  been  built 
seven  years  sooner  than  it  was,  it  would  probably  have  shared  the 
fate  of  all  the  bridges  which  then  crossed  the  Lehigh,  in  the  most 
disastrous  flood  on  record  in  the  valley.  It  eame  on  June  4  and  5, 
1862.  The  description  of  the  havoc  wrought  in  January,  1841,  which 
has  been  transferred  to  these  pages  from  the  records  of  the  time, 
tells,  in  the  main,  what  the  inundated  district  at  Bethlehem  suffered 
on  this  occasion.  The  water  rose  only  a  little  higher  at  this  point 
than  in  1841,  but  the  ruin  was  very  much  greater,  not  only  because 
there  was  more  property  and  a  larger  population  to  be  imperiled,  but 
because  the  chief  flood  was  occasioned  by  the  breaking  of  a  succes- 
sion of  great  dams  far  up  the. river,  and  the  unprecedented  rise  of 
the  water  came  with  appalling  suddenness. ^° 

This  caused  serious  loss  of  life  at  some  places,  which  was  not  the 
case  in  1841,  when  the  water  rose  more  gradually  and  the  people  were 
better  prepared.  More  than  a  himdred  and  fifty  persons  perished  in 
the  Valley  in  1862,  and  the  pecuniary  loss  was  variously  estimated  at 
between  two  and  three  million  dollars.  It  is  recorded  that  seventeen 
bodies  were  buried  at  the  Lehigh  County  Poor  House.  Seven  lives 
were  lost  in  Old  South  Bethlehem  and,  many  days  after  the  water 
had  subsided,  unknown  bodies  were  found  amid  the  debris  being 
cleared  away  in  the  grounds  of  the  Young  Ladies'  Seminary  and 
elsewhere  in  the  neighborhood.  Th'e  need  was  great  among  the  poor 
at  many  places.  About  $500  in  cash  and  large  quantities  of  provis- 
ions were  collected  at  Bethlehem  for  local  relief.  Charitable  people 
in  Philadelphia  contributed  more  than  $4000,  which  was  entrusted 
to  a  committee  of  seven  in  the  Lehigh  Valley  for  distribution.  Two 
members  of  the  committee,  Mr.  Jacob  Rice  and  the  Rev.  Sylvester 
Wolle,  were  in  charge  at  Bethlehem,  as  one  of  the  distributing 
centers,  where  $400  of  the  fund  were  disbursed.  The  committee, 
when  it  rendered  its  account,  reported  that  a  hundred  and  eighty-six 
families  in  the  Valley  had  been  recipients. 


10  The  records  of  the  Bethlehem  Bridge  Company  report  the  gauge  at  the  old  bridge  as  20 
feet  in  1841  and  20  feet  6  inches  in  1862.  Careful  comparisons  made  after  1862  reveal  that 
farther  up  towards  the  region  of  the  dams,  the  excess  of  1862  above  "1841  gradually  in- 
creased, in  the  nature  of  things,  while  below  Bethlehem  it  was  less  than  at  this  point,  be- 
cause in  1 841  more  water  poured  into  the  Lehigh  from  tributaries  farther  down  and  the 
Delaware  was  higher  than  in  1862.  It  was  stated  at  the  time  that,  in  consequence  of  a  great 
dam  of  wreckage  extending  from  the  river  bridge  to  Water  Street,  the  back-water  on  the 
Monocacy  flats  rose  from  8  to  10  inches  higher  than  in  1841. 


1846 1876.  737 

Besides  the  damage  doiie  to  the  old  bridge,  one  span  of  which  was 
carried  away,  and  the  great  loss  sufifered  by  the  Lehigh  Coal  and 
Navigation  Company,  the  Lehigh  Valley  Railroad  Company  and 
the  Lehigh  Zinc  Company,  the  heaviest  losers  at  Bethlehem  were 
naturally  those  who  owned  industries  in  the  old  part  of  Bethlehem, 
along  the  Monocacy,  in  Old  South  Bethlehem  and  on  the  Sand  Island. 
The  old  flour-mill  was  then  already  the  property  ot  David  and  Andrew 
Luckenbach,  the  present  owners  of  the  rebuilt  mill  who,  the  previous 
year,  had  purchased  the  property  of  their  father,  the  late  Jacob  Luck- 
enbach, to  whom,  in  1847,  it  had  been  sold  by  Charles  Augustus 
Luckenbach.  The  severe  ordeal  of  water  sufifered  by  the  new  firm 
was  followed,  in  1869,  by  one  of  fire,  when,  in  the  night  of  January 
27,  the  historic  old  mill  was  burned  to  the  ground.  While  the  new 
one  was  being  gotten  into  operation  the  freshet  of  1869  occurred, 
subjecting  it  to  the  first  of  a  number  of  inundations.  The  tannery 
was  owned,  in  1862,  by  the  late  William  Leibert  who,  in  1846,  after 
it  had  lain  idle  for  some  time,  purchased  it  in  company  with  Adam 
Giering  and,  in  1848,  became  its  sole  owner.  The  loss  and  damage 
sufifered  were  serious.  David  Taylor,  the  lessee  of  the  saw-mill, 
Lewis  Doster,  Jr.,  Levi  Ott,  and  the  firm  of  Borhek,  Knauss  and 
Miksch,  all  of  whom  were  engaged  in  business  along  the  canal  as 
lumber  and  coal-dealers,  were  among  those  most  severely  afifected. 

As  for  the  canal,  it  was  in  ruins  over  a  great  part  of  its  course. 
Constrained  to  abandon  the  thought  of  rebuilding  the  fatal  dams,  the 
Lehigh  Coal  and  Navigation  Company  which  owned  the  canal 
secured,  that  year,  railway  privileges  above  Mauch  Chunk,  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  the  previous  water  transportation  on  that  section,  while 
proceeding  to  repair  the  canal  from  there  down.  Out  of  all  this  grew, 
finally,  the  construction  of  the  next  railroad  past  Bethlehem.  A  bill 
authorizing  the  company  to  build  a  railroad  also  below  Mauch 
Chunk,  all  the  way  to  Easton,  was  passed  in  March,  1864.  This  was 
the  Lehigh  and  Susquehanna  Railroad,  now  a  division  of  the  Central 
Railroad  of  New  Jersey.  At  first,  it  was  very  commonly  referred  to 
along  its  course  as  "The  Lehigh  Navigation  Company's  Railroad." 
Before  the  close  of  that  year  the  construction  of  the  new  road  was 
progressing  vigorously  at  some  points.  The  building  of  the  section 
past  Bethlehem — commenced  in  1866 — changed  the  topography  far 
more  than  the  opening  of  the  canal  had  done  many  years  before. 
There  are  none  who  remember  "Bartow's  jjath"  ruined  by  the  canal, 
but  manv  remember  the  meandering  walk  above  it  of  which  traces 


y^S  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

yet  remain,  and  the  various  other  attractive  features  along  the  brow^ 
and  base  of  Nisky  HiU  into  which  the  railroad  cut  so  ruthlessly.  The 
slow  and  laborious  work,  performed  there  by  the  forces  employed  by 
Contractor  Ira  Cortright,  was  finished  early  in  1867.  The  rails  were 
laid  past  Bethlehem  in  October  of  that  year  and,  at  the  end  of  the 
month,  the  track  was  finished  from  Easton  to  Mauch  Chunk.  On 
November  25,  the  first  train,  consisting  of  sixty  cars  of  coal,  four 
loaded  with  lumber  and  four  passenger  cars,  passed  down  the  new 
road.  On  Alarch  31,  1871,  it  was  leased  by  the  Central  Railroad  of 
New  Jersey  and  in  1873,  the  present  passenger  station  at  Bethlehem 
was  built. 

At  the  time  when  the  Lehigh  and  Susquehanna  Railroad  was  com- 
pleted, another,  of  more  purely  local  associations — with  Bethlehem 
as  not  merely  a  station  but  a  terminus — was  opened.  This  was  the 
Lehigh  and  Lackawanna  Railroad — its  eventual  corporate  title.  On 
May  I,  1862,  an  act  was  approved,  incorporating  a  company  "for  the 
jjurpose  of  constructing  a  railroad  from  the  North  Pennsylvania  and 
Lehigh  Valley  Railroad  Junction  at  Bethlehem  to  the  Borough  of 
Bath  in  Northampton  County."  The  incorporators  were  James  Vleit, 
Samuel  Straub,  James  Kennedy,  Conrad  Shimer,  Charles  Augustus 
Luckenbach,  James  Leibert,  John  Fritz,  James  Jenkins  and  Charles 
Ijrodhead.  They  had  organized,  in  April,  1862,  as  "The  Bethlehem 
Railroad  Company,"  with  Charles  Brodhead,  President ;  Conrad 
Shimer,  Treasurer ;  James  Vleit,  Secretary ;  Conrad  Shimer,  James 
Vleit,  Samuel  Straub,  Samuel  C.  Shimer,  James  Jenkins,  Charles 
Brodhead  and  John  Fritz,  Directors.  Early  in  1867,  after  operations 
were  well  on  the  way,  "The  Monocacy  Iron  and  Steel  Company," 
associated  with  the  enterprise,  was  chartered,  with  Charles  Brodhead, 
Augustus  Wolle,  and  others,  as  incorporators,  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  a  furnace  up  the  Monocacy.  In  the  spring  of  1867,  the 
completion  of  the  section  at  the  Bethlehem  end  was  in  progress. 
The  site  of  a  station  in  West  Bethlehem  was  purchased  in  April, 
and  in  May  the  trestle  across  the  Monocacy  was  built.  The  purpose 
at  that  time  was  stated  to  be  the  opening  of  the  road  as  far  as  the 
Chapman  slate  quarries  as  soon  as  possible.  The  middle  of  Septem- 
ber, the  first  locomotive  was  run  as  far  as  Shimer's,  to  which  point 
slate  was  carted  from  Chapman's  and  thence  conveyed  by  rail  to 
Bethlehem.  October  10,  the  road  was  finished  to  "the  Half  Way 
House,"  which  then  received  the  name  Brodhead's  Station.  On  Nov- 
ember 28,  1867,  the  completion  of  the  road  to  Chapman's  was  cele- 
brated by  running  an  excursion  train  to  that  place  from  Bethlehem. 


1846 1876.  739 

j\Iay  5,  1868,  mail  stage  connection  was  opened  between  Brodhead's 
and  Nazareth. 

The  great  increase  of  business  which  resulted  from  these  many 
enterprises  and  public  improvements  naturally  led  to  the  establish- 
ment of  banks  at  Bethlehem.  The  First  National  Bank  was  char- 
tered in  1863,  and  commenced  business  with  Charles  Augustus  Luck- 
enbach  the  first  President,  and  Rudolph  Rauch  the  first  Cashier. 
The  same  year  The  Dimes  Savings  Institution  was  founded,  with 
Dr.  William  Wilson,  and  after  his  death,  Charles  B.  Daniel,  as  Presi- 
dent, and  James  T.  Borhek  as  Cashier.  In  1870,  E.  P.  Wilbur  & 
Co.  opened  banking  business  on  the  south  side,  with  Air.  Wilbur  as 
President  and  William  L.  Dunglison  as  Cashier.  They  re-organized 
in  1887  as  The  E.  P.  Wilbur  Trust  Company.  The  Lehigh  Valley 
National  Bank  of  Bethlehem  was  incorporated  in  1872.  The  late 
Dr.  G.  B.  Linderman  was  its  first  President  and  A.  N.  Cleaver  its 
first  Cashier.  All  of  these  institutions,  excepting  the  Dimes  Savings 
Bank,  still  exist,  and,  in  1889,  a  new'  one,  the  South  Bethlehem 
National  Bank,  was  added  on  the  south  side. 

At  this  point  the  Bethlehem  post-office  may  once  more  be  referred 
to.  Just  before  the  incorporation  of  the  Borough,  it  was  in  charge 
of  Jacob  Kummer,  May  3,  1841,  to  March  24,  1845.  Then  Charles 
C.  Tombler  became  post-master  the  second  time,  to  March  i,  1848, 
when  he  was  followed  by  William  D.  Tombler  to  May  7,  1849.  His 
successors  were  James  A.  Rice  and,  from  his  death  in  October, 
1850,  his  wddow,  Mrs.  Josephine  Rice,  to  May  26,  1853 ;  William  F. 
Miller  to  August  11,  1856;  C.  A.  Luckenbach  to  October  15,  i860; 
William  H.  Bush  to  April  2.  1861 ;  Robert  Peysert,  the  post-master 
during  the  Civil  War,"  to  April  10.  1877,  beyond  the  period  of  this 
chapter — the  longest  and  most  eventful  term." 

The  foregoing  subjects  having  all  been  disposed  of,  so  far  as  the 
design  of  this  chapter  extends,  and    the    most    of    them    finally,    it 

"  He  was  followed  by  John  Lerch  to  June  27, 1881  ;  Owen  A.  Luckenbach  to  November 
16,  1885;  George  F.  Herman  to  July  19,  1889;  Owen  A.  Luckenbach  again  to  his  death, 
October  16,  1890,  and  his  widow,  Mrs.  Jane  Luckenbach,  to  January  26,  1891  ;  Henry  A. 
Groman  to  the  time  when  this  history  closes.  The  oldest  residents  may  now  remember  eight 
places  where  the  post-office  has  been  quartered  :  prior  to  1845  ^^'^  again,  1849  to  1853,  at 
the  site  of  the  present  Bee  Hive  Building;  1845  to  1849,  t^^^  site  of  the  Myers  P>uiiding  ; 
1853  to  1856,  the  Sun  Hotel;  to  1861.  near  it  south  where  the  drug  store  is;  to  1S72,  yet 
farther  south  at  the  site  of  the  Globe  Store;  to  1877,  in  the  present  Peyseit  Building;  then 
across  the  street  adjoining  J.  S.  Krause's  hardware  store,  to  1885,  when  it  was  moved  to  its 
present  place,  corner  of  Main  and  Market  Streets. 


740  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

remains  to  bring  together  the  leading  features  and  ineidents  of 
Bethlehem's  connection  with  the  great  Civil  \Var,  out  of  which  the 
Nation,  that  celebrated  its  centennial  anniversary  in  the  year  with 
which  the  chapter  closes,  arose  new-born,  and  all  of  its  sections,  all 
of  its  cities  and  towns,  every  particular  community  and  institution 
entered  a  new  era.  Many  of  the  most  prominent  things  that  have 
been  treated  of  in  this  chapter  occurred  in  the  years  of  the  war. 
To  this,  mere  allusion  has  been  made,  for  the  plan  has  been  to  group 
subjects  and  treat  the  several  classes  of  matter  somewhat  distinctly 
as  the  easier  way  to  cover,  in  two  chapters,  the  range  and  variety  of 
thirty  important  years,  so  full  of  beginnings  and  changed  situations. 

Long  before  the  great  conflict  drew  near,  the  people  of  Bethle- 
hem had  ceased  to  stand  aloof  in  principle  from  those  claims  of  citi- 
zenship that  called  for  militia  service.  Although  the  militia  system 
of  Pennsylvania  was  in  a  state  of  general  decay,  and  to  a  great 
extent  an  object  of  ridicule  by  the  people,  yet  even  Bethlehem  had 
several  military  companies,  after  a  fashion,  and  that  they  were  not 
quite  without  iron  in  their  blood  soon  appeared  when  the  test  of 
sterner  duty  than  holiday  parades  suddenly  came.  Captain  Woehler's 
Bethlehem  Guard  was  obsolete,  but  on  May  28,  1859,  the  o\&  German 
soldier  made  a  speech  at  the  anniversary  of  a  new  company,  "The 
Washington  Grays,''  then  being  drilled  in  the  manual  of  arms  by 
Captain  James  L.  Selfridge.  Another,  "The  Bethlehem  Artillerists," 
also  existed,  with  Dr.  William  Wilson  in  command,  and  for  a  while 
"The  Bethlehem  Cavalry"  had  cut  a  figure  under  George  Wenner. 
The  Armory,  of  which  the  volunteer  company  formed  in  1848  cher- 
ished visions  when  it  applied  for  two  lots  on  Broad  Street  on  which 
to  erect  such  a  building,  was  sometimes  more  than  a  name,  even  when 
the  Mexican  War  was  being  forgotten  and  no  other  war  was 
expected ;  and  only  an  occasional  exciting  Presidential  campaign  in 
which  men  waxed  warm  over  controversies  that,  at  last,  did  bring  a 
long  and  awful  war,  awakened  new  interest  in  drill  and  parade. 

When  the  shots  fired  at  Fort  Sumter  on  April  12  and  13,  1861, 
following  those 'that  had  challenged  the  Star  of  the  West  in  Charles- 
ton harbor,  startled  the  country,  and  revealed  that  the  worst  fore- 
bodings were  realized,  there  was,  of  course,  sensation  at  Bethlehem 
as  elsewhere.  Captain  Selfridge,  with  his  lieutenants,  Frueaufif  and 
Goundie,  and  the  Washington  Grays,  were  at  once  ready  to  offer 
their  services,  and  the  same  day  on  which  President  Lincoln  issued 
his  first  call  for  seventy-five  thousand  volunteers  for  thirty  days,  they 
could  telegraph  to  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  that  thev  would  be 


1846 1876.  741 

prepared  to  march  when  wanted.  Four  days  later,  April  19,  they 
started.  An  affecthig  service  was  held  before  they  left,  in  which 
several  clergymen  participated  and  about  two  thousand  people  gath- 
ered at  the  railway  station  to  bid  them  God-speed.  They  were  mus- 
tered in  on  April  23,  as  Company  A  of  the  First  Regiment  of  Penn- 
sylvania A  olunteers.  The  four  companies  recruited  at  once  in  and 
about  Easton  largely  composed  the  remainder  of  the  regiment, 
under  Col.  Samviel  Yohe  of  Easton.  From  camp  at  Fort  Scott,  at 
York,  they  sent  their  complete  muster-roll  the  following  week.  It 
was  published  in  the  next  issue  of  the  Bethlehem  newspaper.  On 
April  22,  at  a  large  gathering  of  men  in  Citizens'  Hall,  the  recruit- 
ing of  a  proposed  Company  B  of  the  Washington  Grays  was  com- 
menced, while  the  Artillery  Company,  beginning  with  the  existing 
nucleus,  was  nearly  up  to  the  requisite  number  and  was  drilling 
assiduously.  The  same  da}-,  a  meeting  of  men  above  the  age  for 
military  service  at  that  time — forty-five  years — was  held  at  the  Sun 
Hotel  to  organize  a  Home  Guard.  A  committee  was  appointed  to 
draft  a  constitution  and  another  to  ascertain  whether  government 
arms  could  be  procured.  Forty-five  men  were  present  and  all  but 
two  signified  their  readiness  to  join  at  once.  These  two  were  under 
the  age-limit  and  declared  their  willingness  to  go  into  the  field  if 
needed.  Jedediah  Weiss  was  chairman  and  Reuben  Ranch  secre- 
tary. Ira  Cortright,  Henry  B.  Luckenbach  and  Christian  F.  Luch 
were  the  committee  on  arms.  Charles  F.  Beckel,  Matthew  Krause, 
Nathan  Bartlett,  Thomas  W.  Jones  and  the  Rev.  Ambrose  Rond- 
thaler  were  the  committee  on  constitution. 

With  all  this,  there  were,  of  course,  those  at  Bethlehem,  as  else- 
where, who  doubted  the  right  of  the  Federal  Government  to  proceed 
against  the  secession  movement  with  armed  force,  even  if  they  did 
not  svmpathize  with  the  movement,  just  as  political  opinion  had 
always  been  divided  on  the  question  of  national  sovereignty  and 
state  rights.  There  were  those  who  failed  to  see  the  inevitable  out- 
come of  temporizing  with  slavery,  that  national  incubus  which  pro- 
duced it  all.  The  situation  having  become  acute,  intensifying  feel- 
ing and  putting  those  whose  loyal  blood  was  stirred,  out  of  patience 
with  those  who  halted  between  two  opinions,  some  citizens  of  Beth- 
lehem, as  well  as  of  other  places,  came  under  sharp  censure.  There 
were  even  some  who  denounced  the  Government  and  spoke  in  terms 
of  disparagement  of  the  men  who  were  ready  to  rally  at  their 
country's  call;  and  soon  the  significant  term  "copperhead"  came 
into  vogue  at  Bethlehem  also — deserved  undoubtedly  in  some  cases, 


742  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

but  probably  not  in  others.  P'urthcrmore,  in  the  midst  of  all  anxiety 
and  deeply  serious  patriotism,  the  situation  was  not  too  grave  to  be 
subjected  to  flippant  jest^-  or  to  be  turned  to  business  account  in 
the  form  of  sensational  advertising,"  even  in  staid  old  Bethlehem. 
It  is  of  interest  to  scan  the  war-time  newspaper-files  and  observe 
how  everywhere  even  solid  and  decorous  business  men  fell  into  the 
habit  of  turning  their  advertisements  into  the  prevailing  language 
of  "war-talk,"  and  taking  on  the  style  of  the  startling  headlines. 

The  prevailing  spirit  of  Bethlehem,  however,  which,  with  a  parting 
hvmn  and  prayer,  sent  the  first  company  of  the  first  Pennsylvania 
regiment  to  answer  the  call,  was  sustained.  The  boys  also  caught 
the  patriotic  and  martial  fervor,  and  organized  the  "Union  Guards'* 
— afterwards  the  "Union  Cadets" — and  "The  Indestructible  Lancers" 
— boys  from  twelve  to  fifteen  years  old.  The  former,  twenty  strong, 
went  into  camp  in  July,  1861,  in  a  field  of  Herman  Fetter,  on  the 
Monocacy  Flats  and,  in  his  honor,  named  their  rendezvous  "Camp 
Fetter." 

Bethlehem  also  became  a  source  of  military  supplies.  Doster's 
"Moravian  Woolen  Mills"  turned  out  a  high  grade  of  government 

12  Before  the  actual  beginning  of  hostilities,  at  the  March  election  in  1 861,  a  burlesque 
borough  ticket  was  circulated  "  by  parties  unknown  to  the  jury  " — so  one  account — headed 
"Palmetto  Rattlesnake  Ticket,"  on  which  the  fictitious  candidates  —  reputable  citizens  asso- 
ciated with  worthless  characters  and  "  half-witted  fellows," — stood  pledged  "  irrevocably  for 
the  Union,  Tonnage  Tax,  Market  House  and  Fort  Charles  Augustus." 

13  One  specimen  is  this  :  "The  Difficulties  Settled!  Hostile  Parties  Reconciled  !  No 
War!!  Chairs!  Chairs!  Chairs  !—C.  W.  Rauch's  old  stand,  No.  38  South  Main  Street- 
Michael  Stuber." 

Another,  when  the  first  draft  came  :  "  Bethlehem  Quota  Filled  !  Readers,  you  are  all  safe 
from  the  present  Draft !  Now  is  the  time  to  provide  yourself  and  family  with  Fall  and 
Winter  Goods." 

One  announces  "Another  Raid  on  the  Mammoth  Store !  Excitements  being  the  order  of 
the  day  we  would  inform  the  Public  that  the  excitement  in  Dry  Goods,  Hardware,  Groceries, 
Carpets,  Wall  Paper,  Zephyrs,  etc.,  etc.,  is  as  great  as  ever." 

Another  proclaims  "  The  latest  Intelligence  !  The  Undersigned  invites  the  Attention  of 
the  Public  to  his  elegant  new  place  of  business,  No.  66  S.  Main  St." 

After  the  "slump"  of  inflated  prices,  when  the  value  of  gold  reacted  from  its  skyward 
maximum,  following  decisive  battles,  one  firm  gave  out  the  bulletin  :  "  Great  Fall  in  Dry 
Goods  and  Groceries  !  The  Crash  has  come  !  Speculators  alarmed !  Good  Times  Coming ! 
Owing  to  our  recent  brilliant  Victories  and  the  consequent  general  feeling  and  anticipation 
of  an  early  closing  of  the  War,  and  the  heavy  fall  in  Gold,  a  great  panic  has  been  caused 
in  the  market  in  all  kinds  of  Merchandise." 

One,  with  more  enterprise  than  delicacy,  hastens,  after  a  great  battle  which  filled  the 
land  with  weeping,  to  shout  into  stricken  homes — "Mourning  Goods  of  every  Description  ! 
Prices  to  suit  the  Times!" 


1846 1876.  743 

goods.  In  August,  1861,  a  large  contract  for  "heavy  blue  kersey" 
to  be  made  up  into  army  overcoats  set  the  mills  going,  full  force, 
day  and  night ;  a  contract  which  the  local  newspaper  stated  it  would 
take  ninety  da3's  to  fill.  The  establishment,  containing  a  large 
quantity  of  such  goods,  was  destroyed  by  fire,  March  22,  1862. 
Partially  rebuilt,  it  was  again  ruined  by  water  in  the  great  freshet 
of  June,  1862.  Later,  operations  were  transferred  back  to  the  old 
mill  on  the  Sand  Island  for  a  few  years  and  then  closed. 

The  first  grief  and  mourning  of  the  war  came  to  the  community 
when,  on  July  25,  1861,  Lieutenant  Goundie  arrived  with  the  body 
of  William  Harrison  Haus,  of  the  Washington  Grays,  who,  the  pre- 
vious evening,  had  died  of  fever  on  board  the  cars  between  Baltimore 
and  York,  cu  route  for  Harrisburg  with  the  company  returning  from 
the  thirty  days"  service.  The  whole  company  reached  home  on  the 
27th,  were  met  at  the  station  by  an  immense  concourse  and  w'ere 
escorted  to  Citizens'  Hall,  where  an  address  of  welcome  followed 
by  prayer  was  made  by  the  Rev.  H.  A.  Shultz  and  a  luncheon  was 
served  by  Bethlehem  ladies.  The  next  day  the  remains  of  their 
comrade  Haus  were  laid  to  rest  in  the  Old  Moravian  Cemetery. 
Several  thousand  people  attended  the  funeral  of  this  first  Bethlehem 
man  who  died  in  military  service.  The  next  one  was  Urias  Bodder, 
who  died  in  August  and  was  interred  in  the  Union  Cemetery. 

The  next  body  of  troops  raised  in  the  Lehigh  Valley  that  gathered 
at  Bethlehem  and  started  from  this  point,  was  the  famous  cavalry 
company  recruited  by  William  Emil  Doster  who,  at  the  very  outset, 
had  turned  from  his  studies  in  the  law-ofifice  and  come  to  Bethlehem 
to  raise  a  troop  of  cavalry,  but  because  there  was  no  call  at  first 
for  inounted  volunteers,  was  prevented  from  executing  his  purpose 
until  mid-summer.  Edward  Tombler  assisted  him  in  the  effort. 
On  August  10,  1861,  they  went  into  camp  on  Sand  Island  and  named 
it  Camp  Doster.  They  were  joined  by  about  forty  men  brought 
down  the  valley  b}-  ]Mr.  Tombler.  August  15,  they  elected  ]\Ir. 
Doster,  Captain ;  Herman  Horn,  of  Weissport,  First  Lieutenant,  and 
Mr.  Tombler,  Second  Lieutenant ;  and  after  parading  the  streets 
started  that  day — a  hundred  and  sixteen  men — for  Philadelphia. 
They  were  mustered  in  as  Company  A,  of  Col.  Josiah  Harlan's  Light 
Cavalry,  but  later  became  Company  A,  of  the  Fourth  Pennsylvania 
Cavalry.  They  were  in  twenty-seven  engagements.  After  the  pro- 
motion of  Captain  Doster,  who  later  became  Colonel  and  eventually 
a  Brevet  Brigadier  General,  Lieutenant  Tombler  succeeded  him  in 
command  of  the  company.    During  that  same  month  of  August,  1861, 


/ 


744  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Air.  Samuel  Wetherill  recruited  another  troop  of  cavalry  with  head- 
quarters at  Bethlehem  and,  on  August  28,  left  for  camp  with  about 
thirty  men.  Captain  'Wetherill  subsequently  rose  to  the  rank  of 
Major  and  the  company  was  at  first  attached,  as  Company  H,  to  Col. 
Harlan's  Light  Horse,  which  was  later  registered  as  the  Eleventh 
Cavalry  and  the  One  Hundred  and  Eighth  Regiment  of  Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteers,  while  that  of  Captain  Tombler  had,  before  that, 
been  embodied  in  the  Fourth  Cavalry  and  Sixty  Fourth  Regiment. 
At  the  same  time  Captain  James  L.  Selfridge,  who  had  become 
Lieutenant  Colonel  of  the  Ninth  Pennsylvania  Regiment,  with  Col. — 
afterwards  General  Joseph  Knipe,  was  busy  recruiting  at  Bethle- 
hem and  in  the  vicinity  for  that  regiment,  and  one  after  another  of 
the  Washington  Grays  re-enlisted  for  the  three  years"  service.  Owen 
A.  Luckenbach,  who  had  enlisted  with  a  Philadelphia  company  for 
the  thirty  days'  term,  now  became  Captain  of  that  original  com- 
pany, as  newly  recruited  and  afterwards  incorporated  as  Company 
C,  in  the  Forty-sixth  Pennsylvania  Regiment,  which  later  saw  very 
hard  service,  did  signally  valiant  duty  and,  like  many  others,  was 
finally  much  depleted.^* 

On  October  21.  1861,  nearly  two  hundred  ladies  met  in  the  Old 
Moravian  Chapel  and  organized  a  Relief  Association,  to  co-operate 
for  the  care  and  comfort  of  wounded  soldiers,  and  on  Thanksgiving 
Day  a  collection  was  taken  to  provide  them  with  funds.  This  kind 
of  work  became  extensive  in  Bethlehem  as  the  need  grew  and 
appealed  to  women  throughout  the  country ;  and  increasing  exper- 
ience in  camp  and  field  and  hospital,  in  selecting  things  that  were 
most  required,  enabled  people  at  home  to  apply  their  efforts  more 
systematically  and  effectively.  It  enlisted  the  activity  even  of  the 
scholars  in  the  Parochial  School  and  the  public  schools,  and  many 
a  woman  of  Bethlehem  doubtless  remembers  how  she,  when  a  school- 
girl, helped  to  scrape  and  pick  lint,  to  make  bandages  and  to  prepare 
bags  and  cases  of  useful  little  things  for  the  soldiers,  and  how  their 
mothers  taxed  their  time,  strength  and  supply  of  high-priced  sugar 
and  other  concomitants,  with  fruit  from  the  orchard  and  garden,  to* 
prepare  delicacies  in  great  quantities  for  convalescents  in  the  hos- 

14  Some  of  the  men  who  formed  the  original  company  of  Washington  Grays,  later  re-en- 
tered the  service  several  times  under  later  calls.  To  follow  the  transfers,  shiftings  and 
mergings,  in  the  course  of  the  war,  in  the  case  of  different  sets  of  men  or  even  of  single 
officers  cannot  be  attempted  here.  This  difficulty  and  lack  of  space  prevents  the  insertion 
of  muster-rolls  which  would  be  of  no  value  for  reference  unless  complete  and  accurate. 


1846 18/6.  745 

pitals.  The  interest  of  the  Parochial  School  children  was  greatly 
increased  by  a  visit,  on  January  3,  1862,  by  Major  Robert  Anderson, 
the  gallant  defender  of  old  Fort  Sumter.  They  sang  for  him  and 
he  made  a  fervent  address  to  them. 

August  8,  1862,  was  another  notable  day,  when,  in  response  to 
renewed  calls  for  troops  in  July— which  took  forty-three  new  regi- 
ments, embracing  over  forty  thousand  men,  followed  under  spur  of 
a  draft  by  fifteen  more  of  about  fifteen  thousand  men,  from  Penn- 
sylvania— Captain  Jonathan  K.  Taylor  and  his  Lieutenants,  Andrew 
A.  Luckenbach,  afterwards  Captain,  and  Orville  A.  Grider,  and  Ser- 
geant Franklin  C.  Stout,  who  later  became  a  Lieutenant  and  ulti- 
mately Captain,  left  Bethlehem  with  their  fine  company  of  men.  They 
mustered  in  the  morning  in  front  of  Ambrose  FL  Ranch's  Confec- 
tionery— frequently  the  point  of  such  gatherings — surrounded  by  a 
vast  throng  of  people.  There  a  solemn  service  was  held  by  the 
Moravian  clergy  and  Pastor  Welden  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  whose 
son  was  among  the  volunteers,  and  who,  as  President  of  the  Beth- 
lehem Bible  Society,  gave  each  man  a  copy  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
The  Chaplain-elect  of  the  company,  William  Henry  Rice,  who  had 
left  his  studies  to  enter  the  service  of  the  country ;  who  on  August 
17,  was  ordained  at  Bethlehem  by  the  venerable  Bishop  Samuel 
Reinke  and  then  served  as  Chaplain  until  May,  1863,  responded,  in 
behalf  of  the  company,  to  the  warm  farewell  words  that  had  been 
spoken  and  the  whole  assembly,  soldiers  and  civilians,  stood  with 
uncovered  heads  in  the  street  and  joined  at  the  close  in  the  Lord's 
Prayer.  Then  a  procession  was  formed  and  the  large  throng,  mar- 
shalled by  David  O.  Luckenbach,  escorted  the  company  to  the  rail- 
way station,  where  the  volunteers  took  the  train  for  Camp  Curtin  at 
Harrisburg — the  greatest  rendezvous  of  recruits,  military  storage- 
point  and  hospital-center  in  the  country.  They  were  mustered  in  as 
Company  C  of  the  One  Hundrdd  and  Twenty-ninth  Pennsylvania 
Regiment,  organized,  August  15.  Four  companies  of  this  regiment 
were  raised  in  Northampton  County.  No  regiment's  movements  and 
experiences  became  a  more  familiar  story  to  the  people  of  Beth- 
lehem than  those  of  this  strong  body  of  men.  The  very  next  day 
after  their  departure,  the  sharj)  battle  of  Cedar  Mountain  was 
fought,  in  which  the  46th  suffered  and  Captain  O.  A.  Luckenbach 
received  the  wound  which  compelled  his  retirement  and  left  him 
a  cripple.  His  place  was  filled  by  the  promotion  of  Lieutenant 
William  Stolzcnbach.  August  2t,  1862,  a  union  meeting  of  the 
relicious   denominations   of   Bethlehem   was    held   in   the    Moravian 


746  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

church  to  organize  a  "Chaplain's  Aid  Society,"  the  object  of  which 
was  explained  by  Chaplain  Rice,  who  was  present.  September  8,  1862, 
a  mass-meeting  was  held  in  Citizens'  Hall  to  adopt  measures  for 
raising  bounty  money,  and  that  evening  the  order  of  Governor  Curtin 
for  all  able-bodied  men  to  be  ready  to  turn  out  within  twenty-four 
hours  as  State  Guards,  to  repel  a  threatened  invasion  by  General 
Lee's  army,  was  received.  One  company  of  the  Fifth  Regiment  of 
miHtia  called  out  at  this  time — Company  D — was  composed  entirely 
of  Bethlehem  men,  under  Captain  Joseph  Peters,  with  Lieutenants 
Franklin  J.  Haus  and  Abraham  S.  Schropp — David  O.  Luckenbach 
being  First  Sergeant.  On  September  13,  the  marching  orders  came 
and  at  eleven  o'clock,  sixty  men  started,  including  even  professors 
and  students  of  the  Theological  Seminary,  who  had  been  aroused 
from  their  scholastic  pursuits  by  the  great  excitement.  After  the  battle 
of  Antietam,  four  days  later,  they  were  not  needed  and  returned. 
September  22 — the  day  of  President  Lincoln's  immortal  war  meas- 
ure, destined  to  mark  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  world,  the 
proclamation  emancipating  all  slaves  in  the  United  States,  to  go 
into  effect  January  i,  1863 — the  sixth  notable  departure  of  troops 
from  Bethlehem  took  place.  This  was  a  part  of  the  regiment  raised 
for  the  nine  months'  service,  entirely  in  Northampton  County,  by 
Col.  Charles  Glanz — volunteers  and  hired  substitutes — at  the  time 
when  the  draft  was  pending.  They  first  took  the  name  of  "The  First 
Pennsylvania  Regiment  in  Lieu  of  Draft,"  but  were  afterwards 
enrolled  as  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-third  Regiment  of  Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteers.  Captain  Joseph  Frey's  company  started  that  day 
from  Bethlehem.  From  Nazareth  came  a  company  under  Captain 
Owen  Rice.  They  were  joined  by  another,  largely  recruited  in  the 
Saucon  Valley,  under  Captain  Henry  Oerter.  Again  there  was  a 
meeting  in  front  of  Ambrose  Ranch's  and  a  farewell  service  took 
place,  participated  in  by  sundry  clergy,  with  addresses  by  the  Rev. 
F.  F.  Hagen  and  Dr.  Frederick  Fickardt.'-^'     Dr.  Abram  Stout,  of 

15  Dr.  Fickardt,  who  figured  often  on  such  and  a  variety  of  other  kinds  of  occasions  as  a 
favorite  speaker,  had  been  a  resident  and  practitioner  at  Bethlehem  since  1843,  when  he  re- 
moved to  the  place  from  Easton  and  occupied  part  of  the  house  of  Dr.  Abraham  Stout,  the 
elder,  who  had  been  established  at  Bethlehem  since  1821.  Dr.  Stout  was  the  next  in  the 
succession  of  regular  Bethlehem  physicians,  after  Dr.  Freitag.  He  died  in  1857.  Cotem- 
porary  with  Dr.  Fickardt  was  Dr.  Wm.  Wilson  who.  in  1844,  came  to  Bethlehem  from  Bath 
and  first  opened  his  office  in  a  part  of  Dr.  Fickardt's  house  which  had  previously  been 
occupied,  for  a  while,  by  Stout  and  Dixon  as  a  drug-store.  Dr.  John  J.  Wilson,  deceased,  and 
Dr.  J.  n.  Wilson  were  the  second  and  third  of  the  name  in  Bethlehem.     Another  prom- 


FREDERICK    AUGUSTUS    MARTIN  ABRAHAM    LEWIS    HUEBENER 

JOHN    EBERHARD    FREYTAG 
FREDERICK    AUGUSTUS    FICKARDT  AUGUSTINE    NATHANIEL    LEINBACH 


1846 18/6.  749 

the  afternoon  about  a  hundred  men,  a  number  of  whom  had  seen* 
service  before,  left  Bethlehem  under  Captain  Stout — business  men, 
mechanics  and  laborers,  professors  and  students — to  enter  the  emer- 
gency service  in  the  34th  Militia  Regiment  under  Colonel  Charles 
Albright,  of  which  Robert  E.  Taylor  was  Major  and  Abraham  S. 
Schropp,  Adjutant.  Then  came  the  awful  battle  of  Gettysburg,  July 
2  and  3,  the  repulse  of  the  Confederate  forces  after  frightful 
slaughter  on  both  sides,  and  the  turning-point  in  the  fortunes  of  the 
war ;  being  directly  followed  by  the  fall  of  Vicksburg  before  General 
Grant's  persistent  siege.  On  July  6,  many  Bethlehem  men  went  to 
Reading,  where  the  most  recent  volunteers  were  in  camp,  and  some 
went  on  to  the  ghastly  battlefield. 

Hardly  had  the  feehng  of  relief,  in  the  midst  of  sorrow  over  the 
slain  and  anxiety  about  the  wounded,  set  in,  w^hen  new  consterna- 
tion was  occasioned  at  Bethlehem,  as  elsewhere,  by  the  "draft  riots" 
in  Xew  York  City,  under  the  common  impression  that  it  was  planned 
to  take  place  simultaneously  with  Lee's  invasion.  But  this  excite- 
ment, in  turn,  subsided  and,  after  the  battle  of  Gettysburg — although 
some  of  the  most  tremendous  scenes  of  the  war  were  later  enacted — 
there  was,  on  to  its  close,  far  less  of  turmoil  at  Bethlehem  than 
previously.     The  "emergency  men"  returned  in  August. 

During  1864.  when  the  coming  and  going  between  home  and  camp 
was  an  every-day  occurrence  and  people  had  become  accustomed  to 
much  that  had  earlier  created  sensation,  one  of  the  local  incidents 
was  the  organization,  in  March,  of  an  auxiliary  branch  of  the  United 
States  Christian  Commission.  A  first  large  gathering  took  place 
on  the  8th,  in  the  Moravian  Church,  when  the  matter  was  presented 
and  the  initial  steps  were  taken.  The  final  mass-meeting  was  held 
at  the  same  place  on  the  26th,  when  a  constitution  was  adopted  and 
a  large  committee  was  appointed  in  charge,  with  a  central  executive 
committee,  composed  of  the  Rev.  Sylvester  Wolle,  Chairman ;  Jonas 
Snyder,  Secretary,  and  Mahlon  Taylor,  Treasurer. 

Just  at  that  time  occurred  one  of  the  most  pathetic  funerals  at 
Bethlehem  during  the  war,  that,  on  March  16,  1864,  of  Frederick 
and  Augustus  Fickardt,  sons  of  Doctor  Fickardt,  aged  respectively 
twenty  and  eighteen  years,  who  died  in  the  army  after  brief  service ; 
the  first  on  March  4,  and  the  second  on  March  9.  The  first  had 
joined  Company  G,  recruited  mainly  in  and  about  Bethlehem  by 
Lieutenant  Moulton  Goundie  for  the  Second  Pennsylvania  Heavy 
Artillerv.  They  were  interred  in  the  old  cemetery,  as  were  also 
Lieutenant  Lawson  Merrill,  of  the  United  States  Navy,  who  died 


750  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

at  the  Sun  Hotel  on  August  9;  Johii  Bloom  Vail,  who  served  in  the 
navy,  and  Charles  Edmund  Doster,  a  Bethlehem  volunteer,  who  died 
at  home  that  year.  Another  interesting  aspect  of  the  situation,  in 
the  matter  of  demands  which  the  war  put  upon  people,  is  presented 
by  the  recorded  statement  that,  up  to  February  25,  1864,  the  sum 
of  $10,200  had  been  raised  in  Bethlehem  to  pay  bounties  and  to  hire 
substitutes,  when  the  quota  of  thirty-four  men  had  been  made  up  to 
fill  the  draft  of  that  month.  Yet  another  draft  came  a  year  later, 
and  it  was  then  stated  that  the  entire  amount  thus  raised  at  Beth- 
lehem was  $81,365.00,  and  in  Northampton  County  $1,193,674.00. 

At  last,  on  April  3,  1865,  came  a  day  of  rejoicing,  when  the  news 
of  the  fall  of  Richmond  was  confirmed,  for  this  was  taken  as  indi- 
cating the  end  of  the  war.  The  announcement  of  General  Lee's 
surrender  to  General  Grant  was  made  at  the  close  of  the  service  in 
the  Moravian  church,  on  Monday  evening  of  the  Passion  Week, 
April  10,  and  a  special  hymn  was  sung.  Then,  at  half-past  nine 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  Great  Sabbath,  April  15,  came  the 
appalling  message  that  President  Lincoln  had  been  assassinated  the 
previous  night,  and  on  the  funeral  day,  the  Wednesday  after  Easter, 
April  19 — in  compliance  with  the  proclamation  of  President  John- 
son calling  for  the  observance  of  the  time  from  noon  until  two 
o'clock  as  a  time  of  special  mourning — the  memorial  services  already 
referred  to  were  held.  In  accordance  with  arrangements  made  by 
a  committee,  there  was  a  gathering  at  the  Market  Street  front  of 
the  cemetery,  where  an  address  was  made  by  Dr.'-Fickardt.  Then 
followed  a  procession  to  New  Street,  to  Broad  Street,  to  Main 
Street  and  down  Main  Street  to  the  Moravian  church,  where  the 
service  was  conducted  by  Bishop  H.  A.  Shultz.  Addresses  were 
made  by  the  Rev.  E.  deSchweinitz  and  the  Rev.  D.  F.  Brendle,  while 
the  Rev.  E.  N.  Potter  and  other  clergymen  took  part,  otherwise,  in 
the  service. 

The  war  was  ended,  but  a  strange  mingling  of  great  joy  and  great 
sorrow  marked  its  close.  On  June  10,  1865,  Governor  Curtin  issued 
his  proclamation  making  formal  announcement  of  the  end  and  recom- 
mending a  special  observance  of  Independence  Day  suitable  to  the 
occasion.  At  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Bethlehem  on  June  22, 
held  at  the  Eagle  Hotel,  the  arrangement  of  a  programme  was  put 
in  charge  of  a  committee,  with  C.  A.  Luckenbach  as  Chairman  and 
O.  B.  Desh  as  Secretary.  The  leading  features  of  the  celebration 
were  a  general  illumination  on  the  evening  of  July  3,  beginning  at 
half-past  eight  o'clock,  firing  of  a  salute  and  ringing  of  bells  at  four 


1846 18/6.  751 

o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  4th,  the  reading  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  by  Major  Samuel  Wetherill  and  an  oration  by  Dr. 
Fickardt  on  the  lawn  below  the  Eagle  Hotel — the  exercises  begin- 
ning at  ten  o'clock — and  fireworks  at  the  river  in  the  evening.  On 
the  evening  of  July  22,  the  remnant  of  Company  C,  of  the  Forty- 
sixth  Regiment,  after  serving  throughout  the  war,  arrived  home 
under  Captain  Stolzenbach.  A  stirring  reception  was  tendered  them 
at  the  railroad  station.  They  were  escorted  up  Alain  Street  to  the 
point  in  front  of  Ambrose  Ranch's,  where  the  several  memorable 
farewell  gatherings  had  taken  place.  There  they  were  welcomed  by 
Dr.  Fickardt  in  an  eloquent  address,  to  which  General  James  L. 
Selfridge  responded.  A  banquet  at  the  Eagle  Hotel  followed.  Then 
came  again  other  closing  scenes,  solemn  and  sad.  On  August  10, 
occurred  the  funeral  of  the  young  student,  John  C.  Hagen,  who  had 
died  in  the  service  of  the  country.  The  funeral  service  and  the 
interment  in  the  old  Aloravian  Cemetery  w^ere  attended  by  General 
Selfridge,  Major  Wetherill,  Captain  Stolzenbach,  Captain  Alexander 
Selfridge,  and  nearly  all  of  the  returned  soldiers,  all  in  full  uniform. 
Another  such  occasion  came  on  October  27,  when  the  remains  of 
Clarence  Kampmann,  who  died,  Jvme  4,  on  board  the  United  States 
vessel,  the  Red  Rover,  in  service  as  Admiral's  clerk,  and  had  been 
temporarily  buried  at  Mound  City,  Illinois,  were  laid  to  rest  in  the 
old  cemetery. 

Eight  men  who  had  served  in  the  war  had  been  given  graves  there 
before  the  close  of  its  last  year.  Others  were  interred  there 
later  and,  up  to  the  time  when  the  soldiers'  plot  in  Nisky  Hill  Ceme- 
tery began  to  fill  up,  more  graves  in  the  old  cemetery  than  in  any 
other  were  marked  by  the  little  flag  and  the  floral  tribute  each  year 
on  "Memorial  Day" — or  as  it  was  first  more  commonly  called, 
"Decoration  Day" — May  30.  It  was  observed  at  Bethlehem  the 
first  time  in  1868.  A  procession  was  formed  on  Main  Street  in  the 
following  order:  the  brass  band,  the  clergy,  the  committee  of 
arrangements,  former  soldiers,  representatives  of  civic  organiza- 
tions, school  children,  citizens.  The  first  halt  was  made  in  the  old 
burial-ground,  where  a  brief  service  was  held.  The  Rev.  Edmund 
deSchweinitz,  after  a  few  suitable  remarks,  read  the  names  of  all 
the  soldiers  buried  there  with  a  succinct  statement  of  the  military 
career  of  each  one,  and  the  flowers  were  placed  upon  the  graves. 
Then  the  procession  moved  on  to  the  other  cemeteries,  at  each  of 
which  a  similar  order  was  observed.  Meanwhile,  that  National 
organization  of  war  veterans.  The   Grand  Army  of  the   RepubUc, 


752  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

having"  come  into  existence,  the  Bethlehem  Post  was  formally  estab- 
lished, May  25,  1869.  It  was  registered  as  No.  182,  and,  in  honor  of 
the  one  commissioned  ofhcer  of  Bethlehem  who  died  of  wounds 
received  in  battle,  was  named  The  J.  K.  Taylor  Post.  After  that, 
they  took  charge  of  the  Decoration  Day  ceremonies  which,  in  the 
following  years,  were  not  commenced,  but  concluded,  in  the  old 
Aloravian  Cemetery,  where,  excepting  several  times  at  the  G.  A.  R. 
plot  in  Nisky  Hill  Cemetery,  the  principal  exercises,  with  an  oration, 
took  place — after  1887  around  the  monument  at  the  Market  Street 
front  of  the  cemetery,  erected  in  memory  of  deceased  soldiers  and 
sailors  of  the  Civil  War  and  unveiled,  October  11,  1887 — until,  in 
1895,  the  concluding  exercises  of  the  day  began  to  be  regularly  held 
in  the  Moravian  church.  The  South  Bethlehem  organization,  Robert 
Oldham  Post,  No.  527,  dates  from  August  2,   1886. 

The  transition  is  easy,  from  the  beginning  of  those  observances  in 
sacred  memory  of  the  great  struggle  that  left  the  Nation  re-estab- 
lished and  re-united,  to  the  triumphant  celebration  of  the  centennial 
anniversary  of  Independence  Day,  with  which  the  chapter  may  close. 
Nothing  that  has  not  already  been  alluded  to  in  the  course  of  things  at 
Bethlehem,  during  the  intervening  years,  needs  to  be  particularly 
mentioned.  The  effects  of  the  great  financial  crash,  precipitated  on 
the  memorable  "black  Friday,"  September  19,  1873,  which  spread 
over  the  country,  were  felt  with  peculiar  severity  at  Bethlehem,  in 
the  collapse  of  business  concerns,  the  wreck  of  fortunes,  the  sweep- 
ing away  of  many  a  one's  little  savings  and  the  stand-still  of  great 
industries,  leaving  hundreds  without  employment  and  bringing  a 
protracted  season  of  "hard  times."  These  things  are  recent  and  well- 
remembered  history.  Their  weight  was  yet  keenly  felt  when  the 
year  1876  dawned,  but  they  did  not  seem  to  suppress  the  enthusiasm 
with  which  that  notable  year  in  the  history  of  the  United  States  was 
greeted. 

The  opening  of  the  centennial  year  was  distinguished  by  special 
features  that  marked  the  customary  vigils  of  New  Year  in  the  Mora- 
vian church.  When  the  great  congregation  poured  out  of  the 
church  after  the  first  hour  of  January  i,  1876,  had  been  entered,  a 
"centennial  parade"  took  place,  in  spite  of  inclement  weather  and 
muddy  streets,  led  by  a  chief  marshal,  the  Bethlehem  Cornet 
Band  discoursing  patriotic  and  martial  music.  The  bells  of  the  town 
were  rung  while  the  parade  was  forming.  Many  residences  and 
business  places  were  illuminated  along  the  line  of  march.  There 
was  an  abundance  of  red  light,  with  continual  discharge  of  fire-arms 


EDMUND    ALEXANDER    DE  SCHWEINITZ 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


A  Century  and  a  Half  Completed. 
1877 — 1892. 

The  final  period  of  a  decade  and  a  half  that  remains  to  be  reviewed 
being  so  recent,  this  long  story  of  Bethlehem  may  be  brought 
rapidly  to  a  close;  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that,  in  the  preced- 
ing two  chapters,  many  of  the  subjects  treated  of  have  been  followed 
into  this  last  period,  so  that  they  need  not  be  further  adverted  to. 
The  years  which  succeeded  the  centennial  anniversary  of  the  United 
States  were  not  eventful  years  at  Bethlehem,  or  years  that  marked 
important  beginnings  like  many  of  those  before.  They  constituted 
rather  a  period  of  slow  recuperation  after  the  great  financial  and 
industrial  prostration  that  had  existed  from  1873.  When  aggressive 
activity,  engaged  with  new  undertakings,  again  appeared,  many  of 
the  men  who  had  before  been  in  the  lead  were  no  longer  so.  Some 
succumbed  in  the  financial  ordeal  and  lost  their  grasp.  Others  had 
been  removed  by  death,  and  yet  others  who  had  survived,  with 
property  and  influence,  represented  rather  a  mere  conservative  con- 
trol of  remaining  interests  and  lines  of  business,  with  little  specula- 
tive disposition  or  inclination  to  pioneer  work  in  new  things.  Those 
who  were  associated  with  the  undertakings  that  originated  after 
this  time  were  rather,  for  the  most  part,  the  younger  citizens  of  the 
place  who  had  not  before  been  leading,  or  new  men  from  elsewhere 
Avho  had  come  into  connection  with  local  affairs. 

The  great  industries  on  the  south  side  had  gradually  resumed 
normal  activity  and  all  classes  were  beginning  to  experience  better 
times  when  an  unprecedented  ordeal  of  dread  disease  visited  the 
community,  especially  South  Bethlehem.  This  was  the  memorable 
small-pox  scourge  of  1882.  Already  before  the  close  of  the  previous 
year,  cases  occurred  here  and  there.  In  January  it  increased  to  an 
extent  that  caused  uneasiness.  Suddenly  it  became  epidemic  on 
the  south  side  in  March,  spreading  at  an  appalling  rate,  while  many 
■cases  appeared  in  West  Bethlehem  and  some  in  the  old  town.    Many 

755 


756  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

weeks  of  tribulation  passed  before  it  disappeared.  A  hundred  and 
twenty  deaths  occurred  in  the  Uorough  of  South  Bethlehem,  thir- 
teen in  the  adjacent  part  of  Lower  Saucon  Township,  four  in  Salis- 
bur}-  Township,  eighteen  in  West  Bethlehem  and  twelve  in  Bethle- 
hem— a  total  of  a  hundred  and  sixty-seven.  Among  them  was  the 
faithful  sexton  of  Nisky  Hill  Cemetery,  Charles  Groman,  who,  after 
helping  to  inter  many  of  the  unfortunates,  was  stricken  down  by 
the  contagion.  The  pathetic  sight  of  many  helpless  orphans,  after 
the  scourge  subsided,  moved  the  late  W.  W.  Thurston,  then  Vice- 
President  of  the  Bethlehem  Iron  Company,  to  found  the  Children's 
Home,  which  yet  exists  among  the  local  charities,  incorporated  in 
1886  and  occupying  its  present  quarters  since  1888.  It  was  opened 
on  June  i,  1882,  and  for  some  time  was  entirely  supported  by  Mr. 
Thurston,  in  a  building  on  Cherokee  Street,  South  Bethlehem,  which 
he  purchased  and  fitted  up.  Several  organizations  that  were  formed, 
on  both  sides  of  the  river,  for  relief,  continvied  to  exist  for  some 
years  and  to  engage  in  charitable  work  in  emergencies.  The  lesson 
of  stricter  regulations  and  better  precautionary  measures,  on  the 
part  of  the  local  authorities,  in  the  matter  of  guarding  the  health  of 
the  community,  was  also  learned.  It  began  to  be  realized  that  the 
towns  had  grown  to  a  size  which,  in  many  particulars,  required 
methods  different  from  those  of  the  village,  and  that  there  had  been 
a  large  increase  in  that  class  of  the  population  which,  in  its  own 
interests  as  well  as  for  the  good  of  the  whole,  has  to  be  dealt  with 
by  law  in  nearly  all  things. 

A  conspicuous  feature  of  the  general  development,  not  long  after 
that  time,  was  the  organization  of  West  Bethlehem  as  a  distinct 
municipality.  On  March  15,  1886,  a  meeting  of  citizens  discussed 
the  question  of  securing  incorporation  as  a  Borough,  and  appointed 
a  committee  to  ascertain  the  opinions  of  the  tax-payers  of  the  dis- 
trict. At  another  meeting,  on  May  4,  this  committee  reported  a 
hundred  and  fifty-three  in  favor  of  the  proposition  and  forty-two 
opposed  to  it,  and  it  was  resolved  to  proceed  at  once.  The 
charter  of  incorporation  included  the  district  formerly  called 
South  Bethlehem  in  the  Borough,  and  went  into  effect,  Sep- 
tember 16,  1886.  The  first  Borough  election  was  held  on  Novem- 
ber 2.  The  first  Burgess  was  Marcus  C.  Fetter.  The  first  Council- 
men  were  William  H.  Foltz,  George  W.  Grube,  Charles  Hess,  Asher 
Hower,  William  Mann  and  William  Walp.  In  1887,  a  fire  depart- 
ment was  instituted.  The  organization,  which  it  was  proposed  first 
to    call    "Fetter    Hose,     No.     i,"    eventuallv    received    the    name 


i877 1892.  757 

"Monocacy  Hose  Company."  The  municipal  building,  commenced 
in  the  autumn  of  1887,  on  "The  Old  Allentown  Road" — later  named 
Prospect  Avenue,  because  more  euphonious — was  completed  and 
formally  occupied  in  April,  1888.  In  that  year  the  new  Borough 
was  also  divided  into  two  wards.  Various  improvements  were! 
introduced.  Among  these  was  a  better  organization  of  the  public 
schools  under  a  Principal,  in  1887.  The  first  who  held  this  offtce 
was  C.  T.  Bender.  In  1884,  the  Fairview  School-house  had  been 
built  on  a  lot  purchased  of  William  Leibert,  at  the  corner  of  Market 
Street  and  Fourth  Avenue.  The  school-house  on  Spring  Street 
which,  fifteen  years  before,  had  taken  the  place  of  the  original  one, 
called  "The  \'ineyard  Street  School-house" — although  it  did  not 
stand  on  Mneyard  Street — had  long  been  inadequate.  So  rapidly 
did  the  population  increase,  that  very  soon  yet  more  ample  school 
accommodations  became  necessary  and,  in  1891,  the  handsome  large 
Higbee  School-house  on  Spring  Street  stood  ready  for  use. 

The  mention  of  the  old  Vineyard  Street  School-house  calls  up  its 
association  with  religious  work  on  the  west  side,  referred  to  in  a 
previous  chapter.  The  West  Bethlehem  Moravian  Sunday-school 
was  transferred  from  that  to  the  two-story  school-house  on  Spring 
Street,  and  at  intervals  stated  preaching  took  place  there  also.  In 
1877,  the  late  Levin  J.  Krause  offered  to  present  a  lot  on  the  Allen- 
town  Road,  at  the  corner  of  the  third  intersecting  new  street — now 
Third  Avenue — for  a  Sunday-school  chapel,  if  one  should  be  erected 
within  five  years.  It  was  not  until  after  the  expiration  of  that  time 
that  the  enterprise  was  undertaken.  The  corner-stone  of  the  chapel 
was  laid  on  August  26,  1883.  Through  a  special  gift  by  the  late 
George  W.  Dixon,  a  better  building  was  erected  than  had  been 
planned.  It  was  dedicated  on  January  27.  1884,  and  on  the  27th  of 
May,  1885,  the  old  bell  that  had  long  lain  unused  in  the  cellar  of 
the  Moravian  Church  was  hung  in  the  belfry  of  the  new  chapel. 
The  building  was  enlarged  and  improved,  the  latter  part  of  1890,  and 
was   formally   re-opened  on  January   25,    1891. 

The  Lutheran  membership  living  in  West  Bethlehem  organized 
a  separate  congregation,  July  29,  1887,  in  charge  of  the  Rev.  W.  D. 
C.  Keiter.  The  building-site  on  Third  Avenue  was  secured  in  Sep- 
tember and  the  erection  of  a  church  was  at  once  proceeded  with. 
It  was  finished  and  consecrated,  April  8.  1888,  receiving  the 
name  Holy  Trinity  Church.  In  like  manner  some  of  the  members 
of  the  Reformed  Church  living  on  the  west  side  opened  a  Sunday- 
school,  on  May  20,  1888,  and  out  of  this  grew  the  organization  of 


758  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

a  congregation,  December  ii,  1891,  the  first  pastor  of  which  was 
the  Rev.  J.  F.  DeLong.  The  chapel  on  Fourth  Avenue  was  com- 
menced in  1890,  and  occupied  by  the  Sunday-school  in  February, 
1891.  It  was  consecrated,  June  28,  1891,  and  called  Bethany  ChapeL 
These  two  places  of  worship,  together  with  the  Moravian  chapel, 
then  met  the  religious  requirements  of  by  far  the  larger  part  of  the 
population  that  had  denominational  preferences. 

The  period  at  which  these  West  Bethlehem  developments  took 
place  was  one  of  renewed  activity  and  progress  generally.  On  the 
south  side,  the  new  era  of  the  Bethlehem  Iron  Company,  as  a  manu- 
facturer of  government  ordnance,  had  opened.  It  was  on  March 
2.2,  1887,  that  the  Company,  relying  on  the  progress  it  had  made  in 
its  equipment  for  such  work  and  the  ability  of  its  Superintendent 
and  Engineer  to  provide  what  was  further  needed,  submitted  its 
first  proposals  to  supply  gun-forgings  and  armor-plate,  in  response 
to  the  circular  issued  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  in  August,  1886, 
inviting  such  bids.  This  was  one  of  the  most  notable  industrial 
epochs  at  Bethlehem.  Other  prominent  new  enterprises  had  made 
their  appearance  on  both  sides  of  the  river  as  a  result,  to  a  consid- 
erable extent,  of  the  efforts  made  by  the  Boards  of  Trade  that  had 
been  organized  by  business  men.  Foremost  among  these  was  the 
silk  manufacturing  industry,  on  a  scale  that  would  have  amazed  good 
Philip  Bader  nursing  his  brood  of  silk-worms  in  the  Brethren's 
House  at  Bethlehem  and  at  Christiansbrunn,  a  century  and  a  quarter 
before,  or  Ettwein  who.  nearly  a  hundred  years  before,  had.  under 
the  stimulus  of  premiums  offered  by  scientific  and  industrial  organi- 
zations, produced  silk  in  profitable  quantities  at  Bethlehem ;  or  even 
James  Whittemore,  of  fifty  years  before,  when  "the  Morns  Mnlticaulis 
craze"  was  making  men's  heads  whirl  with  visions  of  silk  and  wealth. 
He  had  his  cocoonery,  in  1837.  in  the  little  frame  house  on  Church 
Street,  known  to  many  as  the  Neisser  house,  and  his  orchard  of 
mulberry  trees,  to  furnish  food  for  the  worms,  on  one  of  the  lots  near 
the  canal  and  within  call  of  where  one  of  the  great  silk  mills  has 
arisen.  Subscriptions  for  the  Bethlehem  Silk  Mill  on  Goepp  Street 
were  opened  in  1885.  Ground  was  broken  for  the  foundations  of  the 
building  on  February  24.  1886,  and,  already  on  November  3,  the 
machinery  was  started  in  the  finished  structvire.  The  first  section 
of  the  extensive  Lipps  and  Sutton  mill  on  Seneca  Street,  South 
Bethlehem,  was  built  in  the  Spring  of  1886,  and  started  in  July.  In 
May,  1886,  negotiations  were  concluded -for  the  establishment  of  the 
third,  now  called  the  Sauquoit  Mill,  between  the  canal  and  the  river, 


1877 1892.  759 

above  the  railroad  bridge.  The  building  was  commenced  in  July. 
In  February,  1887,  the  mill  was  under  roof  and,  the  following  Sep- 
tember, it  was  completed  and  put  into  operation. 

The  era  of  electricity  had  also  dawned  at  Bethlehem.  The  enter- 
prising promoters  of  the  Bethlehem  Electric  Light  Company  first 
had  the  Armaux  Light  on  exhibition  in  June,  1883.  They  were 
legally  incorporated  in  September,  and  at  the  close  of  the  year  their 
first  private  service  was  introduced  in  the  town.  Certain  street 
lights  were  paid  for  by  individual  subscription  for  about  a  year.  In 
February,  1885,  a  large  majority  of  voters  declared  in  favor  of  having 
the  streets  lighted  by  electricity  at  the  public  expense,  and  in  April 
the  first  contract  was  made  with  the  Company  by  the  Borough 
authorities.  "The  Saucon  Electric  Light  Company  of  South  Beth- 
lehem" was  incorporated  in  April,  1886. 

That  decade  was  a  period  also  of  other  municipal  enterprises  and 
public  improvements,  in  response  to  demands  that  had  become  imper- 
ious;  of  plans  and  projects  numerous,  sweeping  and  occasionally 
clashing.  The  clamor  of  years,  from  some  quarters,  brought  Beth- 
lehem's "curb-stone  market"  to  an  end  and  gave  the  town  a  market 
house  which  was  formally  opened,  November  10,  and  first  occupied 
by  venders,  November  13,  1884.  The  south  side,  however,  surpassed 
the  old  town  in  the  imposing  dimensions  and  appearance  of  its 
market.  The  chronic  complaints  about  the  streets  also  began,  at 
last,  to  bear  fruit  in  satisfactory  street  improvements  in  the  three 
Boroughs.  In  Bethlehem,  the  agitation  began  to  be  serious  in  1884. 
The  proposition  to  macadamize  the  streets  was  opposed  by  many 
tax-payers,  before  whose  eyes  the  vision  of  results  was  shut  out 
by  the  nearer,  bulky  figure  of  first  cost  that  stood  before  them,  but 
it  finally  became  clear  that  a  move  must  be  made.  An  extensive  plan 
found  endorsement  in  a  count  of  votes  and  the  necessary  steps  to 
secure  the  required  resources  could  be  legally  taken.  The  steam 
stone-crusher,  purchased  by  Town  Council  in  the  summer  of  1887, 
was  given  its  first  experimental  test  on  December  8,  of  that  year. 
The  records  tell  of  a  visit  to  Reading  by  a  committee  of  Councilmen 
in  October,  1887,  to  inspect  street  work  being  done  by  a  steam 
roller.  The  result  was  the  purchase  of  one  for  the  Borough.  It 
arrived  from  England  in  July,  1888,  and  was  put  to  work  tearing  up 
a  street  surface  experimentally  and  trying  the  nerves  of  the  horses, 
on  August  16.  However  varying  opinions  may  stand  on  the  subject 
of  the  cost,  the  details  of  management  and  other  features  in  which 
people  always  claim  the  privilege  of  differing,  as  they  look  at  things 


760  A    HISTORV    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

fruni  tlicir  respective  points  of  view,  the  outcome  in  the  present 
streets  of  Bethlehem  probably  leaves  none  who  would  take  their 
money  back  and  have  them  as  they  were  before.  Then  came  the 
intricate  process  of  street  car  and  bridge  projects,  the  incorporation 
of  sundry  companies  to  do  various  things — or  to  prevent  others 
from  doing  things — the  maneuvers,  compromisings,  mergings  and 
successive  actions  at  law  which  eventually  resulted  in  the  street  car 
and  l^ridge  service  as  they  stood  as  the  close  of  the  century. 

The  first  charter  for  a  street  railway  in  the  towns  was  taken  out  in 
1887.  The  same  year,  a  company  was  incorporated  for  the  purpose  of 
constructing  a  bridge  across  the  canal  and  river  east  of  Nisky  Hill 
Cemetery.  It  was  called  "The  Nisky  Hill  Bridge  Company."  In 
1887,  the  Lh'oad  Street  bridge  was  made  free.  The  last  toll  was  taken 
on  Ma}-  14.  Complications  delayed  the  effort  to  secure  a  free  bridge 
across  the  river.  Some  thought  a  more  satisfactory  solution  of  the 
problem  of  closer  relations  between  the  north  and  south  sides,  of 
street  car  service  and  other  desiderata  lay  in  a  new  bridge  to  be 
constructed  from  a  proposed  extension  of  Main  Street,  Bethlehem, 
from  its  intersection  with  Church  Street,  southward  to  the  Monocacy, 
straight  across  the  river.  This  large  plan,  starting  with  measures 
by  the  Bethlehem  Town  Council  to  open  the  street  extension  referred 
to,  took  precedence,  for  a  season,  of  efforts  to  free  one  or  the  other 
existing  bridge.  After  its  abandonment,  these  efforts  resulted  in  the 
entire  freeing  of  the  old  Main  Street  bridge  on  which  toll  was  yet 
taken  for  vehicles.  It  was  traveled  free  by  teams,  the  first  time,  on 
November  8,  1892.  In  April,  1891,  the  electric  railway  on  the  streets 
of  Bethlehem  was  legally  authorized.  Work  at  its  construction  in 
the  town  was  commenced  in  June.  On  August  i,  1891,  the  first 
electric  car  entered  Bethlehem  across  the  Broad  Street  bridge  from 
Allcntown  and  was  run  up  Broad  Street  to  New  Street.  On  October 
8,  the  first  car  passed  over  the  Church  Street  and  Main  Street  tracks. 
The  grounds  of  the  Bethlehem  Fair  and  Driving  Park  Association 
wlu're,  in  189T,  work  was  commenced  in  April  and  the  first  exhibition 
took  place  in  September,  were  a  terminus  of  the  first  local  line.  From 
that  beginning  the  existing  situation  has  developed. 

Several  other  municipal  improvements  may  be  referred  to.  In 
1884,  a  new  fire  company  was  formed  in  the  north  part  of  the 
Borough  and  named  the  Fairview  Hose  Company,  No.  4.  Its  hose 
liouse  on  Fairview  Street  was  built  in  1885.  The  Central  Fire  Sta- 
tion, on  Broad  Street,  was  built  in  1892,  and  the  various  new  arrange- 
ments and  equipments  to  make  the  department  more  efficient  were 


JEFFERSON  SCHOOL  HOUSE 
FRANKLIN  SCHOOL  HOUSE 


1877 1892-  7^1 

then  introduced.  In  1889,  the  third  of  the  successive  pumps  for 
Bethlehem's  water  supply  that  have  followed  the  old  machinery  of 
Christiansen,  a  Dean  pump  of  far  greater  capacity  than  the  preced- 
ing ones,  was  placed  in  the  works  and  was  tested  on  October  24,  of 
that  year.  At  the  same  time  a  considerably  larger  iron  storage  tank 
was  built  near  that  erected  in  1872  above  North  Street,  east  of  High, 
to  which,  in  1885,  an  additional  height  had  been  given.  The  Bethlehem 
South  Gas  and  Water  Company,  which  has  to  serve  a  much  larger 
population/  including  West  Bethlehem,  since  its  incorporation,  has 
constructed,  since  1885,  the  two  large  reservoirs  above  St.  Luke's 
Hospital  to  the  west,  completed  in  1886,  and  a  yet  larger  one  com- 
,  pleted  in  1893.  The  pumping  station  on  the  south  bank  of  the  river, 
across  from  the  western  end  of  Calypso  Island — on  which,  in  1898 
and  1899,  experimental  excavations  were  made  to  ascertain  the  prac- 
ticabiHty  of  drawing  water  filtered  through  the  gravel  from  the 
river-bed — was  built  in  1886,  and  contains  two  pumps  with  a  com- 
bined capacity  of  seven  million  gallons  daily,  feeding  a  reservoir 
capacity  of  fifteen  million  gallons.  Yet  another  noteworthy  step 
forward  has  been  taken  in  the  greatly  improved  postal  facilities  since 
the  occupation  of  its  present  quarters,  at  the  north-east  corner  of 
Main  and  Market  Streets,  by  the  Bethlehem  post-office,  in  1885,  and 
the  erection  of  the  new  post-office  building  on  the  south  side  in  1891. 
The  free  postal  delivery  was  introduced  on  the  north  side  in  Septem- 
ber. 1887,  and  on  the  south  side  in  November,  1890. 

Meanwhile,  an  extension  and  improvement  of  Bethlehem's  public 
school  accommodations — those  of  South  Bethlehem  were  treated  of 
finally  in  the  preceding  chapter — has  taken  place  since  their  last  men- 
tion, corresponding  to  other  forward  movements.  In  1883,  the  office 
of  Superintendent  of  Schools  was  instituted,  the  Principal  of  that 
time,  George  H.  Desh,  being  the  first  to  fill  the  position.  After  his 
death  in  1888,  he  was  succeeded  by  Thomas  Farquhar.  An  intelli- 
gent and  energetic  Board  of  Directors  gave  careful  attention  to  all 
matters  that  had  to  do  with  the  internal  and  external  advancement 
of  the  schools,  and  surprising  elaborations  in  both  respects  took 
place  in  a  few  years.     The  Franklin  School-house  supplemented  by 


I  In  1876  Bethlehem  had  a  population  of  5000,  South*Bethlehem  less  and  West  Bethle- 
hem only  a  few  hundred.  The  census  of  1890  gave  Bethlehem  6750,  South  Bethlehem 
103S6,  and  West  Bethlehem  2757,  a  tola'  of  19893  in  the  three  Boroughs.  With  the  adja- 
cent outskirts  there  was  in  1892  a  population  of  probably  21000  in  "  the  Bethlehems"  and 
their  suburbs.  The  new  Boroughs  of  West  Fountain  Ilill  and  Northampton  Heights  did 
not  yet  exist  at  that  time. 


762  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,   PENNSYLVANIA. 

the  old  one  on  Wall  Street  no  longer  sufficed,  and  inside  of  foiu" 
years  three  fine,  large  school-houses  were  added.  The  Penn  build- 
ing, at  the  north-east  corner  of  Main  and  Fairview  Streets,  was 
finished  and  opened  in  the  summer  of  1888.  The  Jefferson  building, 
at  the  corner  of  Maple  and  North  Streets,  was  finished  and  ready  for 
use  in  1890.  Then  it  was  concluded  that  the  old  Wall  Street  build- 
ing was  no  longer  either  sightly,  sanitary  or  safe.  It  was  demolished 
and,  on  its  site,  arose,  in  1892,  the  handsome  structure  which,  with 
sesqui-centennial  associations  in  mind,  was  named  the  George 
Neisser  School-house,  in  honor  of  Bethlehem's  first  school-master 
of  1742.  A  notable  occurrence  in  connection  with  Moravian  school 
work  in  Bethlehem,  during  the  years  now  under  review,  was  the 
elaborate  celebration,  by  the  Seminary  for  Young  Ladies,  in  1885, 
of  the  centennial  anniversary  of  its  re-establishment  as  a  general 
boarding-school  for  girls. 

A  prominent  educational  institution  had  been  added  to  those  of  the 
town.  "The  Preparatory  School  for  Lehigh  University,"  founded  on 
the  south  side  on  September  16,  1878,  by  Prof.  William  Ulrich,  was 
transferred  across  the  river,  in  May,  1883,  into  the  "Captain  Dutch 
house"  on  New  Street — once  had  in  mind  for  the  Moravian  Theo- 
logical Seminary — which  he  had  purchased.  After  Prof.  Ulrich's 
death  he  was  succeeded  in  the  charge  of  this  school  by  his  principal 
instructor,  H.  A.  Foering,  who  has  quite  recently  transferred  it  to 
a  new  building  on  the  west  side.  (Jn  September  i,  1885.  a  class 
preparatory  to  Lehigh  University  was  formed  in  the  Moravian 
Parochial  School.  Provisions  were  later  introduced  in  the  Bethlehem 
High  School  course  for  boys  to  prepare  for  the  entrance  examin- 
ations at  Lehigh.  Large-minded  men  connected  with  the  manage- 
ment of  these  several  schools,  and  with  the  faculty  of  the  University, 
have  been  disposed  to  foster  such  natural  and  proper  relations. 

No  marks  of  progress,  so  far  as  externals  are  concerned,  on  the 
part  of  Bethlehem's  educational  institutions  are  more  conspicuous 
than  those  which  appear  in  connection  with  the  Moravian  College 
and  Theological  Seminary  during  the  last  years  with  which  this 
chapter  deals.  The  old  Nisky  Hill  Seminary  on  Church  Street, 
which  had  served  the  institution  since  1858,  had  become  inadequate 
and  discreditable,  and  in  ^890,  steps  were  taken  to  secure  the  erec- 
tion of  new  quarters  equal  to  its  needs  and  an  honor  to  the  Church 
and  the  town.  The  fine  block  of  lots  on  North  Main  Street  was 
presented  to  the  authorities  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Moravian  Con- 
gregation of  Bethlehem.     An  energetic  and  capable  committee  took 


^ 


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vl    >^ 


/-^.. 


ba  (.■  .,.ji liiik. 


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i877 1892.  763 

charge  of  the  enterprise,  with  the  Rev.  Robert  deSchweinitz,  so  long 
connected  with  executive  and  financial  management,  serving  as 
Treasvirer.  Building  operations  were  commenced  in  the  summer  of 
1891.  On  Sunday  afternoon,  August  2,  the  corner-stone  of  the  large 
building,  which  afterwards  received  the  name  Comenius  Hall,  was 
laid.  Meanwhile  the  other  building,  to  contain  the  refectory  and 
infirmary,  was  erected  and  the  near-by  dwelling-house,  which  was 
purchased,  was  remodeled  as  a  home  for  the  resident  professor,  the 
Rev.  J.  Taylor  Hamilton.  Then  came  the  generous  proposition  of 
the  late  Ashton  C.  Borhek  and  his  wife  to  build  a  chapel,  as  a  gift 
to  the  institution,  in  memory  of  a  deceased  daughter.  On  Septem- 
ber 18,  1892,  the  corner-stone  of  the  Helen  Stadiger  Borhek  Memo- 
rial Chapel  was  laid.  On  the  27th  of  the  same  month,  Comenius 
Hall,  built  to  a  large  extent  by  the  voluntary  contributions  of  Mora- 
vians of  Bethlehem  and  other  places,  was  dedicated  with  solemn 
ceremonies.  The  beautiful  chapel  was  consecrated  on  October  22, 
1893.  In  this  connection  mention  may  be  made  of  the  newest  chapel 
of  the  Moravian  Congregation,  with  which  many  of  the  students  of 
The  Theological  Seminary  have  been  associated,  the  Laurel  Street 
Chapel.  Its  corner-stone  was  laid  on  October  9,  1887,  and  in  Decem- 
ber of  that  year  it  was  completed.  Its  consecration  took  place  on  the 
nth  of  December.  The  late  Bishop  Edmund  deSchweinitz,  President 
of  the  Executive  Board,  who  from  1864  to  1880  had  been  pastor  at 
Bethlehem,  officiated  on  that  occasion,  and  on  the  evening  of  the 
following  Sunday,  December  18,  died  suddenly  at  his  home  on 
Church  Street.  His  last  literary  work  had  been  the  preparation  of 
a  historical  sketch  of  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  Among 
the  Heathen,  which  was  read  at  the  celebration  of  the  centennial 
anniversary  of  the  organization  of  that  society,  which  took  place  on 
November  i  of  that  year.  This  occasion,  following  the  centennial 
at  the  Young  Ladies'  Seminary  in  1885,  was  the  third  in  a  succession 
of  notable  anniversaries  observed,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  by 
Moravians  in  Bethlehem.  The  first  was  the  hundred  and  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  the  beginning  of  Aloravian  missions  to  the  heathen, 
which  was  observed  on  August  21,   1882. 

So  conspicuously  were  the  musical  elements  of  these  and  subse- 
quent notable  festivities  brought  out.  that  a  reference  yet  to  some 
of  the  more  recent  musical  efforts  at  Bethlehem  may  not  be  out  of 
place  here.  The  old  Philharmonic  Society  was  partially  restored 
after  a  season  of  decline  and,  as  late  as  1884  and  1885,  gave  several 
concerts.      Then  its  orchestra  co-operated  with  the  new  organiza- 


764  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

tion-  called  the  Bethlehem  Choral  L'liion,  formed  on  September  28, 
1882.  by  J.  Fred  Wolle  who,  after  the  death  of  Prof.  Theodore  F. 
Wolle  in  1885,  became  organist  and  ctioir-master  of  the  Moravian 
Church,  a  position  which  he  continues  to  hold  while  serving  the 
Packer  Memorial  Church  of  Lehigh  University  in  the  same  capacity ; 
Prof.  H.  A.  Jacobson,  one  of  the  most  proficient  organists  of  Beth- 
lehem, sharing  his  duties  in  the  church  during  all  the  years  since 
then.  The  Choral  Union  gave  its  first  concert  on  March  zj,  1883. 
It  consisted  of  parts  of  Haydn's  "Creation,"  and  some  lighter  selec- 
tions. Among  the  many  public  efforts  that  followed,  some  have  a 
prominent  place  among  the  musical  events  of  Bethlehem.  One  was 
the  rendition  of  the  "Messiah,"  on  December  14,  1886,  followed  by 
the  "Elijah,"  November  29,  1887.  both  in  the  Moravian  church. 
Another  was  the  first  attempt  to  produce  the  music  of  John  Sebas- 
tian Bach,  in  parts  of  the  Passion  according  to  St.  John,  on  June  5, 
1888,  in  the  chapel  of  the  Moravian  Parochial  School.  Mendels- 
sohn's "Christus"  and  Rheinberger's  "Christophorus"  were  also 
given,  to  the  pleasure  of  music-loving  people.  Its  most  ambitious 
undertaking  was  the  St.  Matthew  Passion  of  Bach,  on  April  8,  1892, 
given  so  successfully  that  it  was  a  revelation  of  possibilities  at  Beth- 
lehem in  compositions  considered  beyond  the  abilities  of  any  chorus 
that  could  be  gotten  together  in  a  place  of  such  size,  even  with  the 
cultivation  of  a  high  order  of  music  as  a  tradition  of  the  town  for 
more  than  a  century.  Then  came  a  merging  of  the  Choral  Union 
in  a  new  organization  of  November  15,  1892,  called  The  Oratorio 
Society,  which,  however,  did  not  last  long  in  the  character  then 
taken,  and  was  eventually  succeeded  by  the  formation  of  The  Bach 
Choir  out  of  its  elements  as  a  nucleus.  I'^irther  work  in  Bach  was 
the  production,  in  part,  of  The  Christmas  Oratorio,  December  18, 
1894;  and  then,  after  long  and  assiduous  labor,  the  most  elaborate 
and  difftcult  composition  of  all,  the  Mass  in  B.  Minor — again  in  the 
Moravian  church — on  March  27,  1900.  This  was  its  first  complete 
production  in  America,  and  in  the  closing  year  of  the  century, 
grandly  crowned  the  musical  work  of  Bethlehem.-'' 

2  The  Bethlehem  Liedeikranz  formed  by  C.  W.  Roepper  in  October,  1 870— followed,  after 
an  existence  of  many  years,  by  the  Bethlehem  Maennerchor — and  the  Concordia  Glee  Club 
which  existed  for  a  few  years  after  1882,  were  other  modern  musical  organizations.  The  Beth- 
lehem Cornet  Band  of  1875  had  a  longer  career  than  the  majority  of  bands  and  the  Fairview 
Band  which  developed  out  of  a  serenading  organization  early  in  1884,  was  long  a  credit  to 
Bethlehem. 

3  That  superb  achievement,  the  three  days'  Bach  Festival  of  May  23-25,  1901,  which 
attracted  the  attention  of  musicians  throughout  the  country  and  even  in  Europe,  and  elicited 


(^ 


WESTON    DODSON  ROBERT    WILLIAM    DESCHWEINITZ 

WILLIAM    LEIBERT 
BERNHARD    EUGENE    LEHMAN  OWEN    AUGUSTUS    LUCKENBACH 


1877 — 1892.  ^t^ 

Meanwhile,*  the  actual  commemoration  of  beginnings  at  Beth- 
lehem commenced  at  Christmas,  1891  ;  for  it  was  then  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years  since  the  memorable  Christmas  Eve  service  took  place 
in  the  original  log  cabin  which  suggested  the  name  that  was  given 
the  settlement.  More  or  less  reference  was  made  to  this  at  the 
Christmas  festivities  in  various  churches  of  the  town.  Naturally 
the  most  attention  was  paid  to  it  in  the  Moravian  church.  The 
decoration  of  the  church  was  more  elaborate  than  usual  and  some- 
what unique  in  design.  Inscriptions  of  various  kinds,  with  particular 
historical  significance,  predominated;  many  of  them  selected  and 
arranged  with  a  view  to  making  the  whole  an  appropriate  object- 
study  for  the  occasion,  rather  than  to  merely  producing  artistic  effect, 
as  ordinarily."  The  two  services  of  Christmas  Eve  were  those  that 
are  always  held,  but  the  hymns  and  anthems  were  specially  selected 
for  the  occasion  and  printed  in  a  shape  to  be  preserved  as  mementos. 
On  the  evening  of  Christmas  Day,  there  was  a  joint  celebration  by  the 
three  Sunday-schools  of  the  Moravian  Congregation,  in  the  church. 
More  than  a  thousand  scholars  and  teachers  participated.  In  order  to 
leave  room  for  a  large  miscellaneous  assemblage  besides  the  schools, 
over  two  hundred  children  of  the  primary  classes  were  placed  on 
elevated  tiers  of  seats  to  the  right  and  left  of  the  pulpit,  facing  the 
congregation,  while  all  the  available  space  about  the  table  below 
the  pulpit  was  occupied.  In  this  way  nearly  two  thousand  persons 
were  gathered  in  the  church.  The  same  plan  in  seating  the  children 
was  followed  at  the  services  in  which  they  participated  when  the 
Sesqui-Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  regular  organization  of  the 
settlement  was  celebrated  in  June,  1892. 

The  days  from  the  beginning  of  that  month  were  busily  occupied 
in  preparations  of  various  kinds  by  committees  and  individuals.  On 
June  6,  a  notice  to  the  citizens  of  the  town,  signed  by  Paul  Kemp- 
smith,  Burgess,  and  Theodore  O.  Fradeneck,  Secretary  of  Town 
Council,  was  issued.  It  formally  announced  the  civic  celebration 
planned  for  Saturday,  June  25.  It  called  upon  the  people  to  observe 
the  day  as  a  general  holiday ;  to  decorate  their  homes  and  places 
of  business;  to  engage,  with  the  schools  of  the  Borough,  in  the 
ceremony  of  marking  historic  buildings  and  spots  with  suitable 
memorials ;  to  join  the  organizations  of  the  town  in  the  parade  that 

5  Those  who  wish  to  know  particulars  will  find  them  described  in  minute  detail  in  the 
diary  of  the  congregation  and  in  the  next  following  number  of  The  Moravian^  preserved  in 
the  archives. 


768  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

was  planned  and  in  gatliering  to  hear  the  oration ;  and  to  illuminate 
their  houses  from  eight  to  ten  o'clock,  at  the  close  of  the  day.  The 
municipalities  of  West  Bethlehem  and  South  Bethlehem  were  ofhcially 
invited  by  the  Borough  authorities  to  participate  in  the  celebration. 
Suitable  formal  announcements  and  invitations  of  several  classes, 
prepared  by  an  appointed  committee,  were  specially  sent  to  digni- 
taries and  executive  officials  of  the  Nation,  the  State,  the  County  and 
other  Boroughs  of  the  County ;  to  neighboring  institutions  of  learn- 
ing, to  the  clergy,  within  certain  limits ;  and  to  representatives  of  the 
press.  The  order  of  all  the  religious  and  secular  functions  that 
entered  into  the  celebration,  as  planned  to  extend  from  Friday 
evening,  June  24,  to  Sunday  evening,  June  26,  was  printed  for  distri- 
bution at  the  proper  time  by  the  persons  in  charge  of  the  several 
sections. 

Various  private  enterprises  to  add  interest  to  the  occasion,  or  to 
turn  it  to  pecuniary  profit,  were  also  undertaken,  by  photographers, 
by  certain  organizations  and  by  persons  in  different  lines  of  business. 
One  of  these  was  the  preparation  of  a  neat  sesqui-centennial  medal, 
cast  in  bronze  and  in  cheaper  metal,  of  which  very  many  were  sold 
as  souvenirs  of  the  occasion. 

The  most  conspicuous  undertaking,  apart  from  what  entered  into 
the  official  programs,  was  the  issue,  by  The  Bethlehem  Daily  Times, 
of  a  Sesqui-Centennial  Industrial  Edition,  of  thirty-six  pages,  pro- 
fusely illustrated  with  portraits  and  buildings,  old  and  new,  in  the 
Boroughs.  A  variety  of  historical  articles  by  a  corps  of  contributors 
dealt  with  every  special  theme  that  would  be  looked  for  in  such  a 
publication,  and  filled  its  pages  with  interesting  matter,  much  of  it 
permanently  valuable  for  reference ;  most  of  the  articles  being 
remarkably  accurate. 

The  exterior  decorations,  mainly  of  bunting  in  the  national  colors 
and  flags  in  abundance,  displayed  on  nearly  all  places  of  business  and 
on  hundreds  of  residences — many  of  them  in  very  artistic  designs 
arranged  by  professional  decorators — surpassed  in  profusion  anything 
of  the  kind  that  had  ever  before  been  attempted  in  Bethlehem.  The 
fronts  of  the  historic  old  buildings  on  Church  Street  were  almost 
completely  covered  with  bright  colors.  The  interior  of  the  Mora- 
vian church  was  suitably  adorned.  The  celebrated  painting  by 
Schuesselc  of  "Zeisberger  preaching  to  the  Indians"  formed  the 
center-piece  in  the  pulpit  alcove.  Against  the  wall,  on  one  side  of 
the  pulpit,  was  a  large  representation  of  the  first  house  of  Bethlehem 
and,  on  the  other  side,  a  similar  one  of  the  old  Community  House 


1877 1892.  7^9 

{Gemeinhaus) ,  in  which  the  organization  took  place  in  June,  1742,  as 
it  originally  appeared.  Both  were  the  work  of  Charles  Wollmuth, 
of  Bethlehem.  Some  other  features  were  the  same  as  at  Christmas, 
1891.  Large  quantities  of  rhododendron,  arbor  vitae  and  Florida 
moss  were  used  in  the  decoration  which,  like  that  of  the  preceding 
Christmas,  was  arranged  under  the  experienced  and  skillful  direction 
of  Charles  H.  Eggert. 

Prior  to  the  approach  of  the  festivities,  all  of  the  educational  insti- 
tutions of  the  three  Boroughs,  excepting  the  Public  Schools,  had 
closed  for  the  summer.  In  most  cases,  their  final  exercises  included 
some  reference  to  the  notable  year  1892,  in  the  history  of  education,  of 
America  and  of  Bethlehem.  Those  of  the  Moravian  Parochial  School 
were  brought  into  such  close  relation  to  the  Sesqui-Centennial  cele- 
bration that  they  may  almost  be  regarded  as  the  beginning  of  it. 
The  customary  closing  entertainment  took  place  on  Thursday 
evening,  June  23.  The  recitation  of  sundry  poems,  both  serious  and 
facetious,  relating  to  Bethlehem,  written  by  persons  at  different 
periods  of  the  town,  was  introduced,  under  the  head  of  "Memories/^ 
as  a  part  of  the  program.  At  the  close  of  the  exercises,  the  school 
and  large  audience  were  addressed  by  Bishop  Edward  Rondthaler,. 
of  Salem,  North  Carolina,  who,  as  the  representative  of  that  old 
Moravian  settlement  and  of  the  Southern  Province  of  the  Moravian 
Church,  had  been  invited  to  Bethlehem  to  participate  in  the  festivities. 
The  commencement  exercises  of  the  school  took  place  on  the 
morning  of  Friday,  June  24,  the  opening  day  of  the  celebration.  The 
essays  by  members  of  the  graduating  class — several  of  them  were 
read — all  treated  of  topics  associated  with  the  history  and  traditions 
of  Bethlehem. 

At  seven  o]clock  on  Friday  evening,  the  trombonists  assembled 
in  the  belfry  of  the  church  and  announced  the  beginning  of  the  cele- 
bration by  playing  four  selected  chorales,  and  soon  the  throngs  were 
pouring  into  the  church  which  was  crowded  in  a  short  time.  A  great 
troop  of  children  occupied  the  raised  tiers  of  seats  which  filled  the 
corner  spaces  to  the  right  and  left  of  the  pulpit.  At  half  past  seven 
o'clock  the  Festal  Eve  Service  was  opened  by  the  Senior  Pastor, 
Bishop  J.  M.  Levering.  He  was  assisted  in  the  service  by 
his  colleagues  in  the  pastorate,  the  Rev.  Morris  W.  Leibert 
and  the  Rev.  William  H.  Oerter.  A  number  of  clergymen  of 
Bethlehem  and  other  places  who  had  previously  assembled  in  the 
vestry,  filed  into  the  church  in  procession  and  occupied  seats  about 

50 


770  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

the  table  in  the  space  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  between  the  raised  plat- 
forms. This  order  was  observed  at  five  services  of  the  occasion.  In 
connection  with  his  opening  address,  the  leader  of  the  service  com- 
municated three  greetings  received  by  cable  from  Europe  in  the 
course  of  the  afternoon.  The  first  was  from  the  old  Congregation  of 
Herrnhut,  Saxony.  The  second  was  from  the  Moravian  Congre- 
gation in  London,  organized  in  the  same  year  with  that  of  Bethlehem. 
The  third  was  from  the  Moravian  Synod  in  Germany,  then  in  session. 
Salutatory  addresses  with  discourses  on  three  appropriate  themes  by 
the  pastors  of  three  of  the  four  oldest  Moravian  Churches  in  Penn- 
sylvania, next  to  Bethlehem,  were  combined  with  the  Festal  Eve 
Service."  The  first  was  by  the  Rev.  Charles  Nagel,  Pastor  of  the 
First  Moravian  Church  of  Philadelphia,  who  spoke  of  "The  Distinc- 
tive Position  and  Character  of  the  Bethlehem  Congregation."  He 
was  followed  by  the  Rev.  Paul  de  Schweinitz,  Pastor  at  Nazareth, 
whose  subject  was  "The  Bethlehem  Moravian  Pastorate  of  an  Hun- 
dred and  Fifty  Years."  The  closing  address  was  given  by  the  Rev. 
Charles  L.  M'oench,  Pastor  at  Lititz,  on  "Bethlehem's  Great  Congre- 
gation of  the  Departed" — a  topic  which  appealed  sensibly  to  the 
people  amid  the  associations  of  the  hour,  and  suitably  rounded  ovit 
the  thought  of  the  occasion.  The  music  of  the  large  choir  and 
orchestra,  for  which  careful  preparation  had  been  made,  fully  met  the 
expectations  of  the  people,  and  its  character  was  sustained  through- 
out in  the  subsequent  services.  One  of  the  selections,  rendered  with 
impressive  effect,  was  a  composition  by  the  choir-master,  J.  Fred 
Wolle,  produced  for  the  first  time  on  that  occasion.  The  text,  in  three 
stanzas,  opened  with  the  words :  "He  leads  us  on  by  paths  we  do 
not  know."  One  of  the  hymns  sung  by  the  children  was  the  English 
rendering — to  the  original  rugged  old  Bohemian  chor^ile — of  one  of 
Bishop  John  Augusta's  hymns,  beginning  "How  blest  and  lovely 
Thy  earthly  dwellings  are." 

Saturday,  June  25,  was  devoted  to  what  was  distinguished  from 
the  church  services  as  the  civic  celebration,  arranged  by  a  committee 
of  Town  Council  and  a  deputation  of  the  Moravian  Sesqui-Centennial 
Committee,  as  a  joint  committee,  augmented  by  nine  other  repre- 
sentative citizens,  with  the  Burgess  of  Bethlehem  as  chairman. 
Nearly  all  places  of  business  were  closed  in  the  afternoon  and  many 

6  The  original  plan  to  have  addresses  at  the  opening  service  by  the  three  former  pastors 
of  the  Bethlehem  Congregation,  yet  living  at  the  time,  had  to  be  abandoned  because  the  par- 
ticipation of  two  of  them  could  not  be  secured.  These  three  were  Bishop  H.  T.  Bachman, 
1870-79;  the  Rev.  E.  T.  Kluge,  1879-83;  the  Rev.  C.  B.  Shultz,  1880-84. 


1877 1892.  T]i 

the  entire  day.  In  view  of  the  occasion,  the  Bethlehem  Iron  Com- 
pany transferred  pay-day  to  Friday.  The  festivities  were  opened  by 
the  rendition  of  chorales  from  the  belfry  of  the  church  by  the  trom- 
bonists at  eight  o'clock.  What  was  perhaps  the  most  interesting 
feature  of  the  entire  festival  occupied  the  forenoon  of  this  day.  This 
was  the  unveiling  of  memorial  tablets  and  stones  by  the  school  boys 
and  girls  of  Bethlehem.  There  were  thirteen  bronze  tablets,  one 
marble  tablet  and  seven  granite  markers,  suitably  inscribed,  all  pre- 
viously placed  in  position  on  buildings  and  at  sites  of  historic  interest. 
The  scholars  with  their  teachers  first  gathered  in  their  respective 
school-houses  and  then  assembled  at  the  intersection  of  Broad  and 
Center  Streets.  Eight  boys  and  seven  girls  of  the  Moravian  Parochial 
School  had  been  appointed  by  the  Superintendent,  the  Rev.  C.  B. 
Shultz ;  twenty  boys  and  six  girls  of  the  Public  Schools  had  been 
likewise  appointed  by  Superintendent  Thomas  Farquhar  to  perform 
the  unveiling  and  to  repeat,  in  connection  with  each  memorial,  a  few 
words  of  historical  statement  and  suitable  comment  which  had  been 
prepared  for  the  purpose  and  assigned  according  to  a  fixed  order. 
A  procession  was  formed  at  the  rallying-point  and  marched  down 
Broad  Street  in  the  following  order :  the  Fairview  Band ;  the  Chief 
Marshal,  Albert  G.  Rau,  Superintendent-elect  of  the  Parochial 
School,  with  five  aides ;  the  boys  and  girls  selected  to  take  distinct 
part ;  the  pupils  of  the  Parochial  School  with  their  teachers ;  the 
pupils  of  the  Public  Schools  with  their  teachers ;  all  other  persons 
who  might  fall  into  line.  The  buildings  and  sites  thus  marked  were 
the  following,  at  eighteen  stations,  named  in  the  order  in  which  the 
route  was  taken — several  of  the  more  distant  points  being  visited 
only  by  detachments  of  boys  accompanied  by  the  men  in  charge:  i. 
The  Sun  Inn.  2.  The  last  of  the  houses  moved  to  Bethlehem  from 
the  Indian  mission,  Nain,  standing  at  the  south-west  corner  of 
Market  and  Cedar  Streets.  3.  The  "Horsfield  house,"  a  little  farther 
up  Market  Street,  on  the  north  side,  in  a  section  of  which  the  first 
store  in  Bethlehem  and  in  the  Lehigh  Valley  was  opened.  4.  The 
site  of  the  second  Seminary  for  Girls  (1790)  at  the  south  side  of 
the  main  building  of  the  Parochial  School.  5.  The  Community 
House,  later  Clergy  House  (GcincinJiaits)  at  the  corner  of  Church  and 
Cedar  Streets.  6.  The  first  Seminary  for  Girls,  the  "bell  house"  on 
Church  Street.  7.  The  Sisters'  House ;  three  tablets  on  the  three 
sections  of  the  buildin*  erected  at  different  times.  8.  The  Old  Chapel. 
9.  The  Widows'  House.  10.  The  original  pharmacy  of  Bethlehem, 
on  the  premises  of  the  present  pharmacy  of  Simon  Rau  &  Co.     11. 


772  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

The  site  of  the  first  house  of  Bethlehem  on  Rubel's  Alley,  in  the  rear 
of  the  Eagle  Hotel.  12.  The  oldest  building— "Colonial  Hall"— of 
the  present  Seminary  for  Young  Ladies.  13.  The  site  of  the  sign- 
board which  once  pointed  out  "the  main  road  to  Ohio,"  on  south 
Main  Street,  where  the  road  leads  down  to  the  mill.  14.  The  burial 
place  of  continental  troops  who  died  in  the  hospital  at  Bethlehem 
during  the  Revolutionary  War,  on  the  east  side  of  First  Avenue, 
West  Bethlehem,  north  of  Prospect  Avenue.  15.  The  point  where 
the  first  "Kings  Road"  crossed  the  river.  16.  The  landing  place  of 
the  old  ferry.  17.  The  site  of  the  Crown  Inn  at  the  south-east  corner 
of  the  union  passenger  station  in  South  Bethlehem.  18.  The  original 
water  works  of  Bethlehem  across  the  way  from  the  present  works 
on  Water  Street.'^ 

The  next  part  of  the  day's  program  was  the  parade  in  charge  of 
Chief  Marshal  Captain  H.  L.  Jewett  and  his  aides,  with  upwards 
of  two  thousand  men  in  line.  The  order  of  divisions  was:  i.  Mili- 
tary and  civic  organizations ;  2.  the  Fire  Department ;  3.  the  municipal 
authorities  and  guests  in  carriages.  Several  South  and  West  Beth- 
lehem organizations  participated.  The  route  was  from  Broad  and 
Centre  Streets,  where  the  procession  formed,  to  Linden,  to  Market, 
to  New,  to  Fairview,  to  Main,  to  Church  Street,  where  the  several 
divisions  were  dismissed.  Then  the  large  groups  of  people  who  had 
been  thronging  various  points  along  the  line  of  march,  and  many 
others  directly  from  their  homes,  assembled  at  four  o'clock  on  the 
green,  between  the  Moravian  church  and  the  Parochial  school-house 
where  seats  had  been  arranged  for  as  many  as  possible,  and  at  the 
north  side  of  which  a  platform  had  been  built.  On  that  the  Burgess 
and  Town  Council,  the  Senior  Pastor  of  the  Moravian  Church,  as 
a  participant  in  the  exercises.  General  W.  E.  Doster,  the  orator  of 
the  day,  and  invited  guests  representing  neighboring  towns,  took 
their  places,  with  the  Fairview  Band,  that  furnished  music,  occupying 

7  In  connection  with  the  final  wording  of  the  inscriptions  and  the  preparation  of  the  parts 
to  be  repeated  by  the  boys  and  girls,  the  writer  was  assisted  by  the  late  Prof  Edwin  G. 
Klose,  who  took  a  zealous  interest  in  all  the  details  of  the  festival  and  was  the  most  efficient 
helper  the  Moravian  pastors  had  in  the  great  mass  and  variety  of  preparatory  work  that 
necessarily  fell  to  their  lot.  The  work  of  getting  the  tablets  and  stone  markers  made  and 
put  in  place  was  taken  charge  of  by  Mr.  James  S.  Dodson  and  Mr.  Harry  E.  Brown  as  a 
sub-committee.  They  were  all  produced  at  home.  The  tablets  were  cast  at  the  Lehman 
brass  foundry  in  South  Bethlehem.  Of  the  above  list  Nos.  4, '13,  14,  15,  16,  17  are  stones, 
I  is  a  marble  tablet,  all  the  rest  are  bronze  tablets.  This,  for  information  when,  after  the 
lapse  of  years,  some  may  have  disappeared. 


i877 1892.  773 

a  section.  The  exercises  were  conducted  by  Chief  Burgess  Kemp- 
smith  who  spoke  the  words  of  salutation  and  welcome  which  were 
followed  by  an  invocation.  After  further  music,  the  oration  was 
delivered  by  General  Doster  who,  in  succinct  and  comprehensive 
manner,  brought  out  the  salient  points  in  the  scheme  of  the  founders 
and  builders  of  Bethlehem;  the  genesis  and  results  of  the  successive 
changes  through  which  the  town  had  passed ;  the  serious  and  the 
comical  aspects  of  its  experiences ;  and  the  elements  in  which  its 
primitive  ideals  might  even  yet  be  cherished  and  applied  to  latter- 
day  situations.  While  not  dealing  with  many  details,  the  oration 
was  replete  with  historical  information  worth  the  attention  of  citizens 
of  Bethlehem.  Brief  addresses  of  greeting  by  Ex-Mayor  Charles  F. 
Chidsey,  of  Easton,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  A.  R.  Horn,  of  Allentown, 
followed  the  oration.  Before  dispersing,  the  assembly  joined  in 
singing  the  hymn  "My  Country  'tis  of  thee,"  and  was  dismissed 
with  the  benediction.  At  the  same  time,  another  company  had  been 
drawn  to  another  part  of  Bethlehem  where  an  unofficial  program  of 
exercises  was  carried  out,  arranged  by  William  McCormick,  editor 
of  the  Times,  who  had  organized  and  drilled  a  company  of  boys, 
known  as  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Cadets. 

An  interesting  feature  of  the  day's  observance  was  a  Loan  Exhibi- 
tion, arranged  by  C.  H.  Eggert  and  a  corps  of  assistants,  in  three 
rooms  of  the  Parochial  school  building.  The  Moravian  Archives, 
the  Museum  of  the  Young  Men's  Missionary  Society  and  many  a 
home  in  the  three  Boroughs  contributed  articles  of  local  and  general 
historical  interest,  from  precious  manuscripts  and  pictures,  to  pieces 
of  earthen  and  wooden  ware  that  had  survived  from  the  olden  times 
of  Bethlehem.  The  collection  brought  out  of  hiding  many  a  quaint 
and  treasured  heirloom  and  many  a  curio  that  revealed  how  Beth- 
lehem abounds  in  "old  things"  that  are  interesting  and  that  have 
both  sentimental  and  market  value.  The  day  closed  with  a  grand 
illumination  which  was  participated  in  by  a  very  large  number  of 
citizens,  some  in  the  old-time  manner  by  placing  rows  of  candles 
in  the  windows,  others  in  the  most  modern  style  with  colored  lantern 
effects  and  artistic  use  of  electric  light.  Parts  of  the  old  cemetery, 
the  fronts  of  the  old  Church  Street  buildings  and  the  Moravian 
church  presented  a  beautiful  sight  produced  by  rows  of  many  hun- 
dreds of  Chinese  lanterns.  For  nearly  two  hours  after  night-fall,  a 
large  part  of  the  population  of  Bethlehem  were  on  the  streets  roaming 
hither  and  thither  without  the  slightest  disorder  or  disturbance,  and 
seemingly    without    fear    that    so    many    deserted    homes    might    be 


774  A    HISTORY   OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA, 

invaded  by  the  sneak-thief.  The  almost  entire  absence  of  drunken- 
ness or  riotous  conduct,  as  well  as  of  depredations,  throughout  the 
festival,  was  highly  creditable  to  the  town  and  a  testimony  to  the 
lofty  and  sacred  associations  awakened  by  the  occasion,  imbuing 
it  with  a  tone  somewhat  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  early 
days.  This  subdued  the  disposition  to  grosser  forms  of  demonstration 
and  offered  little  attraction  to  persons  whose  presence  is  always 
undesirable,  although  the  visitors  were  very  numerous. 

There  was,  therefore,  no  abrupt  transition  from  the  scenes  at  the 
end  of  that  day  to  the  festivities  which  followed  on  the  Lord's  Day  and 
brought  the  commemorative  celebration  to  a  close.  At  half  past  eight 
o'clock  on  Sunday  morning,  the  trombonists  once  more  ascended  the 
belfry  of  the  church  to  introduce  the  final  day  of  the  festival  with 
stately  chorales  of  suitable  character  and  associations.  The  customary 
services  of  the  Anniversary  Festival  furnished  the  skeleton  of  the 
day's  order,  with  elaboration  of  details  for  this  distinguished  occasion, 
and  one  extraordinary  service  was  added.  Morning  Prayer  at  nine 
o'clock  was  in  charge  of  the  Rev.  Morris  W.  Leibert,  who  combined 
with  the  service  a  morning  discourse  on  "Bethlehem's  three  Jubilees," 
1792,  1842,  1892;  producing  from  the  records  many  interesting  details 
of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  and  of  the  centennial,  the  latter  remem- 
bered by  many  people  of  the  Congregation.  Several  other  ministers 
took  part  in  this  service,  and  the  large  company  of  children,  again 
filling  the  raised  seats  in  front,  sang  with  surprising  ease  another  of 
the  old  Bohemian  chorales  which  probably  no  one  present  remem- 
bered having  ever  heard  sung  in  Bethlehem.  It  was  also  one  of  the 
hymns  of  Bishop  John  Augusta,  the  translation  of  which  begins 
with  the  lines  "Praise  God  forever;  Boundless  is  His  favor" — hymn 
and  tune  of  a  character  to  rank  with  Luther's  immortal  hymn.  The 
interest  in  re-learning  fine  old  chorales,  long  forgotten  at  Bethlehem,, 
was  strongly  stimulated  by  the  services  of  this  notable  festival.  At 
the  next  service,  which  took  place  at  half  past  ten  o'clock,  the  mem- 
orial sermon  was  preached  by  the  Senior  Pastor ;  his  two  colleagues 
taking  part  in  the  service  and  Bishop  Rondthaler  offering  the  closing 
prayer.  At  this  service  further  greetings  from  the  General  Directing 
Board  of  the  Church  in  Europe,  from  that  of  the  English  branch  of 
the  Church  and  from  the  Moravian  Ministers'  Conference  of  New 
York,  were  communicated — also  the  courteous  response  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  to  the  invitation  officially  sent  him  by 
the  committee  in  charge.  Special  exercises  were  held  by  the  Central 
Sundav-school    in    the    afternoon,    with    brief    addresses    bv    several 


i877 1892.  775 

visiting  clergymen,  and  at  half  past  two  o'clock  the  love-feast  was 
held  in  the  church,  which  was  yet  more  densely  crowded  than  at  the 
preceding  service.  The  Rev.  W.  H.  Oerter  officiated  and  made  a 
short  opening  address.  In  addition  to  the  greetings  and  responses 
already  communicated,  those  offered  in  person  and  others  more 
briefly  and  informally  sent,  letters  from  some  other  persons  were 
read  at  this  service,  one  being  from  the  Rev.  Benjamin  LaTrobe, 
then  Moravian  Secretary  of  Missions  in  London.  Addresses  were 
made  at  the  love-feast  by  Bishop  Rondthaler,  who  brought  greetings 
in  the  name  of  North  Carolina  Moravians,  and  by  the  Rev.  W.  H. 
Rice,  of  New  York  City. 

The  special  service  that  was  introduced  took  place  at  five  o'clock. 
It  was  held  entirely  in  German,  but  its  character  awakened  so  much 
interest  that  fully  six  hundred  persons  attended.  Nothing  in  the 
course  of  the  festival  revived  such  pleasing  memories  of  former  days, 
when  similar  services  were  a  part  of  the  regular  order  at  Bethlehem. 
It  consisted  principally  of  one  of  the  old  services  from  the  German 
"liturgy  book,"  treating  of  the  departed  ones  and  the  fellowship  with 
the  Church  Triumphant — chorales  and  responsive  recitative  sung 
throughout,  solo  leader,  choir  and  congregation  alternating,  with 
full  orchestral  accompaniment.  The  sentences  intended  to  be  sung, 
under  the  old  arrangement,  by  the  "Liturgus" — the  minister  leading 
the  service — were  taken  on  this  occasion  by  Robert  Rau  who,  in  his 
long  previous  connection  with  the  choir  as  leading  tenor,  had  often 
rendered  this  kind  of  service.  When  it  was  decided  to  introduce  this 
feature,  it  was  presumed  that  it  would  probably  be  the  last  time  that 
one  of  these  particular  services  of  the  olden  times,  thus  elaborately 
rendered,  would  be  heard  in  the  church.  This  "Liturgy"  was  preceded 
by  an  introductory  part  led  by  the  Rev.  Morris  W.  Leibert,  at  which 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Schultze,  President  of  the  Moravian  College  and  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  and  the  Rev.  George  F.  Bahnson,  Pastor  of  the 
Schoeneck  Church  near  Nazareth,  made  addresses.  At  eight  o'clock 
the  festival  closed  with  the  Holy  Communion.  The  three  pastors  of 
the  congregation  participated  in  the  service,  with  two  other  ministers 
helping  to  distribute  the  elements  to  a  very  large  number  of  communi- 
cants who,  at  the  conclusion  of  this  final  service,  pledged  the  hand  of 
fellowship  while  they  sang  the  olcl  covenant  hynm — renewing  the 
ideal  bonds  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  years : 

We  who  here  tog-ether  are  assembled, 

Joining  hearts  and  hands  in  one. 
Bind  ourselves  with  love  that's  undissembled, 

Christ  to  love  and  serve  alone  : 


776  A    HISTORY    OF    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Oh,  may  our  imperfect  songs  and  praises 
Be  well-pleasing  unto  Thee,  Lord  Jesus ; 
Say,  "  My  peace  I  leave  with  you." 
Amen,  Amen,  be  it  so. 

This  story  of  Bethlehem  is  finished.  The  years  which  followed  its 
hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  present  nothing,  as  yet  not  alluded 
to,  that  needs  to  be  introduced  in  these  final  pages.  The  century 
has  come  to  an  end  since  that  great  festival  and,  in  its  closing  year, 
there  were  notable  memorial  services  in  the  church  in  which  the 
members  of  the  original  religious  household  of  Bethlehem  have  wor- 
shiped since  the  opening  decade  of  the  century — services  which  once 
more  carried  the  mind  back  to  the  pioneers,  the  first  house,  the  first 
Christmas  and  the  naming  of  the  place.  Moravians  throughout  the 
world  remembered,  on  May  26,  1900,  that  on  that  day  two  hundred 
years  before,  Nicholas  Lewis  Count  of  Zinzendorf  was  born.  In 
appreciative  recognition  of  what  he  did  to  restore  the  ancient  pros- 
trate Church  of  the  Brethren,  to  found  its  modern  villages,  schools 
and  congregations,  in  the  Old  World  and  the  New,  and  to  start  it  on 
the  way  to  its  most  distinguished  modern  work — pioneer  evangeliza- 
tion in  heathen  lands — memorial  services  were  held  at  many  a  place 
and  these  things  were  spoken  about.  So  at  Bethlehem  the  Zinzen- 
dorf Bi-Centenary  called  up  again  the  memorable  scenes  of  December 
24,  1741,  and  June  25,  1742,  when  his  presence  graced  and  his  spirit 
ruled  the  two  most  notable  days  in  the  first  years  of  the  goodly  town. 

On  December  31,  1900,  not  only  Moravians,  but  large  numbers  of 
other  Christian  people,  gathered  in  one  and  another  sanctuary  at 
midnight,  or  kept  vigil  in  many  a  home,  to  do  homage,  at  the  going 
out  of  the  century,  to  Him,  before  Whom  Zinzendorf  and  his  brethren 
bowed  as  the  supremely  Adorable  One,  in  Whose  Name  the  founda- 
tions of  Bethlehem  were  laid  and  Who  is  "the  same  yesterday,  today 
and  forever."  Marvelous  are  the  changes  that  time  has  wrought  on 
the  historic  acres  which  became  the  first  Moravian  property  in 
America,  since  David  Nitschmann  felled  the  first  tree  on  the  hill  above 
the  spring,  in  the  conviction  that  here  was  the  best  place  yet  found 
at  which  to  build  the  town  and  that  here  it  would  arise.  The  essen- 
tial ideals  of  religion  and  brotherhood,  of  sanctified  learning,  conse- 
crated toil  and  highest  community  of  interests  that  gave  genius,  aim 
and  form  to  the  Christian  commonwealth  of  which  those  founders 
conceived,  are  as  unchanging  and  perpetual  as  the  existence  of  Him 
to  Whose  glory  they  built  the  House  of  Bread  by  the  springs  of  living 
water. 


GENERAL   INDEX. 


The  references  refer  to  page  numbers. 


Accounts,  System  of,  183. 

Administrator,  269  ;  J.  C.  A.  de  Schweinitz, 
431 ;  L.  D.  de  Schweinitz  settles  with 
Bethlehem,  684;    office  ceases,  689. 

Agapae,  66. 

Allemaengel  in  danger,  306. 

Allen  tract,  57,  61. 

Allentown,  408,  415. 

Alleys,  named,  715. 

American  Colonization  Society,  647. 

American  House,  see  Hotel. 

Anchor  Hotel,  see  Hotel. 

Antes,  Henry,  first  meets  with  Moravians,  32. 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  211 ;  ordained,  227; 
protests,  248,  249;  builds  Friedensthal 
mill,  250;  as  a  Moravian,  251 ;  leaves 
Bethlehem,  251  ;  death  of,  295. 

Apothecary  shop,  see  pharmacy. 

Arawacks  at  Bethlehem,  240. 

Archives  catalogued,  409. 

Archives  and  library,  701. 

Arks  on  the  Lehigh,  642. 

Arrivals   from   Europe,    1 783-1 800,    noted, 

569- 
Artist,  J.  J.  Mueller,   73,  145;    J.  V.  Haidt, 

278;  others,  709    710. 
Associators,  216,  217. 
Aufseher  Collegium  instituted,  421,  514,  550, 

666,  677,  681,  688. 
Augsburg  Confession  received,  27. 


Banks,  739. 

Baptism  of  Indian  converts  at  Oley,  104. 

Baptist  church,  698. 

Baron  de  Kalb  at  Bethlehem,  462,  468. 

Bartow  s  path,  737. 

Bechtel,  John,  ordained,  96. 

Bell-house,  191. 

Bells,  on  old  Seminary,  191  ;  transported 
from  Philadelphia,  463. 

Bethlehem,  lands,  first  purchase,  56,  57,  61 ; 
first  house  61,  62,  148;  named,  79;  con- 
gregation organized,  137,  138,  139,  140; 
center  of  Moravian  work,  148;  period  of 
extreme  exclusivism,  536;  fiftieth  anni- 
versary, 537;  officials,  end  of  eighteenth 
century,  540;  dominated  by  Administrator 
Cunow,   568,    595,    607,  610,    615,   636; 


characteristics  early  in  nineteenth  century, 
583-586 ;  controversy  about  real  estate, 
606-608;  changes  agitated,  609-618; 
anniversary  festival,  621  ;  clergy,  active  in 
neighborhood,  628;  first  house  demolished, 
633  ;  controversy  with  Cunow  acute,  636  ; 
L.  D.  de  Schweinitz  succeeds  him,  637 ; 
new  era  opens,  639;  financial  reaction, 
650;  complications  with  insolvent  house- 
owners,  650  ;  lease-system  becoming  im- 
practicable, 652 ;  de  Schweinitz  dies  when 
reconstruction  pending,  653;  official 
changes,  654;  P  H.  Goepp,  administrator, 
654  ;  gradual  change,  village  organization, 
665 ;  water  and  fire  departments,  666- 
668  ;  financial  depression  and  great  flood, 
671-673,  676;  centennial  of  the  town, 
673-675  ;  church-village  system  no  lon- 
ger possible,  678-679;  lease-system  abol- 
ished, 679 ;  Borough  incorporated,  6^o, 
681  ;  population,  6S2  ;  ground  rents  and 
sales,  683 ;  ecclesiastical  re-organization, 
and  incorporation,  684-687 ;  population, 
1847,  by  streets,  689 ;  census  1890  given, 
760;  sesqui-centennial  celebration,  766- 
775  ;  close  of  nineteenth  century,  776  ; 
artillerists,  740 ;  guard,  740 ;  Iron  Com- 
pany, 723,     26,  758. 

Bible,  Bohemian,  15. 

Bible  -Society,  Northampton  County,  626 ; 
Bethlehem  .'\uxiliary,  t)27,  700. 

Birth,  first  in  Bethlehem,   142. 

Bishop,  first  of  renewed  Church,  30. 

Bishopthorpe  School,  730. 

Bleck's  Academy,  659,  705. 

Boarding-school  at  Bethlehem,  149. 

Boards,  general  executive,  616. 

Book-store,  191. 

Book  bindery,  Oerter,  671. 

Braddock,  defeat,  297. 

Brass  foundry,  Lehman,  717. 

Brethren's  House,  located.  144  ;  built,  197, 
198,  199;  declines,  567,  594;  financial 
straits,  594,  595  ;  plans  to  meet  crisis, 
59S ;  plans  for  use  of  building,  599; 
establishment  closed,  <;99  ;  building  re- 
modeled and  occupied  by  boarding- 
school,  600. 

Brewery  becomes  paper-mill,  643. 

Bridge,  Monocacy,  202. 


779 


78o 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


Bridges,  Lehigh,  the  first,  545-546  ;  canal, 
644 ;  New  Street,  735 ;  Broad  Street, 
735  ;  Union  Street,  735  ;  Main  Street,  new 
one  proposed,  760;  tolls  cease.  Main  and 
Broad.  760. 

Brodhead's  Station,  738. 

Brotherly  Agreement,  24,  292,  511. 

Bruederpjleger,  last  at  Bethlehem,  603. 

Burgomasters,  665. 

Business,  varieties  opened,  634,  635. 

Butchering  stand,  Krause's,  671. 


Calendar,  O.  S.  and  N.  S.,  56,  57,  98. 

Calixtines,  9. 

Cammerhoff,  Bishop,  arrives,  185. 

Camp  Fetter,  742. 

Canal,  Lehigh,  constructed,  643 ;  followed 
by  speculation,  650. 

Capt.  John,  154,  155  ;  death  of,  I96. 

Catalpa  (Calypso)  Island,  632,  716;  boats 
and  ferries,  716. 

Catechism  issued  by  Bechtel,  96,  97. 

Catherine,  the  ship  and  its  fate,  108. 

Cavalry,  Doster,  Wetherill,  743,  744. 

Cemetery,  Bethlehem,  opened  in,  142,  204; 
South  side,  191,  389;  improved,  434;  on 
West  side  hill,  454,  456,  476,  479;  the 
"strangers'  row,"  477;  Nisky  Hill;  691; 
Fountain  Hill,  731. 

Census  of  Bethlehem,  378;  in  1771,  425. 

Centennial  of  Bethlehem,  675  ;  of  United 
States,  752;  cadets,  754;  Exposition 
opened,  753;  celebrated  at  Bethlehem, 754. 

Chastellux,  Marquis  de,  visits  Bethlehem, 
517  ;  his  account  of  Bethlehem,  518-521. 

Children's  Home,  South  Bethlehem,  756. 
Children's  services,  620,  621. 

Choirs,  origin  of,  197. 

Christiansbrunn,  190;  Brethren's  House 
closed  at,  540. 

Christmas  Eve  vigils,  77,  78,  157. 

Church,  second,  built,  255. 

Church,  the  third,  building  of  planned, 
569;  different  sites  dicussed,  570-572; 
need  of  large  church  argued,  572;  John 
Ettwein's  interest,  570-573;  combined 
water-tower  and  belfry  proposed,  573 ; 
financial  plans  and  estimates,  574;  site 
cleared,  574;  contracts  let,  573,  574; 
corner-stone  laid,  575 ;  master-workmen, 
576;  building  described,  576,  577  ;  later 
change  of  roof,  576;  organ  built,  578; 
total  cost,  578 ;  consecration  described, 
578-581  ;  later  alterations,  690-691. 

Church,  Christ  Reformed,  694. 

Churches,  surrounding  country,  563,  628. 

Churches,  South  Bethlehem,  Moravian,  731 ; 
Presbyterian,  732;  Episcopal,  732;  Ro- 
man Catholic,   733 ;   Lutheran,  733 ;   Re- 


formed, 733  ;  Methodist,  733  ;  Evangelical 
Association,  734;  Hebrew,  735. 

Cicerone,  140. 

Cicerones,  Bethlehem,  632. 

Citizen's  Hall,  706,  708,  746,  747. 

Civil  War,  beginning  of,  740;  first  Bethle- 
hem volunteers,  740  ;  home  guards,  741 ; 
divergent  sentiments,  741  ;  war-time  ad- 
vertisements, 742 ;  woolen  army  goods, 
743 ;  first  deaths,  Bethlehem  troops,  743  ; 
cavalry  companies,  743  ;  relief  association, 
744 ;  school  children  assist,  744 ;  notable 
gatherings,  745 ;  chaplain's  aid  society, 
746 ;  army  express,  747  ;  funerals  of  sol- 
diers, 747,  749,  751  ;  Union  League,  747  ; 
Gettysburg  battle  panic,  748 ;  Christian 
Commission,  749  ;  large  sums  of  money, 
bounty,  750;  Lincoln  Memorial  service, 
750 ;  close  of  the  war  celebrated,  750 ; 
decoration  of  graves,  751 ;  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic,  752. 

Clergy  house,  68. 

Coal,  anthracite,  discovery  of,  640 ;  first 
mining  company,  641 ;  Bethlehem  men 
take  shares,  641 ;  experimented  with  at 
Henry's  forge,  641. 

Collegii  elucidated,  263. 

Colony  of  Moravians  in  Georgia,  106;  at 
Heerendyk,  106;  to  Holstein,  106;  at 
St.  Croix,  106;  the  Henry  Jorde,  253. 

Columbus  Day,  four  hundredth  anniversary, 

765- 

Comenius,  John  Amos,  maintained  the  epis- 
copacy, 19;  as  educator,  19;  invited  by 
Harvard,  20;  his  hopes  fulfilled,  20; 
death  of,  20 ;  three  hundredth  anniver- 
sary, 765. 

Community  House  at  Bethlehem,  68 ;  en- 
larged, 144. 

Conference  of  Religions  called,  97. 

Congregation  Festival  changed,  621. 

Congress,  Continental,  convened,  446 ;  mem- 
bers of  take  refuge  in  Bethlehem,  465  ; 
delegates  issue  order  of  safe-guard,  467. 

Congressmen  at  Bethlehem,  diary  of,  470. 

Continental  Hotel,  see  Hotel. 

Council,  Congregation,  550,  615,  619. 

Counter-Reformation,  17. 

Craig's  Settlement,  46. 

Credit  System,  Bethlehem,  609. 

Crown  Inn,  see  Hotel. 

Culture,  in  community,  708. 

Customs,  antiquated,  di.stasteful,  583. 


Dansbury,  massacre  at.  327. 

Deaths,  1785  to  1805,  noted,  568. 

Debts, diaconies  and  church  building,6o7,6o9. 

Decoration  Day,  751. 

Delawares,  alleged  conveyance,  48,  49. 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


781 


Diacony,  General,  organized,  380;  estab- 
lished, 385. 

Diaconies,  special,  380. 

Diary,  George  Neisser's,  71  ;  Neisser  begins, 
^33>  134.  135-  140;  Bethlehem,  kept  by 
Immanuel  Nitschmann,  512;  Jacob  Van 
Vleck,  512;  period  of  little  interest,  513. 

Drylands  Church,  563. 

Dutch  settlements  on  the  Delaware,  23. 

Dutch  W.  I.  Company  invites  colonists  for 
America,  20. 

Dye  houses,  253. 


Eagle  Hotel,  see  Hotel. 

Easton,  laid  out,  264,  266;  lots  purchased, 
267  ;  Indian  Council,  343,  347  ;  second 
Indian  Council,  351 ;  third  Indian  Coun- 
cil. 355  ;  Indian  treaty,  388. 

Economy,  178,  293 ;  General,  179,  180,  181  ; 
house  buih,  28  ?  ;  House,  changes  in, 
382  ;  General,  abrogation  of,  365,  378-382. 

Eighteenth  century,  close  of,  567. 

Elder,  General,  177. 

Eldership,  223,  224,  226. 

Elders'  Conference  defined,  420 ;  Provincial, 
(Provincial  Board)  677,  679,  684,  685 ; 
Unity,  677  ;   village,  677. 

Electric  light,  759. 

Electric  cars,  760. 

Emmaus,  156. 

England,  first  steps  in  Moravian  establish- 
ment, 26. 

English  preaching,  150. 

Ephrata  Community,  Lancaster  Co.,  80. 

Ephrata  House,  Nazareth,  427. 

Ettwein,  John,  arrives,  278. 

Evangelical  Association  church,  Bethlehem, 
696. 

Evangelistic  plans,  156. 

Exclusive  System,  extreme  stage  of,  538; 
effects  of  paternalism,  539 ;  decadence, 
583  ;  people  dissatisfied,  585;  strong  move- 
ment to  shatter  system,  590-592;  transi- 
tion period  opens,  639  ;  complication  with 
house  owners,  650 ;  financial  conditions 
hasten  dissolution,  678,  079;  lease  system 
abolished,  679 ;  Borough  incorporated, 
680,  6S1 ;  church  re-organized  and  incor- 
porated. 684-687. 

Executive  Authorities,  re-organization  of 
desired,  616. 

Expenditures,  reckless,  270. 


Farm,  Bethlehem,  end  of,  629 ;  south  side, 

sold,  718. 
Farms,  laid  out,  162,  163,  413. 
Ferry,  161. 
Ferry,  rope,  359. 


Ferry,  abandoned,  546. 

Fetter  House,  see  Hotel. 

Financial  Crisis,  270.274;    1836-44,  671- 

677. 
Fire-engine,  first  brought,  400. 
Fire-engines,  names  and  quarters,  667,  668, 

714,  756,  760. 
First  house,  Bethlehem,  demolished,  633. 
Fishers,  the,  130. 
Fontainebleau,  719,  730. 
Foot- washing,  169. 
Forks  of  the  Delaware,  bounds,  45. 
Fort  Charles  Augustus,  742. 
Forts,  frontier,  built,  325,  327  ;  evacuated, 

370. 
Foundries,  iron,  634,  669,  723. 
Fourth  of  July,  1826,  celebrated,  646. 
Freshet,  202;    1 841,  described,  672  ;    those 

of  1862  and  1869,  736,  737. 
Friedenshuetten  at  Bethlehem,  192  ;  Indians, 

670. 
Friedensville,  zinc  mines  and  great  engine, 

721. 
Fries,  insurrection,  564. 
Funeral  first  in  Bethlehem,  142. 


Garrison,  engaged  by  Zinzendorf,  159;  Cap- 
tain, 166;  Captain,  to  Bethlehem,  237. 

Gas  works,  Bethlehem  and  South  Bethle- 
hem, 714,  761. 

Gemeintag,  67. 

Gemein  Haus  at  Bethlehem,  68. 

Gemeinrath,  550,  615,  619,  665. 

Georgia,  first  Moravian  colony,  34;  grant 
of  land,  33.  35  ;  John  Wesley  in,  35  ;  first 
Indian    School,    37 ;    Spanish    hostilities, 

38,  40;    Moravian    colony    breaking    up, 

39,  40;     Second    Moravian    colony,    35  ; 
Moravians  to  Pennsylvania,  4I. 

Gerard,  Chevalier,  at  Bethlehem ;  visit  an- 
nounced by  Henry  Laurens,  489. 

Gnadenhoeh,  426. 

Gnadenhuetten,  Mahoning,  193 ;  begun, 
193;  Indian  visitors,  238;  massacre,  310- 
318;  destroyed,  332;  new,  243;  Ohio, 
massacre  of  Moravian  Indians,  523. 

G^iadenstadt^  426. 

Gnadeuthal,  commenced,  190;  sold  for 
poor-house,  668. 

Goepp's  financial  measures,  668. 

Grace  Church,  Lutheran,  694. 

Grand  Army  Post,  752. 

Greenland,  mission  begun,  29,  N.  J.,  236; 
converts  at  Bethlehem,  233. 

Greenlanders,  at  Bethlehem,  240. 

H 

Half-way  house,  738. 

Harvard  College  invites  Comenius,  20. 


782 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


Harvest,  first  in  Bethlehem,  145. 

Nausgdtneine,  1 29,    l7^. 

Heckewelder,  John,  arrives,  278;  enters 
mission  service,  387. 

Helpers'  Conference  Provincial,  (see  Pro- 
vincial Elders  Conference). 

Helpers'  General  Conference  of,  616,  619. 

Herrnhut,  beginning  of,  22 ;  relation  to  Ber- 
thelsdorf,  24. 

Hirten  Lieder  von  Bethlehem   97. 

Historic  establishments,  670,  671. 

Hoeth's,  massacre  at,  327. 

Holland,  a  refuge  for  persecuted  religion- 
ists, 2. 

Home  Mission  Society,  Bethlehem,  649. 

Hope,  ship  launched.  375. 

Hope,  N.  J.,  236,  543;  established,  416; 
settlement  abandoned.  586;  property 
sold,  587  ;  Ettwein  resides  at,  511. 

Horsfield,  Timothy,  Sr.,  to  Bethlehem,  237  ; 
builds  house,  257  ;  death,  432. 

Hospital,  military,  moved  to  Bethlehem,  451 ; 
interments  on  west  side  hill,  454 ;  Chap- 
lain, Ettwein,  454;  second  time  at  Beth- 
lehem, 464 ;  overcrowded,  474 ;  fever 
spreads  into  the  town,  476 ;  deaths,  few 
on  record,  477,  479  ;  final  removal,  482 
expenses  claimed  by  Bethlehem,  482,  730, 

Hotel,  the   Crown,  190,  359,  360 ;    closed 
546;   sold  and  demolished,  722;  for  In 
dians,     192;     Indian,    258;      the    Sun 
360,    408 ;     Gov.    John     Penn,    at,    433 
crowded  with  military,  455  ;  high  stand 
ard  of,  494;    prominent  guests,  515,  544 
insurrectionists  in  custody  at,  5(34  ;  fictions 
about    dungeons,    565 ;     remodeled,   630 
habitues,  631.  632  ;  sold  and  refitted.  71S 
Eagle,  547,  633,  634,   670;  modern  im 
provements,    715  ;     Anchor,    645,    715 
Fetter  House,  645,  715;  Keystone  House, 
715  ;  Pennsylvania  House,  715  ;  American 
House,  716;  Union  House,  716;    Conti- 
nental, 722. 

Hourly  intercession,  141. 

House  leases,  church-villages,  611. 

Hunter's  Settlement,  46. 

Hydropathic  Institute,  719. 

Hymnal,  Bohemian,  15. 

I 

Indian  Mission  in  Georgia,  29 ;  languages, 
students  of,  70;  Mission  work  planned, 
133;  baptism,  first  in  Bethlehem,  143; 
Missions  planned,  155  ;  languages  studied, 
165;  Mission  in  New  York,  184;  houses 
at  Bethlehem,  192;  Missions  extended, 
237 ;  Missions  in  New  York  and  Con- 
necticut abandoned,  239  ;  names  for  mis- 
sionaries, 242 ;  Renatus,  trial,  401  ; 
Renatus,  killed,  496 ;  converts  to  Wyom- 


ing Valley,  406;  converts  to  Ohio,  407; 
Indians  at  Bethlehem,  152;  from  Sheko- 
meko,  177  ;  last  notable  visit  of,  561,  562  ; 
Friedenshuetten,  (70. 

Independence,  Declaration  of,  446. 

Indestructible  Lancers,  742. 

Industries,  reviewed,  388,  389,  390 ;  more 
liberty  in,  sought,  614  ;  varieties  of,  634, 
635  ;  established  at  canal,  645  ;  sale  of 
concerns  to  individuals,  669. 

Irene,  ship  built,  200,  20I  ;  launched,  288; 
wrecked,  363. 

Irish  Settlement,  46,  150;  refugees  in  Beth- 
lehem, 308. 

Iron  foundry,  the  first,  634 ;  Beckel's,  669, 
723,  735  ;  Abbott  and  Cortright's,  723. 

Iron  furnaces  at  canal,  projected,  723. 

Iron  works.  South  Bethlehem,  723,  758. 


Jefferson  School-house,  762. 

John  Wasamapah  (Tschoop),    113;     death 

of,  193- 
Jones,  Paul,  at  Bethlehem,  521  ;  as  volunteer 

police  officer,  522. 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  139. 

K 

Keystone  House,  see  Hotel. 
Kinderhaus,  old  and  new,  702. 
Kirchentag,  Maehrischer,  621. 
Kobatch,  Col.,  (^Kowats,)  at  Bethlehem,  486. 


La  Fayette  at  Bethlehem.  465. 

Land,  Bethlehem,  proposed  sale  of,  606 ; 
relation,  Bethlehem  Boards,  Proprietor, 
Administrator,  Unity's  Wardens.  606, 
607  ;  opposition  of  Administrator  Cunow, 
607  ;  his  methods,  608  ;  crisis,  637  ;  he  is 
retired,  637 ;  is  succeeded  by  L.  D.  de 
Schweinitz,  637  ;  new  Administrator  ends 
controversy  638  ;  new  agreements  signed, 
638;  large  sales  by  P.  H.  Goepp,  685, 
718. 

Lapland,  Mission  attempted,  29. 

Laurel  Street  Chapel,  763. 

Laurens,  Henry,  at  Bethlehem,  465. 

Law,  right  of  resort  to,  claimed,  612. 

Lease  system,  abolition  of  desired,  6ll  ; 
effected,  679. 

Lehigh  Coal  Company,  641. 

Lehigh  Navigation  Company,  642 ;  com- 
bined with  Coal  Company,  642. 

Lehigh  University  founded.  728. 

Library,  Congregation  and  archives,  661. 

Library  Association,  Bethlehem,  701. 

Limitation  clause,  house  leases,  6ll. 

Lissa  folios  found,  12. 

Lissa,  burnt,  18. 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


7^5 


I^ittle  Strength,  i66;  captured  by  privateer, 

.174- 
Liquidation  Committee,  Moravian  property, 

686,  687. 
Log  houses,  present  church  site,  demolished, 

574- 
London,   first   Sea-Congregation   organized, 

107. 
Losung,  69. 
Lot,  use  of  the,  102,  103  ;    objected  to,  590, 

591,  611. 
Lovefeasts,  183  ;  explained,  66. 
Lutheran  Church,  Bethlehem,  beginning  of, 

692-694. 

M 

Maguntsche,  1 56. 

Mail  stage,  544,  630,  722,  730. 

Market  house  opened,  759. 

Marriage,  first  in  Bethlehem,  142. 

Marschall,  F.  W.  von,  and  party  receive 
passports,  507. 

May  twelfth,  significance  of,  621. 

Meniolagomeka,  Mission,  244. 

Mennonite  Church,  699. 

Methodist,  Thomas  Webb  at  Bethlehem,  458. 

Methodists,  first  movements,  3  ;  beginning 
of  Methodist  Church,  695,  696. 

Militia  service,  440  ;  inhibition  of  resisted, 
612. 

Mill,  grist,  built,  161 ;  rebuilt,  256;  leased, 
635;  sold  to  C.  A.  Luckenbach,  652; 
burnt  and  rebuilt,  737;  saw,  173,  192; 
at  Gnadenhuetten,  195,  196  ;  Christians- 
brunn,  195,  196;  Friedensthal,  built,  250; 
oil,  192;  burnt,  400 ;  rebuilt,  410 ;  at 
Bethlehem,  enlarged,  253  ;  fulling,  built, 
253 ;  started,  256,  635,  669 ;  road  de- 
clared public,  636 ;  Owen  Rice,  up  the 
Monocacy.  643  ;  buckwheat  667  ;  woolen, 
Doster's,  669,  742. 

Mills,  woolen,  Monocacy  and  Moravian, 
669,  742. 

Mission  work,  plans  for,  104 ;  Indian,  in 
Ohio,  387. 

Missionaries  suspected  as  Papists,  174,  175, 
176;  imprisoned  in  New  York,  177  ;  at 
Wyoming  in  danger.  305. 

Missionary  Society,  Women's,  625  ;  Young 
Men's,  648. 

Monopolies,  relaxation  of  desired,  613. 

Moravian  Congregation,  settlement  with 
Administration  and  Sustentation,  684- 
686  ;  legal  incorporation,  687  ;  first  offi- 
cers under  charter,  687  ;  last  officers  under 
old  system,  688 ;  pastoral  changes,  689. 

Moravian  Church,  titles  of,  7  ;  sketch  of,  7, 
8,  9;  Episcopate,  8,  il  ;  Churchmen,  the 
five,  22,  28,  30. 

Musgrave  Chapel,  Presbyterian,  698. 


Music,  organ,  171 ;  spinet,  171  ;  trombones, 
331 ;  organ-builder,  Klemm,  363;  Tanne- 
berger,  364;  organ  by  Tanneberger,  45 1  ; 
musicians  serve  country  churches,  563, 
62* ;  Singsttinden  and  Liturgien,  581  ; 
devotion  to  music,  584;  first  rendition  of 
"  The  Creation,"  584  ;  Philharmonic  So- 
ciety, 661 ;  uses  Old  Chapel,  661 ;  musi- 
cal developments  reviewed,  662 ;  the 
IVasserfarth,  662  ;  notable  musical  per- 
formances, 662  ;  W.  T.  Roepper  as  musi- 
cal director,  662 ;  Jedediah  Weiss,  basso, 

662  ;  "band  music,"  663;  trombone  choir, 
663;  first  ''band,"  David  Moritz  Michael, 

663  ;  Columbia  Band  and  Beckel's  Band, 
664 ;  Ambrose  H.  Rauch,  musical  patri- 
arch, 664;  Philharmonic  Society,  decline 
and  revival,  708,  763 ;  Theodore  F.  Wolle 
and  William  K.  Graber,  708,  709;  Choral 
Union,  Liede>-kranz,  Concordia  Glee  Club, 
Cornet  Band,  Fairview  Band,  764  ;  Ora- 
torios directed  by  J.  Fred.  Wolle,  764; 
The  Oratorio  Society,  764;  Bach  Choir 
and  Festival,  764. 

Musicum^  Collegiuftt,  organized,  172,  205. 

N 

Nain.  planned,  353 ;  Indians  threatened, 
393  ;  abandoned,  402 ;  houses  removed  to 
Bethlehem,  407. 

Nativity  of  our  Lord,  Church  of,  697. 

Naturalization  Act,  214,  215,  216. 

Nazareth  tract.  The  Rose,  purchased  by 
Whitefield,  44 ;  Moravian  mechanics, 
44,  51  ;  Court  Baron,  147;  Congregation 
organized,  147,  170;  places  consolidated, 
378. 

Nazareth  Hall  planned,  280 ;  finished,  282 ; 
dedicated,  348  ;  boys'  school,  366 ;  plans 
elaborated,  404. 

Neisser,  George,  School-house,  762. 

New-Born,  the,  80. 

New  Haven,  Conn.,  Sea-Congregation  lands, 
III. 

New  London,  Conn.,  Sea  -  Congregation 
lands,  no. 

New  Mooners,  80. 

Newspapers,  711-714. 

Nineteenth  Century,  close  of,  776. 

Nisky  Hill  Bridge  Company,  760 ;  Ceme- 
tery, 691  ;   Seminary,  705,  723,  762. 

Nitschmann,  John,  regime^  246;  recalled, 
261 ;  David,  Sr.,  death  of,  365  ;  Bishop 
David,  death  of,  432. 

Noah's  Ark,  670. 

Non-combatants,  Moravians  as,  38,  336,  337, 
434  ;  Franklin's  letter  on,  437. 

Northampton  County  erected,  266. 

Northampton  town,  408. 

Nursery,  231. 


784 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


Oath,  taking  of,  216,  217. 

Odd  Fellows'  Hall,  695. 

Official  changes,  1834-1835,  reviewed,  675- 
676. 

Old  Chapel,  inconvenient  entrance,  572 ; 
former  interior  of,  572 ;  becomes  library 
and  concert  hall,  661  ;  renovated  for  wor- 
ship, 691  ;  organ  in,  691. 

Old  Man's  place,  209. 

Old  South  Bethlehem,  645. 

Onondago,  Zeisberger  visits,  245,  304 ;  Cam- 
merhoff  visits,  245. 

Oppeltsville,  719. 

Ordination,  first  Moravian  in  America,  36 ; 
first  in  Bethlehem,  143. 

Organization,  interlinked,  objected  to,  615. 

Overseers,  Board  of,  instituted,  421. 

Oxford,  Peter  Boehler  at,  39. 


Palmetto  rattlesnake  ticket,  742. 

Paper  mill  at  canal,  643 ;  its  later  uses,  644. 

Park,  Main   and   Church   Streets   proposed, 

571. 
Parliament,    English,    and    the    Moravians, 

27,    28 ;     recognizes    Moravian    Church, 

218-222. 
Parsons,  William,  sketch  of,  265. 
Paternalism,  "Pappy  Schaaf,"  620. 
Patriotic  demonstrations,  646,  750,  752,  753. 
Paxton  rangers,  403. 
Penn,  John,  poem  on  Bethlehem,  552. 
Penn  School- house,  762. 
Pennsylvania  experiment,  Penn's,  i,  2,  4. 
Pennsylvania  House,  see  Hotel. 
Pennsylvania  Synods,  98,  99,  100,  102. 
Pharmacy,  140,  203 ;    built,  256 ;     apothe- 
cary shop,  543;    Otto,  Freitag,  Rau,  671. 
Philadelphia  Koad,  545. 
Physician,  Meyer,  146,  150;  J.  F.  and  J.  M. 

Otto,  167,  171,  253;   J.  M.  Schmidt,  279, 

355;  others,  543.  544,  746,  747. 
Piano  factory,  Malthaner,  716. 
Pilgergemeine,  1 29. 
Political  excitement,  563-565. 
Polyglot  singing,  204,  205. 
Population,    1876,    1890,    the    Bethlehems, 

761. 
Portraits. 

Abbott,  Merit,  726. 

Anders,  Rosina,  190. 

Beckel,  C.  F.,  686. 

Benade,  Andrew,  580. 

Bigler,  David,  728. 

Bishop,  Chas.  D.,  666,  686. 

Bishop,  D.  H.,  700. 

Bishop,  J.  D.,  580. 

Bleck,  E.  F.,  662. 

Boehler,  P.,  38. 


Boehler,  Elizabeth,  190. 
Borhek,  J.  T.,  726. 
Brickenstein,  J.  C,  598. 
Brunner,  S.,  720. 
Cammerhoff,  J.  C.  F.,  184. 
Cortright,  Ira,  726. 
Day,  M.  A.,  694. 
Desh,  D.,  720. 
Dodson,  VV.,  764. 
Doster,  J.  L..  714. 
Eggert,  B  ,  714. 
Ettwein,  J.,  504. 
Fickardt,  F.  A.,  746. 
Freytag,  J.  E.,  746. 
Frueauff,  E.  A.,  674. 
Garrison,  N.,  266. 
Goepp,  P.  H.,  674. 
Goundie,  J.  S.,  686. 
Grube,  B.  A.,  266. 
Guetter,  H.  G.,  686. 
Haidt,  J.  v.,  266. 
Heckewelder,  J.,  522. 
Herman,  J.  G.,  674. 
Horsfield,  T.,  266. 
Huebener,  A.  L.,  746. 
Jacobson,  J.  C,  728. 
Jones,  M.  C,  700. 
Kampmann,  L.  F.,  674. 
Lawatsch,  A.  Mar.,  190. 
Krause,  Matth.,  674. 
Lehman,  B.  E.,  764. 
Lehman,  E.  L.,  662, 
Leibert,  Jas.  G.,  714. 
Leibert,  William,  764. 
Leinbach,  A.  N.,  746. 
Lerch,  John,  720. 
Loos,  L  K.,  694. 
Loskiel,  G.  H.,  580. 
Luckenbach,  Abr.,  522. 
Luckenbach,  C.  Aug.,  714. 
Luckenbach,  J.  Chr.,  680. 
Luckenbach,  H.  B.,  714. 
Luckenbach,  Jacob,  720. 
Luckenbach,  O.  A.,  764. 
Mack,  Anna,  190. 
Mack,  J.  M.,  522. 
Martin,  F.  A.,  746. 
Neisser,  Geo.,  184. 
Nitschmann,  Anna,   190. 
Nitschmann,  D.,  Sr.,  64. 
Nitschmann,  D.,  Episc,  30. 
Nitschmann,  John,  184. 
Oerter,  Jos.,  2  6. 
Pyrlaeus,  J.  C,  184. 
Ranch,  C.  W.,  700. 
Rath,  J.  B.,  700. 
Reichel,  C.  G.,   580. 
Reichel,  Wm.  C,  694. 
Rice.  Jacob,  680. 
Rice,  Jas.  A.,  720. 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


785 


Rice,  Owen  I,  522. 

Rice,  Owen  II,  680. 

Roepper,  W.  Th.,  662. 

Rondthaler,  A.,  694. 

Schropp,  John,  598. 

Shultz,  H.  A.,  728. 

Schweinitz,  de,  E.  A.,  752. 

Schweinitz  de,  L.  D.,  598. 

Schweinitz,  de,  R.  W.,  764. 

Seidel,  Anna  ].,  190. 

Seidel,  C.  F.,"728. 

Seidel,  Nath.,  184. 

Spangenberg,  A.  G.,  178. 

Spangenberg,  Mary  E.,  190. 

Stadiger,  J.  F.,  598. 

Till,  J.  C,  662. 

Van  Vleck,  Jacob,  580. 

Van  Vleck,  W.  H.,  598. 

Washington,  George^  518. 

Weiss,  Jed.,  662. 

Welden,  C.  F.,  694. 

Wetherill,  S.,  726. 

Wilhelm,  B.,  726. 

Wolle,  Aug.,  700. 

Wolle,  Francis,  732. 

Wolle,  Jacob,  680. 

Wolle,  Sylvester,  728. 

Wolle,  Theo.  F.,  686. 

Zeisberger,  D.,  522. 

Zinzendorf,  N.  L.,  20. 
Post,  Frederick,  his  services,  361,  362. 
Postillion,  140. 
Postmasters,  140,  543,  739. 
Fost-office,  739,  761. 
Post  roads,  545. 
Potter,  first  in  Bethlehem,  145. 
Prague,  ''the  day  of  blood,"  17. 
Preparatory  School,  Lehigh  University,  762. 
Presbyterian  Church,  Bethlehem,  beginning 

of,  698. 
Presidents  Adams  and   Jefferson   die,    sud- 
denly, 646. 
Printer,  Brandmiller,  413  ;    others,  710-714. 
Printing,  by  J.  Henry  Miller,  74,  95  ;  Brand- 
miller's  text  book.  120. 
Proprietor,  D.  Nitschmann,  269;  N.  .Seidel, 

379 ;    church    estates,    final     settlements, 

684  ;  ofiice  ceases,  689. 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,    first  services, 

697. 
Provincial  Board  (Provincial   Helpers'  Con- 
ference— General    Helpers'   Conference  — 

Provincial  Elders'  Conference),  616,  619, 

677,  679    684,  685  ;  legally  incorporated, 

687. 
Publication  Office,  Moravian,  712, 
Publications,  Bethlehem,  711-714. 
Pulaski,  Count  Casimir,  at  Bethlehem,  485  ; 

his  banner,  487. 
Purysburg,  S.  C,  39. 

51 


Railroads,  Lehigh  Valley,  721  ;  North  Penn- 
sylvania, 722  ;  Lehigh  and  Susquehanna, 
737  :   Lehigh  and  Lackawanna,  738. 

Jia/w  Disciplinae,  1 3,  1 8,  25,  86. 

Redemptioners,  112,  151. 

Reformed  Church,  Bethlehem,  beginning  of, 
692-694;  of  Poland  absorbs  Moravian 
refugees,  19. 

Refugees,  329,  334,  342,  347,  398,  399  ;  495, 
first  from  Moravia  to  Berthelsdorf,  22 ; 
from  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  454, 
465. 

Renewed  Church,  birthday  of,  24. 

Revolution,  soldiers  pass  through,  441,  449, 

450,  453 ;  prisoners  are  quartered,  442, 
461,   462 ;    prices    of   commodities,  445, 

451,  460,  493;  prisoners  pass  through, 
448,  461  ;  militia  called,  448;  militia 
service  declined,  449,  472 ;  Generals 
Gates  and  Sullivan  at  Bethlehem,  455  ; 
military  stores  deposited,  457,  462,  468, 
470 ;  military  supplies  furnished,  458, 
468,  469,  474 ;  Moravians  harassed  by 
neighboring  squires  461,  472,  473,  496- 
502  ;  riotous  conduct  of  soldiers,  479  ; 
arbitrary  orders  of  petty  officers,  481  ;  end 
of  causes  rejoicing,  526. 

Riedesel,  General  and  Madam,  490-493. 
River  bank  changed  by  railroad,  721. 
Road,  public,  170  ;  Easton  to  Reading,  287  ; 

roller,  steam,   759 ;    to  mill  and  tannery, 

635  ;  to  Nazareth,  259. 
Roads,  public.  212,  213. 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  Bethlehem,  697. 
Rose,  the  inn,  257. 


Sabbath,  150,  152;  observance  of,  211  ; 
Association,  canal  boat  mission,  699. 

Sacristan,  139. 

Salem  Church  built  and  consecrated,  692- 
694. 

Sand  Island,  industrial  and  other  associa- 
tions, 669,  670. 

Saturday,  Sabbatarian  observance  of,  67,  77, 

132.  133- 

Saucon  Valley  Churches,  563. 

Saxon  Commission,  27. 

Sch7ieppel-Hanbe  discarded,  617,  618. 

Schoepf,  Dr.  J.  D.,  naturalist,  at  Bethlehem, 
524. 

School-master,  George  Neisser,  149. 

Schools  at  Bethlehem,  149,  166;  Frederick- 
town,  207;  closed,  251 ;  Germantown, 
104,  105,  149,  207;  Nazareth,  165; 
boarding,  for  girls,  231  ;  first  Indian,  in 
Georgia,  37 ;  in  Pennsylvania,  104 ;  for 
boys,  206,  231  ;  south  side,  208;  girls, 
205,  173;     work  in    Pennsylvania,    149; 


786 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


plans  enlarged  at  close  of  Revolu- 
tion, 528  ;  new  era  in,  533-535  ;  various 
transfers,  252,  253  ;  Seminary,  Girls, 
second  building,  548- 551  ;  school  moved 
into  Brethren's  House,  600 ;  use  made  of 
previous  building,  601  ;  condition  of  boys' 
school,  601  ;  teachers  of  boys,  602  ;  im- 
provements, School  Board,  604 ;  Cedar 
Street  school-house,  605  ;  Principals  Young 
Ladies'  Seminary,  605  ;  further  improve- 
ment, day-schools,  654,  655  ;  era  of  Public 
Schools,  656  ;  Bethlehem  school  district 
and  directors,  656 ;  school  tax,  657  ; 
public  and  parochial  schools  combined, 
657  ;  teachers,  658 ,  Bleck's  Academy, 
659;  sold  to  Van  Kirk,  660  ;  citizens  vote 
to  maintain  school  system,  660 ;  Parochial 
school  re-organized  separately,  661  ;  dis- 
trict school  retrogrades,  661  ;  day  school, 
girls,  re-organized,  702  ;  various  teachers 
Church  schools,  702,  703 ;  new  Parochial 
school  building,  703,  704  ;  old  building 
demolished,  704;  Ambrose  Rondthaler 
and  teachers,  704,  705  ;  Van  Kirk's  Nisky 
Hill  Seminary,  705  ;  Schwartz's  Academy, 
705 ;  public  schools  and  teachers,  706- 
708 ;  teachers'  association,  706 ;  Wall 
Street  school-house,  706;  P'ranklin  school- 
house,  707 ;  most  recent  improvements 
and  buildings,  761,  762;  Centennial,  re- 
organization. Young  Ladies'  Seminary, 
762. 

Schuessele's  painting,  Zeisberger,  Indians, 
701,  768. 

Schwenkfelder,  colony  to  Penna.,  31,  32  ; 
visited  by  Spangenberg,  37. 

Scripture  texts  or  watchword,  69. 

Sea-Congregation,  first,  announced,  105  ; 
fitted  out  in  London,  107  ;  arrives  at  New 
York,  III  ;  at  Bethlehem,  127;  second, 
166;  arrives  at  Bethlehem,  169,  third, 
2 1 8,  234. 

Seal  of  Unitas  Fratrum,  5,  6. 

Secret  Societies,  694. 

Seminary  for  Young  Ladies,  231  ;    the  old, 

Sendomir,  Consensus  of,  13. 

Sesqui-Centennial,  Bethlehem,  committees 
and  preparations,  766  ;  Christmas,  1 89 1, 
specially  observed,  767  ;  program  for  June 
24-26,  768 ;  medals,  768 ;  Bethlehem 
Times,  industrial  edition,  768;  decorations, 
768;  observance  by  schools,  771  ;  festal 
eve  service,  769;  memorial  tablets  and 
stones  unveiled  by  school  children,  771  ; 
civic  celebration,  parade,  oration,  773  ; 
loan  exhibition,  773 ;  illumination,  773; 
church  services,  Sunday,  774, 

Shad  fishing,  256,  429. 

Shamokin,  194. 


Shekomeko,  baptism  of  Indians,  154;  Chr. 
H.  Rauch  at,  59;  Bishop  Nitschmann  at, 

67- 
Sifting,  time  of,  186. 
Silk  culture,  290,  291. 
Silk  industry,  758;  Mortis  Multicaulis  c\z.z&, 

758;  cocoonery,  Neisser  house,  758  ;  silli 

mills,  758. 
Silver  smiths,  614. 
Simpson  tract,  purchased,  163. 
Sisters'    House  occupied,  199;    wing    built, 

256  ;    addition   to,    425  ;     eastern  section, 

431 ;   guarded,  455  ;     Longfellow's  poem, 

485- 

Six  Nations  vs.  Delawares,  48  ;  land  treaty, 
48  ;  treaty  with,  245. 

Skippack,  Associated  Brethren  of,  32 ; 
Wiegner  settles  in,  32. 

Small-pox,  epidemic,  193,  369,  370,  432, 
457  ;  inoculation,  432  ;  scourge,  755. 

Smithy,  254. 

Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel,  555,  558; 
communications  of,  with  public  men,  558; 
with  Washington,  559;  suffers  financially, 
677;  centennial  anniversary,  763;  Fur- 
therance of  the  Gospel,  70,  149. 

Sons  of  Temperance,  697. 

South  Bethlehem  beginnings,  718  ;  first  plots, 
Augusta,  Wetherill,  720 ;  called  Bethle- 
hem South,  726;  Borough  incorporated, 
726 ;  post-office,  726 ;  Gas  and  Water 
Company,  727 ;  fire  department,  727 ; 
public  schools  and  school  houses,  727- 
728;  population,  731,  761. 

South  Bethlehem  House,  715. 

South  Bethlehem,  Old,  645,  715. 

Spangenberg  consecrated  bishop,  177  ;  re- 
signs inspectorship,  226  ;  to  Philadelphia, 
230 ;  returns,  262;  final  leave,  385. 

Stage,  line  to  Philadelphia,  408. 

Steam  wagon,  coal  regions,  642. 

Steel  works.  South  Bethlehem,  725,  758. 

Stenton  massacre,  397. 

Store,  first  general,  257 ;  from  Oberlin  to 
Chr.  Heckewelder,  514;  new,  547;  Chr. 
Heckewelder  and  Owen  Rice,  547,  51.8; 
competition,  633  ;  building  converted  into 
hotel,  633. 

St.  Croix,  mission  begun,  29. 

St.  John's  Church,  Evangelical  Association, 
696. 

St.  Luke's  Hospital,  730. 

St.  Paul's  Church,  Reformed,  694. 

St.  Thomas,  mission  begun,  28 ;  Zinzendorf 
visits,  41. 

Streets  named,  636 ;  population  by,  689  ; 
additions,    715;    modern    improvements, 

759. 
Sullivan,  Gen.,  campaign  against  the  Indians, 

495- 


General  index. 


f^l 


Sunday,  observance  of,  131. 

Sunday-schools,  epoch  of,  622 ;  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, 623  ;  by  Moravians,  623 ;  first 
opened  at  Bethlehem,  624  ;  at  Old  South 
Bethlehem,  185 1,  and  at  West  Bethlehem, 
1856,  699. 

Sun  Inn,  see  Hotel. 

Supervising  Board,  externals,  Aufseher  Col- 

^  L'gitim,  139,  550,  666,  677,  68r,  688. 

Surinam,  mission  begun,  29. 

Sustentation  Diacony  established,  424 ;  en- 
dowed by  Bethlehem,  Nazareth,  Lititz, 
685,  689. 

Swedish  settlements  on  the  Delaware,  3. 

Synod,  first  Moravian,  226;  Synod,  1817,  and 
General  Synod,  1818,  changes  at  Bethle- 
hem, 609-619. 


Taborites,  9. 

Tannery,  sold  to  Joseph  and  James  Leibert, 
652 ;  to  William  Leibert  and  Adam 
Giering,  737. 

Tavern,  planned,  146. 

Tax  Board,  665. 

Taxes,  272. 

Teedyuscung  baptized,  244 ;  on  South  side, 
357  ;  death  of,  358. 

Temperance  Hall,  696,  697 

Test  Ac£  pressed  upon  Bethlehem,  459,  471, 
498. 

Text-book,  69. 

Theological  Seminary  founded  at  Nazareth, 
587  ;  first  professors  and  students,  587, 
588 ;  close  regime  resisted  by  Prof.  Haze- 
lius,  588 ;  controversy  with  authorities, 
589 ;  Nazareth  men  participate,  59°  i 
Cunow's  ill  advised  stringency,  590,  592  ; 
Hazelius  and  others  withdraw,  592  ;  insti- 
tution re-opened,  593  ;  its  different  quar- 
ters to  1858,  Nazareth,  Philadelphia,  Beth- 
lehem, 593 ;  on  Broad  Street,  660 ;  on 
Church  Street,  706 ;  in  new  buildings. 
Main  Street,  762  ;  Memorial  Chapel,  763. 

Timber  yard,  570. 

Tinsmith  shop,  Christian  Luckenbach,  670. 

Tory,  word  in  vogue,  434. 

Township,  Bethlehem,  erected,  213. 

Tract  Society,  699. 

Trinity  Church,  Episcopal,  698. 

Tropes,  23,  177,  227,  228. 

Trout  Hall,  408. 

U 

Ulster  Scots'  Settlement,  46. 

Union  Guards  and  Cadets,  742. 

Union  House,  716- 

Unitas  Fratrum,  Seal  of,  5,  6. 

Unity's  Elders'  Conference,  deputies  of,  in 
Pennsylvania,  581,  586. 

Utraquists,  9. 


V 

Village  government  in  transition,  665  ;  new 
plan  of  streets,  665  ;  village  functionaries, 
665  ;  town  meetings,  665  ;  forerunners  of 
town  council,  666. 

Vineyard  street  school  house,  Sunday-school 
in,  699,  757- 

Visitors,  156,  236,  275,  388,  408,  430, 
433  ;  B.  Franklin,  327  ;  Governor  Hamil- 
ton, 371  ;  Governor  of  Pennsylvania, 
266,  415  ;  Governor  of  South  Carolina, 
415;  Rev.  C.  Oldendorp,  415  ;  Governor 
of  New  Jersey,  416  ;  Hannah  Callender, 
371-374;  notable,  551  ;  Duke  de  la  Ro- 
chefoucauld (Liancourt),  552;  Portugese 
minister,  629  ;  Joseph  Bonaparte,  629 ; 
Duke  of  Saxe  Weimar,  629  ;  Prince  of 
Wied,  645  ;  to  Bethlehem,  62,  63,  489  ; 
prominent  men,  485  ;     of  note,  521. 


W 

Wachovia,  N.  C,  surveyed,  271. 

Walking  purchase,  49,  50. 

Wall  Street  school  house,  706,  762. 

War,  Civil,  see  Civil  War ;  English  and 
French,  174;  of  1812,  one  Moravian  in, 
612. 

Wardens'  Unity,  financial  relations  to,  594, 
597,  679,  685. 

Washington,  Bushrod,  mentioned,  505  ; 
GAi.  George,  visits  Bethlehem,  515-517  ; 
letter  from,  559;  death  of,  566;  Lady,  at 
Bethlehem,  495;  Wm.  Augustine,  at  Beth- 
lehem, 505. 

Washington  Greys,  740. 

Watchmakers,  634 ;  shop  of  Jedediah  Weiss, 

734- 
Water  cure,  Oppelt's,  719,  730. 
Water  supply,  202 ;    old  wooden  tower,  573; 

new  stone  tower.  Market  Street,  573>  667  ; 

water   tower   at    new    church    proposed, 

573 ;    iron    pipes    laid,    666 ;     reservoirs, 

Market  Street,  north  of  Broad  Street,  on 

Church  Street,  667  ;  new  pumps,  667,  761 ; 

South  Bethlehem,  761. 
Waterways  made  available,  428. 
Water-works,  288,  289,  290. 
Watteville,  John  de,   arrives,  226 ;    second 

visit  to  America,  528;  results  of,  530. 
Webb,  Thomas,  at  Bethlehem,  458. 
Wechquadnach,  Mission  at,  73- 
Wechquetank,  occupied,  368,  369  ;    Indians 

threatened,  393  ;  abandoned,  399. 
Wedding,  the  great,  166. 
Weinland  house,  butcher-shop  in,  671. 
Welagomeka,  village,   50 ;    Capt.  John,  59, 

64;   Zinzendorf  at,  I33,  I95. 
Wesley,  John,   in   Georgia,  35  ;    Methodist 

Church,  696. 


788 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


West  Bethlehem,  Borough  incorporated, 
fire  department,  756;  school  houses  and 
churches,    757  ;    Moravian    Chapel,  691, 

757- 
Wetteravia,  settlement  of,   106;  enthusiasts, 

187. 

Whitefield,  Geo.,  controversy  with,  41,  52,  54; 
house,  51,  53,  64  ;  negro  school  in  Penna., 
43;  work  resumed,  162;  finished,  170; 
visits  Nazareth,   206. 

White  Mountain,  battle  of,  i  7. 

Widows'  House  built,  410;  Society  insti- 
tuted, 411. 

Women's  Missionary  Society  founded,  625  ; 
publishes  Indian  literature,  626. 

Wyalusing,  Indians  at,  407. 

Wyoming,  massacre,  39S. 


Young  Ladies'  Seminary,  second  building, 
548-551  ;  moved  into  Brethren's  House, 
600 ;  proposed  removal  to  Nisky  Hill, 
723;  centennial  of  re-establishment,   762. 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  698, 
700,  708. 


Young  Men's  Missionary  Society,  648,  708. 
Young  Women's  Christian  Association,  702. 


Zinzendorf  arrives  in  America,  72  ;  at  Phila- 
delphia, 75  ;  Germantown,  75,  81  ;  eti- 
quette towards  Governor,  75  ;  with  Antes, 
76  ;  to  Bethlehem,  77  ;  Bi-Centenary,  776; 
at  Oley  and  Conestoga,  80 ;  broad  evan- 
gelistic plans  of,  81,  82,  83,  84,  85;  as 
Lutheran  divine,  88,  89,  90 ;  various  titles 
of,  89,  92;  as  Ordinarius,  91  ;  consecrated 
bishop,  91  ;  intention  of  renouncing  title, 
92,  93  ;  work  among  the  Lutherans  of 
Philadelphia,  94;  antagonized  by  Boehm, 
95  ;  preaches  in  Germantown,  96  ;  final 
Indian  tour,  152;  at  Tulpehocken,  152; 
in  Wyoming,  153  ;  leaves  Bethlehem,  158; 
Philadelphia,  158;  New  York,  159; 
death   of,    376 ;    estate,    settlement   with, 

423. 
Zeisberger,  Indians,  painting  by  Schuessele, 

701,  768. 
Zinc  Works,  720. 


INDEX  OF  PERSONS. 


The  references  refer  to  page  numbers. 


Abbott,  Robert  A.,  735,  747. 

Abraham  (the  Mohican),  104   300,  301,  306, 

317,  340,  357. 

Abigail  (Indian),  317. 

Acrelius,  Israel,  290. 

Adams,  John,  465,  467,  646,  647. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  565,  566,  647. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  Mrs.,  647. 

Adams,  Samuel,  465,  467,  485. 

Adolph,  Jacob,  273. 

Adolphus,  Gustavus,  3. 

Albrecht,  Anton,  163,  213,  286. 

Albrecht,  John  Andrew,  253,  347,  361,  366. 

Albright,  Charles,  749. 

Alleman,  Dorst,  413. 

Allen,  Andrew,  445. 

Allen,  Anna,  484. 

Allen,  Ebenezer,  522. 

Allen,  Ethan,  484. 

Allen,  Mary,  622,  625. 

Allen,  William,  44,  47,  52,  54,  61,  94,  163, 
333,  408. 

Allen,  William,  Jr.,  406,  408. 

Allison,  275. 

Aimers,  Anna  Rosina,  119. 

Aimers,  Henry,  119,  136,  152,  165,  168,  1S9. 

Aimers,  Rosina,  136. 

Anders,  Abraham,  550. 

Anders,  Anna  Rosina,  226,  404. 

Anders,  Gottlieb,  167,  317. 

Anders,  Johanna,  317. 

Anders,  Johanna  Christiana,  167,  317. 

Anders,  John  Daniel,  Bishop,  646,  654,  675. 

Anderson,  John,  715. 

Anderson,  Robert,  Major,  745. 

Andreas,  Abraham,  390,  655. 

Andrew  (the  negro),  122,  136,  140,  141,  i6o. 

Andrew  (the  negro,  No.  2),  1 23. 

Angel,  William,  413. 

Anspach,  Nicholas,  279. 

Antes,  Anna  Margaret,  160. 

Antes,  Benigna,  296. 

Antes,  Elizabeth,  563. 

Antes,  Frederick,  71. 

Antes,  Henry,  32,  37,  42,  44,  56,  61,  63,  64, 
65,  71,  75,  76,  77,  97,  98,  99,  loi,  115, 
116,  117,  121,  127,  139,  140,  155,  156, 
160,  162,  163,  170,  182,  189,  190,  195, 
198,    201,  202,  203,  206,  208,  211,  212, 


213,  227,  231,  237,  241,  245,  247,  248, 
249.  250,  251,  252,  253,  258,  259,  262, 
269,  271,  273,  274,  275,  295,  296,  298, 
367,  390,  563. 

Antes,  John,  404. 

Antes,  Mary,  404. 

Anthony  (the  negro),  287. 

Anton,  Paul,  184. 

Apty,  Thomas,  406. 

Arbo,  John,  377,  414,  43' • 

Ari  (a  mulatto  boy),  239. 

Armstrong,  Colonel,  348. 

Armstrong,  John,  457,  465. 

Armstrong,  Thomas,  266. 

Arndt,  Jacob,  355,  441,  501. 

Arndt,  Rosina,  235. 

Arnold,  455. 

Arnold,  Benedict,  472. 

Arnold,  Rosina,  Barbara,  235. 

Ashmead,  John,  98,  104. 

Aubrey,  Laetitia,  44. 

Augusta,  John,  Bishop,  774. 

Augustus  (the  Indian),  328,  340. 

Bach,  John  Sebastian,  764. 

Bach,  Lieutenant,  492. 

Bachman,  H.  T.,  Bishop,  770. 

Bachman,  John,  268. 

Bachmann,  Ernst,  Julius,  364. 

Bachmann,  John  Philip,  364. 

Backhof,  Ludwig  Gottlieb,  276. 

Bader,  Julia,  488. 

Bader,  Paul  Peter,  Rev.,  37. 

Bader,  Philip  Christian,  Rev.,  262,  291. 

Badger,  Captain,  260. 

Baehrmeyer,  Christoph  Henry,  276. 

Bagge,  Lawrence,  279. 

Bagge,  Susan,  534. 

Bahnson,  George  Frederick,  Rev.,  674,  675, 

676. 
Bahnson,  George  Frederick,  Jr.,  775. 
Bailey,  Joseph,  279. 
Baker,  William  T.,  516. 
Baldwin,  Cornelius,  Dr.,  451,  452. 
Ballenhorst,   Margaret,  235. 
Banister,  Elizabeth,  168. 
Barnes,  Mr.,  715. 
Bartlett,  Nathan,  741. 
Bartolet,  John,  32. 


789 


790 


INDEX   OF   PERSONS. 


Bartow,  Thomas,  462. 
Bast,  Amanda  A.,  707. 
Baumgarten,  George,  253. 
Baus,  Christopher,  32,  54,  205. 
Bayard,  John,  502,  514 
Bear,  W.  L.,  754. 

Bechler,  John  Christian,  588,  592,  593,  653. 
Bechtel,  Anna  Margaret,  568. 
Bechtel,  Dorothea,  273. 
Bechtel,  Maria  Dorothea,  377. 
Bechtel,  John,  32,   38,  70,   76,  81,  96,  97, 
102,  103,    104,   105,    122,   140,  207,  232, 

263,  273,  295,  377,  3^9,  523,  592. 
Bechtel,  Margaret,  70. 
Bechtel,  Susannah,  207. 
Beck,  Barbara,  41. 
Beck,  David,  41,  42. 
Beck,  Henry,  524. 
Beck,  Henry  Ferdinand,  4I,  42. 
Beck,  James  M.,  765. 
Beck,  John,  29,  603. 
Beck,  John  Martin,  542. 
Beck,  Jonathan,  41. 
Beck,  Maria  Christina,  41. 
]}eckel,  Barbara,  (Boeckel,)  465. 
Beckel,  Charles  Frederick,  634,  654,   660, 

661,  664,  669,  673,  687,  701,  726,  741. 
Beckel,  Charles  N.,  707,  708,  735. 
Beckel,  Elizabeth,  550. 
Beckel,  Liesel,  465. 
Beckel,  Lewis  F.,  726. 
Becker,  J.  C,  628,  693,  694. 
Becker,  Jost,  32. 
Beear,  Theodora,  658,  703. 
Beissel,  Conrad,  80,  249. 
Beitel,    Frederick,  460,  494,  544,  550,  576, 

590- 
Belling,  Augusta,  704. 
Belling,  Augustus,  701. 
Benade,    Andrew,    (Bishop)    541,  569,  574, 

580,   588,  589,  590,  592,  596,  597,  613, 

675,  685,  691. 
Benade,  Benedict,  569. 
Benade,  Lucia,  703,  704. 
Bender,  C.  T.,  757. 
Benezet,  Anthony,  338,  339,  356,  372. 
Benezet,  James,  160. 
Benezet,   John   Stephen,  37,  63,  70,  73,  75, 

140,  158,  179. 
Benezet,  Judith,  73,  115,  136. 
Benezet,  Mary,  115,  123,  136. 
Benezet,  Stephen,  160. 
Benezet,  Susan,  70,  115,  136. 
Benigna  Countess  (see  Zinzendorf ),  533. 
Benigna,  Sister,  242. 
Benjamin  (Indian),  317. 
Benner,  Lewis,  630. 
Benzel,  George,  32. 
Benzelius,  Archbishop,  227. 
Benzien,  Anna  Benigna,  278. 


Benzien,  Anna  Maria,  278. 

Benzien,  Christian  Lewis,  278,  587. 

Benzien,  Thomas,  278. 

Berg,  Joseph,  Rev.,  563. 

Berger,  John,  693. 

Bergmann,  Henry,  253. 

Berlin,  Abraham,  452. 

Bernard,  Duke  of  Saxe  Weimar,  629. 

Berndt,  Gottlieb,  234. 

Bernhardt,  Wenzel,  234. 

Beroth,  Maria  Elizabeth,  534. 

Bertolet,  Jean,  80. 

Berwig,  George,  29. 

Bethencourt,  Father,  de,  485. 

Beula  (alias  Magdalena),  123. 

Beyer,  Anna  Maria,  273,  282. 

Beyer,  Rosina,  235. 

Beyer,  Frederick,  276. 

Beyer,  Maria,  235. 

Biddle,  Clement,  473,  561. 

Biebinghausen,  George,  306. 

Biefel,  John  Henry,  167. 

Biefel,  Rosina,  167. 

Bieg,  Elizabeth,  235. 

Bigler,  David,  (Bishop)  675,  690,  700. 

Big-tree,  (Indian  Chief),  561,  562. 

Binder,  Catharine,  235. 

Bininger,     Abraham    (see    Bueninger),   42, 

587. 
Bininger,  Agnes,  704. 
Binns,  John,  711. 
Binny,  Horace,  651,  652. 
Birkby,  James,  559. 
Birnbaum,  Joachim,  234. 
Bischoff,  Anna  Catherine,  136. 
Bischoff,  Catherine  (Bishop),  119. 
Bischoff,  David,  492. 
Bischoff,  John  David  (Bishop),  119,  136. 
Bishop,  Catherine,  119. 
Bishop,  Charles  David,  604,  605,  634,  638, 

667,  687. 
Bishop,  David,  126,  137,  263,  296. 
Bishop,  Gilbert,  664,  667. 
Bishop,  John  David,  119,  136,  574. 
Bishop,  Jonathan,  665. 
Bishop,  S.  C.  P.,  626. 
Bitterlich,  John  George,  200. 
Bitters,  Sally,  728. 
Blank,  Cornelia,  704. 

Blech,  (Bleck),  Charies  Adolphus,  593,  675. 
Bleck,  Caroline,  702-703. 
Bleck,    Ernst    F.,    603,  660,  681,  686,  687, 

690   701,  709. 
Blum,   Anna,  488. 
Blum,  Franz,  164. 
Blum,  Jacob,  704. 
Blum,  Stephen,  316. 
Bodder,  Urias,  743. 
Bodmar,  John,  645. 
Boeckel,  Frederick  (Beckel),  413,  523. 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS. 


791 


Boeckel,  George  Frederick,  465. 

Boehler,  Anna  Catherine,  272. 

Boehler,  Elizabeth,  119. 

Boehler,  Francis,   119    253,272. 

Boehler,  Fredericka,  119. 

Boehler,  Lewis  Frederick,  119,  542. 

Boehler,  Peter,  36,  39,  40,  42,  43,  44,  51,  52, 
54  56,  57,  65,  79,  107,  108,  109,  no,  III, 
113,  114,  119,  127,  142,  159,  160,  162, 
169,  170,  174,  189,  269,  275,  276,  282, 
349,  351,  352,  355.  356,  366,  367,  374, 
377,  380,  404,  542,  695. 

Boehler,  William,  349,  433,  514,  550. 

Boehler,  William,  Jr.,  573,  574,  576. 

Boehm,  John  Philip,  95,  96,  102, 149,160,207. 

Boehmer,  Margaret,  167. 

Boehmer,  Martin,  167. 

Boehner,  John,  35,  39,  40,  41,  42,  43,  44, 
64,  65,  69,  136,  289,  415. 

Boehninghausen,  John  Bartholomew,  295. 

Boehnisch    Frederick,  29,  241. 

Boehnisch,  George,  32,  37. 

Boehnisch,  Matthias,  35,  42. 

Boehninger,  David,  208. 

Boehninger,  Gertrude,  167. 

Boehninger,  John  David,  167,  268. 

Boemper,  Abraham,  38,  208,  257,  261,  497, 
568. 

Boemper,  Christian,  368. 

Boenicke,  Von,  492. 

Boerstler,  Jacob,  390. 

Bohle,  Christian,  349. 

Bonaparte,  Joseph,  629. 

Bonn,  Anna  Maria,  114. 

Bonn,  Herman,  1 14. 

Bonn,  John,  32,  198,  482. 

Bonn,  John  Herman,  431,  444. 

Borheck,  John  Andrew   253,  550. 

Borhek,  Ashton  C,  763. 

Borhek,  James  T.,  655,  656,  686,  701,  704, 

714,  730,  739- 
Bossart,  Rev.  John  Jacob,  415. 
Bosse,  William,  32. 
Boudinot,  Elias,  626. 
Bourquin,  John  Frederick,  569,  576. 
Boutelle,  D.  C,  710. 
Boutelle,  Edward,  710. 
Bowman,  Samuel,  697. 
Boyd,  Copeland,  643. 
Bracket,    Josiah    (also    Bricket,     Brickets, 

Pracket),  235. 
Bradacius,  Michael,  11. 
Braddock,  General,  297. 
Bradford,  William,  74. 
Brainerd,  David,  237.  238. 
Brainerd,  John,  237,  341. 
Brandmiller,  Anna  Maria,  119. 
Brandmiller,  Anna  Mary,  167. 
Brandmiller.  John,    119,  136,  137,  139,  149, 

167,170,413,414,710, 


Brandner,  Anna  Maria,  125,  165. 

Brandt,  Mary  Ann,  400. 

Braun,  Elizabeth,  114,  136,  149. 

Braun,  Peter,  252. 

Breinig,  P.  B.,  747. 

Brendle,  D.  F.,  707,  708,  750. 

Bremberg,  Herr  von,  645. 

Brickenstein,  H   A.,  712. 

Brickenstein,   John    C.,    660,  676,  681,  686, 

688. 
Brink,  Peter,  287,  288. 
Brobst,  S.  K.,  694. 

Brockden,  Charles,  93,  123,  293   324. 
Brodhead,    Charles,    715,    720,    724,     726, 

738. 
Brodhead,  Daniel,  296,  310. 
Brodhead,  Richard,  724. 
Broksch,  Andrew,  168,  200. 
Broksch,  Anna  Elizabeth,  168. 
Broksch,  Elizabeth,  377. 
Brisbane,  W.  H.,  695. 
Brong,  Philip,  634. 
Brown,  Harry  E.,  710,  772. 
Brown,  Matthew,  542,  681,  688. 
Brown,  William,  464,  704. 
Brownfield,  John,   41,    42,    183,   247,   261, 

263. 
Brownson,  Nathan,  465,  467. 
Bruce,  David,  72,  73,  136,  147,  239. 
Brucker,  John,  119.  136,  159. 
Brucker,  Mary  Barbara,  119,  136. 
Brunnholtz,  Peter,  290. 
Bryan,  George,  486,  499. 
Bryant,  William,  72. 
Bryzelius,  Anna  Regina,  119. 
Bryzelius,  Paul  Daniel,   108,  no,  119,  127, 

142,  189,  278. 
Bryzelius,  Regina  Dorothea,  119. 
Bueninger,  Abraham  (Bininger),  41,  42,  114, 

136,  140,  492. 
Buerger,  115. 
Buettner,  Gottlob,  69,  72,  77,  104,  112,  143, 

170. 
Bugge,  Ole,  168. 
Bulitscheck,  Joseph,  279. 
Bull,  Joseph  John  (Shebosh),  143,  213,  24?, 

522. 
Burke,  Joseph,  626. 
Burkhardt,  John  Christian,  582. 
Burnet,  Elizabeth,  534. 
Burnet,  Silas,  473. 
Burnside,  James,  41,  42,  170,  267,  268,  296, 

323- 
Burnside,  Rebecca,  41. 
Burris,  E.  E.,  734. 
Bush,  William  II.,  739. 
Busse,  Andrew,  295,  4)4. 
Busse,  Elizabeth,  261. 
Busse,  Joachim,  261. 
Buttner,  Albert,  648. 


792 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS, 


Caffrey,  B.  F.,  701. 

Callender,  Hannah,  372. 

Calvin,  John,  13,  150. 

Cammerhoft,  Anna,  198. 

Cammerhoff,    John    Christopher    Frederick 

(Bishop),    185,    189,    191,   199,  201,  2^2, 

204,   228,   238,  242,  244,   245,  246,  247, 

249,  250,  251    260,  262. 
Campbell,  A.  A.,  707,  708,  728. 
Campbell,  J.  A.,  728. 
Carr,  William,  48 1. 
Carrick,  Elizabeth,  706. 
Carroll,  M.  W.,  706 
Chaffs,  James,  477. 
Chandlee,  Elma,  708. 
Chase,  Edith  L.,  730. 
Chastellux,  Marquis  Francais  Jean  de,  416, 

517-519,  520. 
Chew,  Benjamin,  380. 
Chidsey,  Charles  F.,  773. 
Chitty,  S.  C,  78. 
Christ  Anna  Mary,  167. 
Christ,  Augusta  E.,  701. 
Christ,  George,  167. 
Christ,  Matthew  (Crist),  630,  654,  658,  703, 

704. 
Christ,  Matthew  Mrs.,  654,  655,  658. 
Christiansen,  Hans  Christian,  261,  289,  761. 
Christiansen,  Martin,  201. 
Christman,  Rev.  Mr.,  697. 
Cist,  Charles,  568,  641,  642. 
Clark,  Abraham  B.,  704. 
Clauder,  Amos  Comenius,  712. 
Clauder,  Henry  T.,  712. 
Clay,   Henry,  647. 
Cleaver,  A.  N.,  739. 
Cleveland,  Lieutenant,  451. 
Clewell,  John  Christian,  413. 
Cline  Charles,  708,  728. 
Clinton,  Governor,  175. 
Coeln,  Nicholas,  279. 
Colkier,  Jens,  279. 
Cole,  Helen,  707. 
Cole,  Louisa  C,  707. 
Comenius,   John    Amos,    12,  19,  20,  25,  28, 

29,  31,  86,  765. 
Conrad,  Melchior,  279, 
Conway,  Thomas,  484. 
Cook,  John,  167,  168. 
Cooper,  C.  J.,  734. 
Coppee,  Henry,  729,  730,  766. 
Cornish,  Captain,  35. 
Cornplanter  (Indian  chief),  561,  562. 
Cortelyou,  Jacques,  38. 
Cortright,  Ira,  741,  747. 
Cossart,  Henry,  218. 
Cowan.  Frank,  362. 
Cox,  John  P.,  747. 
Craig,  Thomas,  46,  266,  296,  326. 
Craig,  William,  266. 


Cramer,  Adam,  279. 

Cranz,  David,  115. 

Cressman,  Edward,  708. 

Crist  (see  Christ). 

Croeger,  Ernest  William  (Bishop),  510. 

Cropper,  John,  481. 

Crosswaite,  Captain,  185. 

Cruickshank,  James,  549,  568,  574. 

Cruickshank,  Widow,  458. 

Cunow,  John  Gebhnrd,  541,  543,  568,  569, 
573,  574,  575.  576,  578  588,  589  590, 
592,  595,  596,  598,  600,  607,  608,  609, 
610,  612,  613,  615,  618,  637,  638,  642, 
658,  665,  667,  668,  675. 

Curtin,  Andrew  G.,  748,  750. 

Gushing,  M.  F.,  713. 

Custrine,  Count  de,  515. 

Cyrill,  7,  733. 

Daehne,  Ludwig  Christopher,  276. 

Dallas,  Alexander,  552,  553. 

Daly,  Owen,  168. 

Dana,  Francis,  470,  471. 

Daniel,  Charles  B.,   708,  724,  725,  739. 

Davenport,  J.  T.,  702. 

David   (also  Gabriel  and  Wanab,)  143. 

David,  Christian,   21,  22,  29,  233,  240,  241. 

Davis,  Benjamin,  168. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  724. 

Davis,  Solomon,  398. 

Day,  M.  A.,  695. 

Dean,  Hannah,  476. 

Dean,  Silas,  489. 

Dech,  John  K.,  693. 

Degelow,  Adolph,  701. 

Delamotte,  Charles,  35. 

Delfs,  Detlef,  279,  550. 

Delong,  J.  F.,  758. 

Demuth,  Anna  Maria,  386. 

Demuth,  Anna  Mary,  168. 

Demuth,  Christopher,  168,  207. 

Demuth,  Gotthard,  34,43, 127,  136,  149,  l6i. 

Demuth,  Gottlieb,  35,  43,  69,  148. 

Demuth,  Regina,  35,  43,  136. 

Dencke,  Jeremiah,  377,  431,  444,  451,  512, 

542. 
Denny,  William,  343,  348,  350. 
Desh,  Daniel,  719,  720. 
Desh,  George  H.,  761. 
Desh,  O.  B.,  750. 
Deshler,  Lieutenant,  461. 
Desmond,  Anna,  I05. 
D'Estaing,  Count,  489. 
Dettmers  (Detmers),  Ferdinand  Philip  Jacob, 

377,414,  431,  568. 
Detweiler,   Jacob,    (also    Dudweiler),    114, 

"5,  136. 
Deventer,   John    van,    (see    Van  Deventer, 

John). 
Dickinson,  John,  401,  433,  515. 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS. 


793 


Diemer,  Franz  Christopher,  279. 

Dietz,  Maria  Catherine,  273. 

Dietz,  Rosina,  235. 

Digeon,  David,  168. 

Digeon,  Mary,  168. 

Disman,   Anna  Margaret,  136. 

Disman,  Margaret  (Desmond),  114. 

Dissoway,  Israel  O.,  716. 

Dixon,  George  W.,  660,  757. 

Dixon,  Joseph,  544. 

Dixon,  Wilham,  236. 

Dober,  Andrew,  35.  43. 

Dober,  Anna,  35   43. 

Dober,  Charles  Christlieb,  676. 

Dober,  Leonhard,  28,  36,  204. 

Dodson,  James  S.,  772. 

Doehling,  John  Jacob,  168. 

Doerrbaum,  John  Philip,  234,  262. 

Dominick,  Maria,  235. 

Dommes,  August  Frederick,  492. 

Doster,  Charles  Edmund,  750. 

Dosler,  Herman  A.,  735. 

Doster,  Lewis,  669,  673,  677,  681 

Doster,  Lewis.  Jr.,  737. 

Doster,  Paulina  L.,  701. 

Doster,  William  Emil,  488,  743,  772,  773. 

Dotterer,  George  Philip,  563. 

Drese,  Adam,  78. 

Dressier,  Sophia  Margaret,  235. 

Drews,  Margaret,  235. 

Drews,  Peter,  234,  288. 

Dreyspring,  Carl  Joseph,  279. 

Dreyspring,  Charles  Jacob,  543. 

Duane,  James,  465,  467. 

Dubbs,  J.  S.,  693,  694.. 

Dubois,  Abraham,  77. 

Duche,  Jacob,  415. 

Duer,  William,  465,  467,  507. 

Dunglison,  W.  L.,  739. 

Duponceau,  Peter  Stephen,  629. 

Durlach,  261. 

Dust,  Gottfried,  279. 

Dyer,  Eliphalet,  465,  467. 

Eastwick,  Stephen,  576. 

Ebbecke,  John  Christian,  569,  592. 

Eberhardt,  Nicholas  Henry,  262,  273 

Eberman,  Sarah,  658. 

Eberman,  William,  661,  686,  688,  699. 

Ebermeyer,  Maria  Margaret,  273. 

Ebert,    John    Christian,  361,  514,515,519, 

544,  550. 
Eckerlin,  Emmanuel,  156. 
Eckesparre.  Adolph,  349,  367. 
Eckhard,  Zacharias,  253. 
Edmonds,  William,  201,  257,  279,  323,  324, 

335,  343,  359,  370,  433,  445- 
Edward  VI,  King,  13. 
Eggert,  Benjamin,  681. 
Eggert,  Charies  H.,  769,  773. 
Eggert,  Christian,  239,  610. 

52 


Eggert,  Matthew,  574,  602,  635,  669. 

Ehrenhardt,  Jacob,  261. 

Ehrhardt,  John  Christian,  167,  168,  20I. 

Eichman,  Elizabeth,  119. 

Eichman,  William,  713. 

Eilerts,  John  Christopher,  569,  602,  603. 

Eis,  Charlotte,  235. 

Elias  of  Chrenovic,  li. 

Elimalech,  Brother,  (see  Emmanuel  Eck- 
erlin) . 

Elizabeth  (Arawack  Indian  girl),  239,  240. 

Elizabeth,  (wife  of  Teedyuscung,)   244. 

Ellery,  William,  470. 

Ellis,  F,  267,  268. 

Endt,  Theobald,  72,  98,  127. 

Endter,  John  George,  122,  123,  136. 

Enersen,  Enert,  234. 

Engel,  John  Godfrey,  234. 

Engfer,  Maria  Elizabeth,  235. 

Erd,  Justina,  401. 

Erd,  Justus,  253. 

Ernst,  Conrad,  413. 

Ernst,  Jacob,  279. 

Ernst,  Walter,  253. 

Erwin,  J.  F.,  701. 

Eschenbach,  Andrew,  40,  54,  56,  64,  69,  72, 
75,  77,  129,  136,  143. 

Estaing,  Count  d',  (see  d'Estaing  Count),  489. 

Ettwein,  Benigna,  625. 

Ettwein,  Benigna,  (2),  625. 

Ettwein,  Christian,  278. 

Ettwein,  Joanetta  Maria,  278. 

Ettwein,  John,  Jr.,  476. 

Ettwein,  John,  253,  278,  282,  291,  414,  416, 
431,  439,  441,  444,  449,  45°,  45^  453, 
454,  456,  462,  464,  465,  467,  469,  474, 
476,  477,  481,  482,  489,  490,  495;  50i> 
502,  503,  504,  505,  506,  507,  511,  51:;, 
516,  5'7,  525,  529,  S40,  541,  545,  546, 
551,  553,555,  556,  557-  558,  559,  562, 
568,  569,  570,  571,  572,  573- 

Euler,  Nicholas,  253. 

Evans,  Edward,  98,  105. 

Eyerie,  Jacob,  276,  564. 

Fabricius,  George  Christian,  276,  282,  317, 

318,  319,  332. 
Fahs,  Henry,  716. 
Fahs,  John,  (see  Vaas),  210. 
Farquhar,  Thomas,  761,  765,  771. 
Feldhausen,  Christopher,  254. 
Feldhausen,  Henry,  253. 
Feldhausen,  John  George,  253. 
Feltus,  Rev  "Mr.,  628. 
Fend,  Ferdinand  (Vend),  262. 
Fend,  ("Kiefer")  (Vend),  262. 
Fenner,  Josephine,  703,  705. 
Fenstermacher,  Barbara,  568. 
Ferdinand,  II,  17. 
Fermor,  Lady  Juliana,  281. 


794 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS. 


Fermoy,  Roche  (ie,  470. 

Fetter,  Ceorge,  654,  709. 

Fetter,  Herman,  715,  742. 

Fetter,  Marcus  C,  756. 

Fetter,  Salome,  704. 

Fichte,  Catharine,  235. 

Fickardt,  Augustus,  749. 

Fickardt,  Frederick,  Dr.,  746,  747,  748,  749, 

750,751- 
Fickardt,  Frederick,  2nd.,  749. 
Finley,  Samuel,  481. 
Fiot,  Augustus,  719. 
Fischer,  Agnes,  167. 
Fischer,  Caspar,  279. 
Fischer,  Catherine,  235. 
Fischer,  Thomas,  167. 
Fissler,  Elizabeth,  124. 
Fockel,  Godfrey,  253. 
Fockel,  John  Godfrey,  253. 
Fockel,  Samuel,  252,  253. 
Foelker,  Adam,  261. 
Foering,  H.  A.,  762. 
Folsom,  Nathaniel,  465,  467. 
Foltz,  William  H.,  756. 
F'orbes,  General,  362. 
Forstier,  Charles  von,  581,  586,  587. 
Fox,  Joseph,  327. 
Fox,  Nicholas,  501. 
Fradeneck,  Theodore   767. 
F'ranck,  Jacob,  35,  42. 
Francke,  August  Henry,  279,  454. 
Francke,  August  Herman,  360. 
F>ancke,  John  Christopher,  165,  206,  367. 
Franklin,    Benjamin,    74,  95,  97,   326,  333, 

334,  336,  338,  405,  416, 437,  489,  510,  521. 
Frederick,  William  I,  91. 
Freeman,  Jacob,  634. 
Freitag,  Daniel  C,  719. 
Freitag,  John  Caspar,  569,  602,  603. 
Freitag,  John  Eberhard,  544,  569,  671,  704, 

746. 
Frey,  Andrew,  32,  160. 
Frey,  Henry,  32,  306,  332. 
Frey,  Joseph,  746. 
Frey,  Veronica,  (Verona,)  160,  233. 
Frey,  William,  32,  160,  202,  213. 
Freydeck,  Von,  see  Zinzendorf,  89,  92. 
F'reyhube,  Andrew,  253. 
Friebele,  Christian,  279. 
Friederich,  Carl,  304. 
Friedman,  Rosina,  534. 
Friis,  Jacob,  275,  276,  399,  476,  512,  56 J. 
Fries,  John,  504,  565. 
Fritsche,  Henry,  234. 
Fritsche,  Anna  Margaret,  167. 
Fritsche,  John  Christian,  167. 
F'ritz,  Henry,  253. 
Fritz,  John,  724,  726,  729,  734,  738. 
Froehlich,  Christian,   54,   i;9,  61,  64,  69,  71, 

75,  77,  "5,  142,  143,  176,  185,444. 


Froehlich,  Esther  Mary,  185. 

Fromelt,  johnj  400. 

Frueauff,  Eugene  A.,  653. 

Frueauff,  John  Frederick,  542,  562,  563,  569, 

605,  606,  620,  653,  654. 
Frueauff,  Lieutenant,  740. 
Fuehrer,  Frederick,  518. 
Fuehrer,  Harriet,  703,  704,  705. 
Fuehrer,  Margaret,  518. 
Fuehrer,  Valentine,  518,  522,  545,  550. 
Funck,  Elizabeth,  123. 
Funck,  Hans  Nicholas,  279. 
Fuss,  Lucas,  253. 

Gabriel,  (Wanab),  143 

Gallagher,  497. 

Galle,  Rosina,  235. 

Gambold,  Hector,  123,  168. 

Gambold,  John,  123,  513,  542. 

Gammern,  Abraham  van,  377. 

Gammern,  Juliana  van,  550. 

Gangewere,  712. 

Gardiner,  John,  521. 

Gardiner,  Sylvester,  521. 

Garrison,  Benjamin,  363. 

Garrison,  Grace,  373,  519. 

Garrison,  John,  360. 

Garrison,  Lambert,  288,  349,  400. 

Garrison,  Nicholas,  38,  41,  124,  159,  160, 
166,  167,  168,  169,  170,  173,  174,  176, 
189,  200,  201,  202,  218,  237,  241,  247, 
253,  260,  261,  262,  265,  272,  279,  294, 
295,    390,  400,  416,  430,  519,  523. 

Garrison,  Nicholas,  Jr.,   167,   168,   265,   279, 

294,  373,  519,  709- 
Garrison,  Nicholas,  3rd,  519. 
Gates,  Horatio,  454,  455,  45^,  484,489,  490- 
Gattermeyer,  John  Leonhard,  234,  31b. 
Gaupp,  Dorothea,  273. 
Gebes,  J.  Y.,  482. 
Geehr,  Balthaser,  450. 
Gehbe,  Ernst,  569. 
Geib,  John,  578. 
Geiger,  Valentine,  71. 
Geissenhainer,  A.  T.,  733. 
Geissinger,  George.  353. 
Geitner,  John  George,  200. 
Gender,  Elizabeth,  398. 
George,  Emma  J.,  707. 
George,  Josiah,  693. 
George,  Prince,  of  Anhalt,  90. 
Gerard,  Conrad  Alexander,  489,  490. 
Gerhardt,  Catharine,  273. 
Gerhardt,  Mary  Catharine,  550. 
Gernet,  715. 

Gersdorff,  Susan  von,  401,  487,  519,  536, 
Gerstberger,  Henry,  253,  428. 
Getter,  George,  728. 
Gideon,  (see  Teedyuscung,)  244. 
Gieringj  Adam,  737. 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS. 


^95 


Giering,  Andrew,  261. 

Giers,  Joseph,  279. 

Giersch,  Christian,  254. 

Gilbert,  Charles  T.,  720. 

Gillespie,  Robert,  477. 

Gimmele,  Matthias,  279. 

Ginter,  Philip,  641. 

Gladman,  Thomas,  40,   109,   167,  16S,  169, 

170. 
Glanz,  Charles,  746. 
Glover,  455. 
Gmelen,  Matthias,  32. 
Godshalk,  D.  J.,  713. 
Goedecke,  Lieutenant,  492. 
Goelet,  Captain,  260. 
Goepp,  Philip  H.,  654,  668,  674,  675,  681, 

684,  685,  686,  687,  688,  689,  693,  714, 

718,  719,  723. 
Goetge,  Anna  Barbara,  167. 
Goetge,  Peter,  167,  361. 
Gold,  George,  234. 
Gold,  Salome,  576. 

Golkowsky,  George  Wenceslaus,  214,  276. 
Goll,  Jaroslav,  12. 
Goodwin,  H.  S.,  698,  727,  730, 
Gottlieb  (an  Indian),  196. 
Gottschalk,  Matthias  Gottlieb,  185. 
Goundie,  Moulton,  740,  743,  749. 
Goundie,  Sebastian,  610. 
Grabenstein  (missionary),  239,  240,  241. 
Graber,  William  K.,  709. 
Grabs,  Anna  Mary,  167. 
Grabs,  John  Godfrey,  167,  360. 
Graeme,  Thomas,  235,  266. 
Graeff,  Margaret,  124. 
Graeff,  Matthew,  124. 
Graham,  George  Thomas,  729. 
Grant,  U.  S.,  750. 
Graff,  Gertrude,  261. 
Graff,  J.  B.,  734. 
Graff,    John    Michael,    261,   282,  327,  329, 

367,  386,  529. 
Graff,  Justina,  528. 
Granville,  Lord,  220. 
Grassman,  Andrew,  29,  12I. 
Green,  Abigail,  236. 
Green,  Daniel,  632. 
Green,  John,  575. 
Green,  Nathaniel,  Gen.,  461,  484. 
Green,  Samuel,   236. 
Greening,  Elizabeth,  168. 
Greening,  James,  168,  202,  207,  262. 
Gregg,  Eleanor,  1 23. 
Gregor,  Christian,  423,  431. 
Gregory,  9. 

Grider,  Orville  A.,  745. 
Grider,  Rufus  A.,  710,  714,  715,  721. 
Grieve,  George,  517 
Groen,  John  George,  254. 
Groesser,  Margaret,  235. 


Groman,  Charles,  756. 

Groman,  Henry  A.,  739. 

Grosh,  Peter,  634. 

Gross,  Andrew,  254. 

Grube,  Bernhard  Adam,  200,  241,  282,  301, 

307,   315,  369,  395,  398,  402,  403,  413. 

542,  557- 
Grube,  George  W.,  756. 
Gruber,  John  Adam,  32. 
Gruendberg,  Helena,  235. 
Gruenewald,  Colonel,  450. 
Gruenewald,  John  Henry,  279. 
Grunewald,  Gustavus,  62,  709. 
Guenther,  450. 

Guetter,  Henry  Gottlob,  634,  645,  681,  701. 
Guth,  Henry,  210. 
Gutsier,  Eva,  43. 

Haberecht,  Gottfried,  (Gottlieb,)  34,  43,  63, 

77,  128,  136,  160. 
Haberecht,  Rosina,  35,  42. 
Haberland,  Anna  Helena,  234. 
Haberland,  George,  34,  42. 
Haberland,  Joseph,  276. 
Haberland,  Juliana,  235,  260. 
Haberland,  Michael,  34,  43,  234,  524. 
Haensel,  John  Christian,  254. 
Haga,  Godfrey,  569. 
Hagen,  F.  F.,  712,  731,  746,  748. 
Plagen,  John,  40,  41,  43,  51,  54,  56,  70,  136, 

147,  241. 
Hagen,  John  C,  751. 
Haidt,  Catherine,  278. 
Haidt,  John  Valentine,  278,  331,  467,  523, 

709. 
Halifax,  Lord,  214,  220. 
Halftown,  (Indian  chief),  561. 
Hall,  James,  295,  481,  518. 
Hall,  William,  160. 
Halpin,  Margaret,  728. 
Ilaman,  Adam,  602,  603. 
Hamilton,   James,   229,  240,  266,  267,  327, 

371,  388,  394- 
Hamilton,  J.  Taylor,  763. 
Hammer,  Anna  Maria,  235. 
Hammer,  Maria  Agatha,  377. 
Hance,  William,  699. 
Hancke.  Elizabeth,  167. 
Hancke,  Matthew,  167,  205. 
Hancock,  John,  465,  467,  485. 
Hand,  Edward,  484. 
Handrup,  Mary,  185. 
Handrup,  Vitus,  185,  201. 
Hanke,  Anna  Catharine,  580. 
Hans,  Rosina,  235. 
Hantsch,  Anna  Regina,  168. 
Hantsch,  John  George,  168,  169. 
Hantsch,  Regina,    168. 
Ilarbatel,  Leon,  463. 
Hardie,  Thomas,  71,  1 15,  136,  164. 


796 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS. 


Harding,  Conrad,  164,  168. 

Hardy,  Charles,  343. 

Harnett,  Cornelius,  465. 

Harris,  Captain,  50. 

Harris,  Dr.,  415. 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  465,  467. 

Harrison,  Joseph,  Jr.,  729. 

Harten,  Elizabeth,  119,  136. 

Harten,  George,  119,  136,  173. 

Hartman,  Squire,  461. 

Hartniann,  Frederick,  164,  191. 

Harttafel,  Robt.,  364. 

Hartzel,  Jonas,  214. 

Hasse,  John,  464,  549,  56S. 

Hasselberg,  Abraham,  254. 

Hasselius,  Gustavus,  364. 

Hasselmann,  Miss,  226. 

I  lassfeldt,  John  Adam,  279. 

liaus,  Franklin  J.,  741. 

Haus,  George,  717. 

Haus,  William  Harrison,  743. 

Hauto,  George  F.  A.,  642. 

Haven,  Benjamin,  602. 

Haydn,  662. 

Hazard,  Erskine,  642. 

Hazelius,  Ernst  Lewis,  569,  5S8,  589,  590, 

592,  593- 
Healy,  Joseph,  236. 
Heap,  Mary,  125. 
Hecht,  Pastor,  628. 
Heckewelder,  Christian   Renatus,  278,  514, 

547,  548,  550,  570,  633. 
Heckewelder,  David,  278. 
Heckewelder,  John,  124,  278,  387,  389,  314, 

522,  549,  595,  629,  704. 
Heckewelder,  Johanna  Maria,  534,  704. 
Heckewelder,  Mary,  278. 
Heckewelder,  Regina,  278. 
Hege,  Balthasar,  254 
Hehl,    Matthew,    262,  273,   277,  282,    303, 

349,  355,  529- 
Heindel,  Margaret,  235. 
Heisler,   D.  Y.,  694 
Held,  Henry,  710. 
Held,  Julius  W.,  710,  711. 
Held,  William,  710,  711. 
liellerman,  Caspar  George,  295. 
Ilencke,  Christopher,  168. 
Hencke,  Elizabeth,  168. 
Hendel,  Maria  Barbara,  235. 
Hennig,  Paul,  254. 
Henry,  (an  Indian),  209. 
Henry,  Miss,  658. 

Henry,  Matthew,  268,  339   439,  517. 
Henry,  William,  501,  502,  503,  590,  641. 
Hent,  Valentine,  702. 
Plerbst,  John,  580,  581,  590,  596. 
Herbst,  John  Henry,  254. 
Herman,  George  F.,  739. 
Herman,  John  Gottlieb,  653,  674,  675,  676. 


Hermann,    Frederick  Emmanuel,  253,  261, 

263,  273,  274. 
Hermann,  Jacob,  254. 
Hermann,  Susan  Maria,  253. 
Hermelin,  Baron  von,  521,  525. 
Hermsdorf,  Christian  Adolph,  35,  43. 
Herr,  Jacob,  276. 
Herr,  Samuel,  254. 
Hertzer,  Barbara  Elizabeth,  168. 
Hertzer,  John  Henry,  168. 
Hess,  Charles,  756. 
Hess,  Joseph,  693,  719,  720. 
Hesse,  Anton,  707,  708,  713. 
Hessler,  Abraham,  167,  513. 
Hessler,  Anna  Mary,  167. 
Heyd,  Inger,  273. 
Heydecker,  Jacob,  254. 
Heydecker,  John  George,  136,  142. 
Heyne,  John  Christopher,  123,  136,  207. 
Hickel,  Judith,  185. 
Hicks,  John  A.,  627. 
High,  255. 

Hilburn,  Valentine,  706 
Hillegas,  Michael,  641. 
Hillman,  John,  574. 
Hinkel,  Michael,  630. 
Hinter,  Adam,  115. 
Hirst,  John,  236. 
Hirte,  John  Tobias,  167. 
Hirte,  Mary,  167. 
Hobsch,  Joseph,  200. 
Hoeger,  Andrew,  268,  278. 
Hoepfner,  Christian  Flenry,  254. 
Hoepfner,  John  Christopher,  167,  170. 
Hoepfner,  Mary  Magdalena    167. 
Hoest,  Jan  Hendrick  de,  332. 
Hoeth,  Frederick,  368. 
Hoeth,  Mariana,  36S. 
Hoffert,  John,  413. 
Hoffert,  Samuel,  413. 
Hoffmann,  Gottfried,  200,  241. 
Hoffmann,  John  Gottlob,  254. 
Hoffmann,  Thomas,  254. 
Hofmeyer,  Pastor,  563. 
Hohmann,  John  Peter,  234. 
Holland,  .Samuel,  74. 
Holleschke,  Judith    73. 
Holstein,  Henry,  32,  140. 
Home,  Elizabeth,  124. 
Honest  John,  (Indian,)  243. 
Hooper,  Robert  Lettis,  458,  461,  492. 
Hoppes,  George,  715. 
Hopson,  Ann,  122. 
Hopson,  Elizabeth,  107,  119. 
Hopson,  John,  105,  114,  332. 
Horn,  Andrew,  176,  360,  370. 
Horn,  A.  R  ,  773. 
Horn,  Herman,  743 
Horn,  Maria  Barbara,  401. 
lloniig.  Christian,  550. 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS. 


191 


Horsfield,  Joseph,  214,  543,  549,  550,  573. 

Horsfield,  Timothy,  38,  201,  237,  247,  257, 
258,  261,  265,  266,  267,  271,  273,  274, 
27s,  278,  287,  296,  301,  306,  310,  313, 
315,  323,  324,  326,  327,  332,  335,  338, 
339,  341,  342,  343,  350,  370,  394,  395, 
397,  398,  432- 

Horsfield,  Timothy,  Jr.,  265,  543,  568. 

Houston,  James,  456. 

Howe,  Bishop,  698. 

Howe,  General,  473 

Hower,  Asher,  756. 

Huber,  Catharine,  568. 

Huber,  George,  514,  543,  574. 

Huber,  John  Michael,  37,  123,  125,  136. 

Huber,  Mary  Magdalen,  37. 

Hiickel,  Rosina,  122. 

Huebener,  Abraham  L ,  655,  656,  657,  660, 
711. 

Huebener,  Lewis,  535,  596. 

Huebener,  Ludwig,  145,  164,  389,  482. 

Huebener,  Virginia,  708. 

Huebner,  George,  98. 

Huebner,  John  Andrew,  512,  525,  529,  535, 

541,  549,  559- 
Hueffel,  Christian  Gottlieb,  618,  629,    637, 

654- 
Huepsch,  Joseph,  279. 
Hummel,  Johanna,  40,  41,  43,  44,  64,  69, 

136,  149. 
Hundsecker,  Lieutenant,  407. 
Hunt,  Alfred,  725. 
Hunt,  .Samuel,  276. 
Hunter,  Alexander,  46. 
Hus,  John,  7,  9,  16,  733. 
Hussey,  Anna,  488. 
Hussey,  Martha,  121. 
Hussey,  Robert,  121. 
Hutton,  James,  166,  510,  521. 

Ignatius,  271. 

Immig,  (Spangenberg, )  Eva  Mary,  177. 

Ingebretsen,  Eric,  254. 

Ingham,  Benjamin,  35,  36. 

Irish,  Nathaniel,  52,  56,  57,  61,  72,  76,  139, 

154,  161,  163,  164. 
Irwin,  Samuel,  696. 
Isaac,  (Indian,)  104. 
Israel,  Christian  Gottlieb,  104,  114,  136. 

Jablonsky,  Daniel  Ernst,  29,  30,  86,  91. 

Jackson,  General,  647. 

Jackson,  Hall,  464. 

Jacob,  (an  Indian,)  104,  401. 

Jacobi,  Henry,  71. 

Jacobsen,  Christian,  201,  279,  295,  349,  351, 

363,  374,  375,  400,  401. 
Jacobson,  E.  H.,  747. 
Jacobson,  H.  A.,  764. 
Jacobson,  John  Christian,  593,  685,  693,  696. 


Jaeger,  Conrad,  563,  628. 

Jaeger,  Joshua,  625,  693. 

Jaehne,  Mary  Elizabeth,  278. 

Jaencke,  Andrew,  254. 

Jaeschke,  Juliana,  35. 

Jag,  David,  35,  43. 

Jag,  John,  279. 

James,  (a  boy,)  41,  43,  44,  64,  136. 

Jansen,  (Jensen,)  Jost,  279,  331,  36f,  430, 

473,490,494,  5«4,  568. 
Jaquette,  Pierre,  562. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  646. 
Jenkins,  James,  730,  738. 
Jennings,  John,  401,  461. 
Jennings,  Solomon,  49,  213,  266. 
Jeter,  Tinsley,  720,  727,  729,  730. 
Jewett,  H.  L.,  772. 
Joachim,  (Indian,)  316,  317. 
Job,  (Tschoop,)  113. 
Johanan,  (Zinzendorf,)   242. 
Johannes,  (Indian,)  113. 
Johannes,  Samuel,  279. 
John,   Captain,   (Indian,)    50,   59,    13-5^    154, 

155,  195,  195. 
John,  (Greenlander,)  233. 
John,  Honest  (Indian),  243. 
John,  Renatus  (Arawack  boy),  240,  241. 
John,  Wasamapah  (Tschoop),  113,  136,  137. 
Johnson,  Andrew,  750. 
Johnson,  William,  349. 
Johnston,  John  Taylor,  725. 
Johnston,  William,  390,  392. 
Jonathan,  (an   Indian,)  358. 
Jones,  Amanda,  731. 
Jones,  John,   235,  260,  266,   2S6,  355,  465, 

467,  523- 
Jones,  Mary,  125. 
Jones,  M.  C,  648,  701. 
Jones,  Paul,  521,  522. 
Jones,  Thomas  W.,  741. 
Jones,  William,  653. 
Jordan,  John,  Jr.,  411. 
Jordan,  John  W.,  479. 
Jorde,  Anna  Margaret,  167. 
Jorde,  Henry,  253,  262. 
Jorde,  John,  167. 
Joshua,  (Indian,)  143. 
Juditli,  (a  Greenlander,)  233. 
Jundt,  John  Jacob,  605. 
Jung,  Marcus,  332. 
Jungman,  Christian,  633. 
Jungmann,  Anna  Margaret,  568. 
Jungmann,  John,  550,  672. 
Jungmann,  John  George,  70,  672. 
Juergensen,  Jacob,  276. 

Kalb,  Baron  John  de,  462,  468. 
Kalberlahn,  Hans  Martin,  275,  276. 
Kampmann,  Christian    Irederick,  506,  543, 
550. 


798 


INDEX    OF    PEkSONS. 


Kampmann,  Elizabeth,  704. 
Kampmann,  Clarence,  751. 
Kampmann,  Lewis  F.,  689,  690,  706,  712, 

731- 
Kannhaeuser,  Elizabeth,  377. 
Kaske,  George,  123. 
Keiter,  W.  D.  C,  757. 
Keller,  Catharine  Barbara,  226. 
Kemper,  Thomas,  201. 
Kempsmith,  Paul,  767,  773. 

Kennedy, ,  255. 

Kennedy,  James,  738. 

Kennedy,  William,  626. 

Kent,  Rudolph,  720. 

Kern,  John  Christian,  665. 

Kern,  John  Michael,  512. 

Kern,  Maria  E.,  701. 

Kerner,  Anna  Rosina,  235. 

Ketteltas,  Captain,  160. 

Kiak,  (the  Indian,)  104. 

Kichline,  Colonel,  448. 

Kichline,  Sheriff,  407. 

Kidd,  Alice,  707. 

Kidder,  Charles  Holland,  713. 

Kiefer,  Marcus,  306,  314,  413,  568. 

Kindt,  Abraham,  706. 

Kiop  (the  Indian),  104. 

Kirkland,  Samuel,  562. 

Klein,  George,  277,  332,  360,  401,  404,  408, 

^  524,  544- 
Klein,  John,  279. 

Klemm,  John  Gottlob,  171,  363,  364. 
Kliest,  Daniel,  234,  568. 
Klingelstein,  Margaret  Catharine,  273. 
Klingsohr,  John  Augustus,  541,  563,  569. 
Kloets,  Christopher,  279. 
Klose,  Edwin  G.,  772. 
Kluge,  E.  T ,  770. 
Kluge,  John  Peter,  515,  58r. 
Knauss,  Charles  L.,  681,  688,  701. 
Knauss,  Christian,  634. 
Knauss,  James  Edward,  706. 
Knecht,  John,  52,  725. 
Knipe,  Joseph,  74.4. 
Knolton,  Hannah,  185. 
Knolton,  William  Peter,  171,  185. 
Knox,  Henry,  461. 
Knox,  John,  150. 
Kobatsch,  Colonel,  486. 
Koch,  Catharine,  123. 
Koehler,  John  Daniel,  528,  529. 
Koenigsdoerfer,  Gotllob,  275. 
KolHer,  Adam,  279. 
Koffler,  Anna  Maria,  235. 
Kogen,  John,  32. 
Kohn,  Anna  Margaret,  165. 
Kohn,  Jacob,  165. 
Koortz,  Ellert,  295. 
Kornman,  Anna  Rosina,  704. 
Kornman,  John,  550. 


Kornman,  John  Theobald,  254. 

Kraemer,  Nicholas,  632  633. 

Krafft,  Christina,  123. 

Kramer,  J.,  696. 

Kramsch,  Samuel  Gottlieb,  542   569. 

Krause,  Andrew,  234. 

Krause,  Anna  Maria  235. 

Krause,  Barbara,  235. 

Krause,  Christina,  167. 

Krause,  Henry,  276,  671. 

Krause,  Henry  S.,  634. 

Krause,  John,  671,  688,  701. 

Krause,  J.  S.,  701. 

Krause,  John  Samuel,  634. 

Krause,  Levin  J.,  757. 

Krause,  Matthew,   167,  681,  687,692,704, 

^714   741.  . 
Krause,  Rosina,  234. 
Krause,  Samuel,  234,  250,  273. 
Krecker,  F.,  696. 
Kremper,  (Kremp,  Krump,)  Anna  Catharine, 

41,  42,  492. 
Kremser,  Andrew.  167. 
Kremser,  Anna  Maria,  167. 
Kremser,  George,   167. 
Kremser,  Matthew,  262. 
Kremser,  Rosina,  167. 
Kreutzer,  Conrad,  569. 
Kriegbaum,  John  George,  279. 
Krogstrup,  Otto  Christian,  275,  276,  524. 
Kuehn,  Johanna  Maria,  121. 
Kuehnest,  Christopher,  234. 
Kuerschner,  Christopher,  279. 
Kummer,    Charles  Edward,  705,  707,  708, 

747. 
Kummer,  John  Jacob,  595,  604,  605,  654, 

656,  658,  659,  665,  739. 
Kummer,  John  Gottlob,  658,  675,  676. 
Kunckler,  Anna  Mary,  167. 
Kunckler,  Daniel,  167.  361,  372. 
Kunkel,  Frank,  369. 
Kuntz,  Matthew,  262. 
Kuntz,  Melchior,  73. 
Kunz,  David,  234,  279. 
Kunz,  Matthew,  200. 

La,  Balm,  Mons  da,  489. 

Laciar,  J.  D.,  712. 

Lafayette,   Marquis  de,  416,  462,  465,  475, 

485,  487,  488. 
Liancourt,   Monsieur  (Rochefoucauld),  552, 

553- 
Langaard,  Andrew,  377- 
Langaard,  Susan,  534. 
Lange,  John  Gottlieb,  254,  568. 
Langley,  Erdmuth,  488. 
Langley,  Kebecca,  373,  487. 
Languth,  John  Michael,  72. 
Lanius,  Eva,  550. 
Larisch,  Christian  von,  29. 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS. 


799 


Laramy,  Charles,  734. 

Latimer,  Mr.,  697. 

Latrobe,  Benjamin,  160,  775. 

Lauck,  John  Samuel,  254. 

Laurens,  Henry,  465,  467,  489,  490. 

Law,  Richard,  465,  467. 

Lawall,  Henry,  214. 

Lawatsch,  Andrew  Anthony,  267,  272,  273, 

274,  386. 
Lawatsch,  Anna  Maria,  272. 
Lawrence,  Justice,  415. 
Lawrence,  Mr.,  238,  398. 
Leathes,  John,  168. 
Leavitt,  J.  M.,  753. 
Lee,  Arthur,  489. 
Lee,  Charles,  455. 

Lee,  Richard  Henry   446,  462,  465,  467. 
Lee,  William,  454. 
Lefferts,  241. 

Lehman,  Bernhard  E.,  701,  717,  727. 
Lehman,  Ernst,  6S2,  717. 
Lehn,  Adam,  575. 
Leibert,  Barbara,  207,  568. 
Leibert,  Eugene,  710. 
Leibert,  James,  652,  673,  677,  688,  714,  715, 

738. 
Leibert,  Joseph,  319,  652,  673,  677 
Leibert,  Josephine,  658. 
Leibert,  Michael,  207,  568. 
Leibert,  Morris  W.,  769,  774,  775. 
Leibert,  Richard  W.,  701,  735. 
Leibert,  William,  707,  708,  737,  757. 
Leidy,  715. 

Leighton,  John,  168,  257,  360. 
Leighton,  Sarah,  168. 
Leinbach,  A.  N.,  747. 
Leinbach,  Elizabeth,  114. 
Leinbach,  Frederick,  416. 
Leinbach,  Johanna,  114 
Leinbach,  Mary  Barbara,  278. 
Lelansky,  William,  705. 
Lembke,  Catharine,  551. 
Lembke,  Francis  Christian,  278,  2S2. 
Lemmert,  Joseph,  276. 
Lennert,  John,  361,  544. 
Lenzner,  John  Henry,  279. 
Lepus,  Robert,  476,  477. 
Lerch,  John,  739. 

Leschinsky,  Siegmund,  497,  506,  513. 
Lesley,  John,  316. 
Leslie,  Jesse,  160. 

Levering,  Abraham,  361,  544,  502,  602. 
Levering,  Charles  Joseph,  603. 
Levering,  J.  M.,  769. 

Levering,  John,  121,  207,  213,  252,  329,592. 
Levering,  Susanna,  592. 
Levers,  Colonel,  473. 
Levers,  John  J.,  716,  735. 
Levers,  Robert,  486. 
Levers,  Theodore  F.,  714. 


Lewis,  Elizabeth,  550,  569. 

Lewis,  John,  569. 

Lewis,  Samuel,  723. 

Liebisch,  Anna,  165. 

Liebisch,  Anna  Maria,   165. 

Lilliencron,  Charles  William,  605. 

Limbach,  Frederick,  501. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  732,  741,  750. 

Lindenmeyer,  Henry,  254,  461,  550. 

Linderman,  G.  B.,  727,  7:9,  739. 

Linstroem,  Michael,  279. 

Lisberger,  Elizabeth,  226,  241. 

Lischer,  John,  360. 

Lischy,  John  Jacob,  123,  136. 

Little  Billy  (or  Billy  Little),  562. 

Livingston,  Mr.,  277. 

Livingston,  Governor,  507. 

Livingstone,  Robert,  485. 

Lloyd,  H.  Evans,  645. 

Lockwood,  J.  P.,  119. 

Loeffler,  Dorothea,  401. 

Loeffler,  Jacob  (John)  Frederick,  595,  542. 

Loehans,  Valentine,  122,  159. 

Loesch,  Herman,  271,  413,  550,  568. 

Loesch,  Maria,  706. 

Loescher,  Valentine  Ernst,  90,  209. 

Loether,  Christian  Henrj',  254. 

London  (the  negro),  253,  254. 

Longfellow,  H.  W.,  4^5,  488. 

Loos,  I.  K.,  694,  734. 

Loretz,  John,  423,  431. 

Loskiel,  George  Henry,  541,  573,  575,  578, 

579,  580,  589,  595. 
Lossing,  Benson  J.,  488. 
Lowther,  John,  61. 
Luch,  Christian  F.,  633,  664   741. 
Luch,  John  Jacob,  633. 
Luckenbach,  Abraham,  515,  581. 
Luckenbach,  Adam,  413,  524. 
Luckenbach,  Andrew,  737,  745,  748, 
Luckenbach,   Charles    Augustus,    652,   655, 

661,  673,  681,   686,   688,  704,   708,  714, 

715.  717,  719,  720,  737,  73S,  739,  747, 

750. 
Luckenbach,  David  O.,  737,  745,  746. 
Luckenbach,  Henry  B.,  595,  664,  681,  687, 

688,  701,  704,  741. 
Luckenbach,  Jacob,  634,  637,  681. 
Luckenbach,  Jacob  Christian,  595,  670,  681. 
Luckenbach,  J.  Edward,  595. 
Luckenbach,  Jane,  739. 
Luckenbach,  John  Adam,  156,  413. 
Luckenbach,  John  David,  413 
Luckenbach,  John  Lewis,  413. 
Luckenbach,  Owen  A..  739.  744,  745. 
Luckenbach,  Reuben  ().,  595,  690,  710. 
Luckenbach,  Samuel,  604. 
Luckenbach,  Thomas  David,  413. 
Luckenbach,  William,  660,  661,  688,  690. 
Ludwig,  Anna  Catharine,  122, 


8oo 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS. 


Ludwig,  Carl,  254. 

Lueciers,  Thomas  Christian,  575,  596,  598, 

599,  603. 
Lung,  Jacob,  254. 

Luther,  Martin,  13,  16,  28,  87,  loi. 
Lyttle,  Robert,  708. 

Maans,  Martha,  235. 

Mack,   Tohn   Martin,  35,  39,  43,  57,  64,  65, 

69,  78,  79.  153,   193.   198,  242,  307   308, 

3".  315,  352,368,  369,  386. 
Mack,  Owen,  353. 
Mackinet,  Blasius,  32. 
Magtlalena  (alias  Beulah)    123 
Magdalena  (negro  girl),  136. 
Maibaum,  Just  von,  492. 
Malthaner,  John  Christian,  717. 
Mann,  Anna,  273. 
Mann,  William,  756. 
Marchant,  Henry,  465,  467. 
Maria  (the  negro),  i6o. 
Marschall,  Anna  Dorothea  von,  550. 
Marschall,    Frederick    von,    376,  378,   380, 

401,  506,  507. 
Marschall,  Hedwig  Elizabeth,  376. 
Marshall,  Edward,  48. 
Martens,  Barbara,  512. 
Martin,  David,  202. 
Martin,  F.  A.,  747. 
Martin,  Frederick,  41,  167,  278. 
Martin,  James,  266. 
Martin,  John  Hill,  517,  518. 
Martin,  Mary  Barbara,  278. 
Mary  (an  Indian),  174. 
Mary  Magdalena    122. 
Massner.  John  George,  254. 
Masslich,  712. 
Mather,  Cotton,  20. 
Matlack,  Timothy,  473,  502. 
Matthew,  (Greenlander,)   233 
Matthias  of  Kunewald,  11. 
Matthiesen,  Christopher,  254. 
Matthiesen,  Nicholas,  254. 
Mau,  Agnes,  492. 
Mau,  Samuel,  42,  492 
Maughan,  John  D.,  728. 
Maxamilian,  Prince  of  Wied,  645 
Maxwell,  William,  495,  507. 
May,  George,  449. 
Mayer,  Alfred  Marshall,  729. 
Maynard,  J.  W.,  729. 
McCarty,  Andrew  E.,  714,  715. 
McClatchey,  Robert  J.,  747. 
McCormick,  William,  773. 
McCoy,  James,  726. 
McEnroe,  Michael,  733. 
Mcintosh,  Lachlin,  482. 
McMahon,  James,  726,  727. 
McMinn,  563. 
McNee,  Nathaniel,  457,  479. 


Mease,  Olivia,  707,  708. 

Meder,  John,  569. 

Meeks,  L  P.,  698. 

Meinung,  Abraham,  72,  73,  136,  273. 

Meinung,  Charles  Lewis,  73. 

Meinung,  Judith,  72,  73,  136,  273. 

Meisser,  Henry  George,  279. 

Meitzler,  George,  715. 

Mellick,  Andrew  G.,  Jr.,  495. 

Melzheimer,  (Chaplain,)  492. 

Meinzinger,  George  Ernest,  295,  351. 

Merck,  John,  271. 

Merck,  John  Henry,  254 

Merkel,  George.  32. 

Merkle,  Christopher  254. 

Merrick,  David   706. 

Merrill,  Lawson,  749. 

Methodius,  7,  733. 

Meurer,  John  Philip,  no,  112  113,  123,  136, 

140. 
Meyer,  John  Adolph.  121,  126, 136,  137,  140, 

146,   149,   163,    165,   168,   169,   171,   198, 

203,  206,  231,  252,  262,  296. 
Meyer,  Jacob,  254. 
Meyer,  John  Michael,  35,  43. 
Meyer,  John  Stephen,  254. 
Meyer,  Lieutenant,  495. 
Meyer,  Maria  Agnes,  273. 
Meyer,  Maria  Dorothea,  121,  165. 
Meyerhoff,  Maria,  235. 
Michael  of  Bradac,  10. 
Michael,  I  'avid  Moritz,  602,  663. 
Michler,  Barbara.  167. 
Michler,  John,  167.  250. 
Michler,  John  Wolfgang,  167,  170. 
Michler,  Rosina,  107. 
Mifflin,  Thomas,  458,  546,  552,  561. 
Miksch,  Johanna  Maria,  no,  121,  136. 
Miksch,  John  Matthew,  279,  634,  655,  656, 

660,  681,686,  688,  714. 
Miksch   Joseph,  634,  669. 
Miksch,  (Spangenberg,)  Mary  Elizabeth,  278. 
Miksch,  Michael,  no,  121,  126,  136,  148. 
Milchsack,  Augustus,  665,  681. 
Milius,  John  August,  490. 
Miller,  George  Benjamin,  582,  593. 
Miller,  George  Godfrev,  535,  592. 
Miller,  John  Henry,  72,  74,  95,    n4,  262, 

273,  37.1,  414,  524,  711- 
Miller,  L  L.  C,  706. 
Miller,  Jacob,  499. 
Miller,  Jesse    715. 
Miller,   Johanna,    70,    105,   n4,    136,    239, 

273- 
Miller,  Peter,  47,  70. 
Miller,  William  F.,  739. 
Mingo,  Magdalena,  234,  235. 
Miralles,  Don  Juan  de,  489,  490. 
Moehring,  John  Frederick,  319,  569. 
Moeller,  John  Henry,  167. 


INDEX   OF    PERSONS. 


80 1 


Moeller,  Joseph,  126,  132,  136- 

Mocller,  Rosina,  167. 

Moench,  Charles  L.,  770-    ^^    _..(:,  ,, 

Molther,  Johanna  Sophia,  54,  55,  64,  ^3,  75 

Molther,  John,  569. 

Molther,  Philip  Henry,  55- 

Montague,  Lord,  41 5- 

Montgomery,  General,  442- 

Montmorenci,  Marquis  de  Laval,  515- 

Moore,  Alexander  D.,  698,  753- 

Moore,  James,  168. 

Moore,  Justice,  40?  • 

Mordick,  Peter,  234. 

Morey,  Jacob,  461,  496,  499,  50i- 

Morgan,  Captain,  441- 

Morgan,  Edwin  Wright,  729- 

Morgan,  John,  456- 

Morgan,  Thomas,  634- 

Morhardt,  Christina.  273. 

Morris,  Anthony,  236.  ,,,    -jai 

Morris,  Governor,  303,  322,  325,  333,  34i, 

343,  485-  „ 

Morrison,  Charies,  bgb. 
Mortimer,  Benjamin,  569. 
Motz,  Anna  Margaret,  434- 
Mozer,  John,  167. 
Mozer,  Mary  Philippina,  i67- 
Muecke,  Catharine,  167. 
Muecke,  John  Michael,  167. 
Mueller,  Abraham,  354- 
Mueller,  Brother,  515-         ,   ^    ^^^ 
Mueller,  George  Godfrey,  542,  5&9- 
Mueller,  Johanna  Magdalene,  142. 

Mueller,  John,  136,  142,  295- 

Mueller,  John  Bernhard,  234- 

Mueller,  John  Constantine   542- 

Mueller,  John  Jacob,  72,  73,  H5,  160, jog. 

Mueller,  Joseph,  62,  77,  127,  160,  233,  271, 

274- 
Muensch,  John,  254- 
Muenster,  John,  168. 
Muenster,  Melchior,  254. 
Muenster,  Michael,  234. 
Muenster,    Paul,    377,    444,  49...  5 12,  542, 
545,  549,  550,  559; 

Muenster,  Rosina,  lOS.  ,.    ca 

Muhlenberg,  Gotthilf  Henry  Ernest,  524- 

Musch,  Jacob,  380. 

Musgrave,  G.  W.,  69b. 

Musselman,  W.  B  ,  699. 

Myers,  George  H.,  7i5- 

Nace,  John,  693. 
Nagle,  Charles,  770. 
Nagle,  Christian,  574- 
Nagle,  John  Jacob,  254. 
Napoleon,  629. 
Nathaniel,  (an  Indian,)  35»- 
Naumann,  Christopher,  41. 
Nay  lor,  Mary,  728. 

53 


Neilhock,  254.  .    An    71     127 

Neisser,  Augustin,  22,  35,  43,  ^9,  7i,        /. 

Neisser,  George,  35,  38,  42,  43,  64,  65,  69, 
71  77  79,  95,  »o5,  '33,  »36,  »39,  MO, 
?49,  160,  i68,'i76,  205,  282,  706. 

Neisser,  Jacob,  22. 

Neisser,  Joseph,  409- 

Neisser,  Wenzel,  26. 

Nelson,  John,  168. 

Nemez,  Frederick,  9.        ,      ,, 

Neubert,  Daniel,  125,  126,  165. 

Neubert,  Rosina,  165. 

Neuman,  Regina,  273. 

Neuville,  Chevalier  de  La,  4»9- 

Newbury,  Dr.,  544-         .  ^-  „  n  .., 

Newcastle,  Captain,  (an  Indian,)  ^42. 

Newton,  Alvin,  644. 

Newton,  John,  168. 

Nickum,  Jacob,  707,  7o8,  728. 

Nicodemus,  (an  Indian,)  243,  34i,  35^- 

Nicke,  George,  168. 

Nicke,  Johanna  Elizabeth,  l5». 

Nielsen,  Hans,  363. 

Nielsen,  Jeppe,  512. 

Nielsen,  Lawrence,  279. 

Nilson,  Jonas,  122,  167. 

Nilson,  Margaret,  167. 

Nimsch,  Emil  F.,  706. 

Nitschke,  Anna  Maria,  235. 

Nitschmann,  Anna,  54.  55,  63,  64,  75,  ^.J^, 

152,  160,  249,  260^  290^ 
Nitschmann,  Anna  Dorothea  377- 
Nitschmann,  Anna  Maiy,  278. 
Nitschmann,  Christian  David   72- 
Nitschmann,  David  (Bishop,)  8,  22,  2b,  28, 
^o  ^^    36,  37,  38,  54,  59,  61,  63,  64,  &7, 
3",  33,  J"'  J"  -^  '  -1  '  ,,A   122   143,  144, 
69,  72,  75,  91,  96,  104,  "^' ,.3,  143,    'i^, 
162,  170,  173.  ^74,  204-  218    2,3,  241, 

276     277     278,  283,  290,  4C9,  431- 

NiSc'hmIn;,  D^vid!  Senior    54   55,  57,  65, 

93,  107,  125,  127,  137,  139,  ^44,  15^.1^°. 

I90,  261,  269,  273.  274,  283,  288,  365, 

376,377,409,633,776. 

Nifschr^ann,  David,  Junior  409.  410^ 

Nitschmann,  Immanuel,  260,  377,  444,  5^2, 

NiUchr^ann,  John,  29,  218,  233,  235,  245, 
246,  247,  248,  249,  250,  251,  255,  259, 
260,  261,  262,  264,  364,  377- 

Nitschmann,  Juliana,  55- 

Nitschmann,  Martin,  234,  3i6,  W- 

Nitschmann,  Rosina,  72,  136,  160   27«. 

Nitschmann,  Susanna,  3io,  ji9.  35y- 

Nixdorff,  John  George,  168,  524- 

Nixdorff,  John  Gottlob,  168. 

Nixdorff,  Susanna,  168. 

Noble,  Bally,  273. 

Noble,  James,  262. 

Noble,  Mr.,  723- 


8o2 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS. 


Noble,  Thomas,  38,  74,  123,  168,   200,  201. 

Nuernberg,  Dorothea,  235. 

Nuss,  Helena,  235. 

Nyberg,  Laurentius,  Thorstansen,  227,  260, 

363- 
Nyberg,  Sulamith,  534. 
Nyce,  William,  575. 

Oberlin,  John  Francis,  377,  414,  440,  445, 

497,  514- 
Odenwald,  John  Michael,  254. 
O'Donnel,  Mr.,  416. 
Oerter,  Christian  Frederick,   168,   183,  205, 

282,  384,  512,  542,  550,  568. 
Oerter,  Elizabeth,  235. 
Oerter,  Henry,  746. 
Oerter,  John,  654,  671. 
Oerter,  Joseph,  610,  671. 
Oerter,  William  H.,  769,  775. 
Oesterlein,  Daniel,  114,  136. 
Oglethorpe,  James,  35,  37,  214,  215,  219. 
Ohneberg,  John  George,  167,  190. 
Ohneberg,  Susan,  167. 
Okely,    John,    124,  257,  261,  266,  269,  273, 

274,   275,   281,  432,  433,  441,  442,  451, 

462,  481,  501,  502,  568. 
Okely,  William,  124,  201,  273. 
Old,  John,  449. 
Oldendorp,  Christian  George  Andrew,  415, 

416. 
Oliver,  Christina,  569. 
Ollendorf,  Carl,  280. 
Ollringshaw,  Henry,  295,  363. 
Opitz,  Carl,  234. 
Opitz,  Elizabeth,  167. 
Opitz,  Leopold,  167,  170. 
Opitz,  Margaret,  657. 
Opitz,  Mary  Elizabeth,  235. 
Oppelt,  Franz  Heinrich,  719. 
Oppelt,  Gottfried  Sebastian,  569. 
Ortlieb,  John,  254, 
Osgood,  Rev.  Mr.,  697. 
Ostrum,  Andrew,  168. 
Ott,  Levi,  737. 

Otto,  John  Frederick,  73,  167,  170,  171,  568. 
Otto,  John  Matthew,  171,  203,  253,  254,  256, 

296,   304,  355,  356,  3^^,  404,  432,  521, 

524,  525,  543,  671. 
Otto,  Judith  Benezet,  568. 
Olto,  Mary,  167. 
Otto,  Matthew,  Jr.,  544. 

Packer,  Asa,  721,  725,  728,  729,  730. 

Packer,  Harry  E.,  729,  754. 

Packer,  Robert  A.,  729. 

Packwood,  E.,  698. 

Pahlen,  Anna  von,  185. 

Palmer,  Elizabeth,  226. 

Palmer,  Levic,  576. 

Papunhank,  (Monsey  Chief,)  395, 


Parsons,  Anna  Mary,  265. 

Parsons,  Johanna  Grace,  265. 

Parsons,  Juliana  Sarah,  265. 

Parsons,  Robert,  265. 

Parsons,  Susan,  265. 

Parsons,  William,   26s,  266,  268,   272,  281, 

308,   313,  323,  326,  332,  340,  342,  343, 

373,386,519,568. 
Partsch,   John  George,   167,  311,  312,  316, 

317,318. 
Partsch,  Susanna  Louisa,  167,  316,  317. 
Paulsen,  Catharine,  2co,  235,  241. 
Paulus,    Christian    Gottlob,    544,   569,  630, 

633,  634,  642. 
Payne,  Elizabeth,  168. 
Pa\ne,  Jasper,  168,  182,  207,  213,  237,  247, 

263,  266,  310,  361. 
Paxnous,    (Paxinosa,)    300,    305,    306,    340, 

341,  356. 
Peale,  Edmund,  488. 
Pech,  Catharine,  119. 
Pell,  John  Peter,  254. 
Pendleton,  Edmund,  521. 
Penn,  John,  44,  47,  275,  401,  404,  408,  433, 

445,  515- 
Penn,  John,  (poet,)  552. 
Penn,  Richard,  44,  275,  433. 
Penn,  Thomas,  37,  44,  214,    215,    220,   236, 

265,  266,  280,  281,  552. 
Penn,  William,  3,  44,  48,  61. 
Penry,  Polly,  373. 
Pepy,  Jo,  (an  Indian,)  341. 
Perkin,  Griffith,  728. 
Peter,  (an  Indian,)  243. 
Peter,  Good,  562. 
Peter,  Christian  Godfrey,  569. 
Peter,  John  Frederick,  377,  444,  512,  535, 

541,  557.  559,  603. 
Petermann,  Henrietta,  262. 
Peters,  Joseph,  746. 
Peters,  Richard,    211,    235,    243,  297,  323, 

326. 
Petersen,  Hans,  252,  254,  280. 
Peterson,  Gertrude,  125. 
Petrus,  (an  Indian,)  395. 
Peysert,  Robert,  739. 
Pezold,  John  Gottlieb,  124,   136,  260,  263, 

268,  273,  279,  370,  386,  387. 
Pfaff,  Christopher  Matthew,  90. 
Pfahl,  Rosina,  122,  272. 
Pfeiffer,  Christian,  200. 
Pfeil,  Frederick  Jacob,  254. 
Pfohl,  Christian  Thomas,  569. 
Pfohl,  Samuel  Thomas,  593. 
Pharo,  Job,  716. 

Phillips,  William,  490,  493,  494. 
Pierce,  President,  724. 
Piesch,  Anna  Johanna,  125,  273,  376. 
Piesch,  John  George,  29,  107,  114,  125,  273. 
Pitschmann,  George,  234, 


Index  of  t»ERS0NS. 


S03 


Pitzmann,  John  Michael,  254. 

Pletscher,  Fredericka,  401. 

Podiebrad,  George,  9,  21. 

Polk,  William,  475. 

Pomfret,  Lord,  266. 

Pomp,  Nicholas,  563,  628. 

Pomp,  Thomas,  563. 

Poor,  Enoch,  495. 

Poppelwell,  Richard,  263. 

Post,  Christian  Frederick,  124,  136,  177,  242, 

262,  279,   301,  304,  305,  309,  310,  361, 

362,  387. 
Pott,  William,  32. 
Potter,  Alonzo,  697. 

Potter,  Ehphalet  Nott,  729,  730,  732,  750. 
Powell,  Martha,  121. 
Powell,  Joseph,  73,  121,  154,  155,  202,  257, 

315,332. 
Powell,  Samuel,  108,  121,  191,  260,  464. 
Powell,  Thomas,  457. 
Presser,  Martin,  254,  316. 
Preston,  Colonel,  451. 
Preuss,  457. 
Price,  Thomas,  442. 
Pricket,  Josiah,  235. 
Priessing,  Jacob,  254. 
Pritchett,  Martha,  121. 
Pudmensky,  Catharine,  37. 
Pulaski,  Count  Casimir,  462.  485,  486,  4S7, 

488. 
Purcell,  James,  726. 
Pury,  John  Peter,  39. 
Pyrlaeus,  John  Christopher,  70,  77,  94,  95, 

104,  112,   127,   136,   140,   160,  165,    172, 

177,  204,  205,  242,  251,  262. 
Pyrlaeus,  John  Christopher,  Jr.,  482,  513,  581. 
Pyrlaeus,  Sarah,  581. 

Radley,  A.  W.,  714,  735. 

Raikes,  Robert,  622,  623. 

Ralffs,  Marcus,  254. 

Ralston,  Robert,  627. 

Ramsburger,  Anna,  235. 

Randolph,  John,  647. 

Rantzau,  von,  492. 

Rascher,  Henry,  35,  42. 

Rath,  J.  B.,  694,  695,  734. 

Rau,  Albert  G.,  766,  771. 

Rau,  David,  747. 

Rau,  Robert,  775. 

Rau,  Simon,  649,  664,1671,  687. 

Rauch,    Ambrose    II.,    664,    701,    704,    714. 

720,  724. 
Rauch,  Charles  W.,  714.  720,  724,  725. 
Rauch,  Christian  Henry,  40,  41,  54,  56,  59, 

67,  70,   77,  104,   112,    114,  136,   142,  152, 

154,  157,  165,  242,  401. 
Rauch,  Edward  H.,  712. 
Rauch,  John   Frederick,  465,  604,  605,  610, 

638,  655,  656,  657,  686,  687. 


Rauch,  Reuben,  741. 

Rauch,  Rudolph,  739. 

Rauch,  William,  704. 

Rauschenberger,  Jacob,  603. 

Rebstock,  Anna  Catharine,  235. 

Redelerburg,  Helena,  273. 

Red  Jacket,  (Indian  chief,)  562. 

Reed,  Isaac,  452,  458,  462. 

Reed,  John,  508. 

Reed,  Joseph,  457,  507,  514. 

Regnier,  John  Francis,  42. 

Reich,  Anna  M.,  706. 

Reich,  Clara  V.,  707. 

Reich,  John  Christian,  542,  543,  547,  550, 

573- 
Reichard,  David,  167. 
Reichard,  Elizabeth,  167. 
Reichel,    Charles   Gotthold,  535,  559,  569, 

596,  610. 
Reichel,  Dorothea  Sophia,  704. 
Reichel,  Edward  H.,  648. 
Reichel,  John  Frederick,  506,  507,  508,  509, 

511,514,  599,  619,621,  625. 
Reichel,  Levin  T.,  93. 
Reichel,  William  C,  153, 190,  251,  258,  268, 

339,  397,  518,  703,  710,  718,  753- 
Reincke,  (Reinke,)  Abraham,  176,  295,  296, 

588. 
Reinke,  Abraham,  Jr.,  513,  588,596,  597. 
Reinke,  Amadeus  A.,  648,  700,  710. 
Reinke,    Samuel,    588,  602,  603,  676,  689, 

709,  745- 
Renatus,  (an  Indian,)  401,  402,  404. 
Renner,  John  George,  234 
Repsdorff,  Baron  von,  433. 
Reuss,  Count  XXVIH,  271. 
Reuss,  Countess  Erdmuth  Dorothea,  21. 
Reuss,  Magdalena  Elizabeth,  234. 
Reuter,  Christian  Gottlieb,  349 
Reuz,  Magdalena,  167. 
Reuz,  Matthew,  167,  205,  240. 
Rice,  Edward,  676. 
Rice,  Elizabeth,  121. 
Rice,  Jacob,  610,  633,  638,  686,  687,  688, 

714,  736. 
Rice,  James  A.,  633,  714,  739. 
Rice,  Joseph,  604,  605,  630. 
Rice,  Joseph  A.,  701. 
Rice,  Josephine  C,  701,  739. 
Rice,  Lydia,  703. 
Rice,  Owen,  ist,  121,  126,  203. 
Rice,  Owen,  2nd,  547,  548. 
Rice,  Owen,  3rd,  54S,  604,  605,  610,  618, 

633,  638,  656,  657,  660,  676. 
Rice,  Owen,  Capt.,  746. 
Rice,  Sarah,  658. 
Rice,  William,  633 

Rice,  William  Henry,  745,  746,  748,  775. 
Richards,  J.  W.,  693. 
Richling,  John  Henry,  254. 


8o4 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS. 


Richter,  John,  254. 

Richter,  John  Christopher,  234. 

Ricksecker,  Jacob,  550. 

Ricksecker,  John,  664. 

Riedel,  Catharine,  35,  37. 

Riedel,  Frederick,  34,  35,  37,  42 

Riedesel,  Frederick  Adolph,  490,  492,  493. 

Riedesel,  Madame,  490,  492,  493,  494,  505. 

Rieser,  George  Charles,  706. 

Rillmann,  Andrew,  234. 

Rinck,  M.  Henri  Albert,  729. 

Ring,  Philip  Henry,  280. 

Rippel,  John  Michael,  295. 

Risler,  Jeremiah,  339,  595. 

Ritner,  Joseph,  656. 

Rittenhouse,  David,  462,  515. 

Ritter,  Ellen,  707,  708. 

Ritter,  Emma,  708. 

Ritter,  Francis,  32. 

Ritter,  Rebecca  S.,  707. 
Robbins,  Gottlieb,  201. 

Robins,  Esther  Mary,  115,  136,  143. 
Robins,  Johanna,  124. 
Roberts,  Edward,  725. 
Rochambeau,  517. 
Rochefoucauld,  Duke  de  la,  552. 
Rodney,  Rev.  Mr.,  629. 

Roebuck,  Jarvis,  168,  185,  201. 

Roemelt,  Gottfried,  200. 

Roepper,  C.  W.,  764. 

Roepper,  William  Theodore,  661,  662,  682, 

688,  689,  701,  714,  720,  729. 
Roesler,  (Roessler,)  Godfrey,  254,  306,  332. 
Rogers,  Jacob,  265,  272,  303,  386,  387. 
Rohleder,  Martin,  280. 
Rokycana,  9,  10,  il. 
Rondthaler,  Ambrose,  704,  705,  741. 
Rondthaler,  Edward,  769,  774,  775. 
Rondthaler,  Emanuel,  582,  588. 
Rondthaler,  J.  Albert,  732. 
Ronner,  John  Reinhold,  124,  136. 
Rose,  Catharine,  43,  123. 
Rose,  Joseph,  612. 
Rose,  Mary,  37. 
Rose,  Peter,  34,  37,  43. 
Roseen,  Anna  Margaret,  185. 
Roseen,  Sven,  185. 
Rosengarten,  J.  G.,  462,  515,  524. 
Roth,  Anna  Maria,  235. 
Roth,  John,  295,  403,  630. 
Rothe,  Pastor,  27. 
Rothrock,  Sarah,  582. 
Rubel,  Christina,  122, 
Rubel,  John,  361. 
Ruch,  Catherine,  273. 
Ruch,  Michael,  295. 

Rudolphi,  John  Frederick,  544,  569,  596. 
Ruede,    Herman,    703,  704,  705,  706,  711, 

712,  747. 
Ruenger,  Daniel,  254. 


Ruetschi,  Conrad,  146,  163,  173. 

Ruhe,  Joseph,  463. 

Rundt,  Carl  Godfrey,  262. 

Rupp,  Daniel,  268. 

Rush,  Benjamin,  438   475. 

Rusmeyer,  Albrecht  Ludolph,  275,  276. 

Russell,  Pastor,  628, 

Samuel,  (an  Indian,)  174. 

Sandys,  Lord,  220. 

Sangerhausen,  Anna  Margaret,  234. 

Sankey,  693,  694. 

Saur,  Christopher,  37,  74,  97,  loi. 

Sauter,  Michael,  254. 

Sarah,  (an  Indian,)  317. 

Savitz,  George,  574. 

Saylor,  (J.  L.,  734. 

Sayre,  Robert  H.,  721,  727,  729,  730,  735, 

747- 
Sayre,  William  H.,  727. 
Saxon,  Samuel,  280. 
Schaaf,  Anna  Catherine,  167. 
Schaaf,  Christian  Frederick,  541,  542,  569, 

596,  620,  622. 
Schaaf,  Jeremiah,  200. 
Schaaf,  John,  167. 
Schaefier,  Margaret,  123. 
Schaeffer,  Nicholas,  360. 
Schaemel,  261. 

Schaub,  Divert  Mary,  167,  257. 
Schaub,  John,  167,  207,257. 
Schaus,  Frederick,  268. 
Schaus,    lohn    Adam,    146,    161,   163,    169, 

195,  268. 
Schenk,  Martin,  280. 
Schilling,  Regina  Dorothea,  119. 
Schindler,  George,  280,  482,  546. 
Schindler,  Thomas,  72. 
Schippang,  Herman,  708. 
Schlabach,  George,  668. 
Schlagenteufel,  Captain,  492. 
Schlagentruft,  Captain,  492. 
Schlegel,  John  Frederick,  234,  513. 
Schlosser,  261. 

Schmaling,  William  Christopher,  295,  363. 
Schmatter,  Anna  Maria,  235. 
Schmich,  Anna  B.,  707. 
Schmick,    John    Jacob,  261,  282,  306,  307, 

315,  369,  403,  407,  550. 
Schmidt,   Anton,    242,  306,  314,  318,  482, 

573- 
Schmidt,  Benjamin,  244. 
Schmidt,  Christian,  200. 
Schmidt,  Hans  Jacob,  295. 
Schmidt,  Henry  Immanuel,  593. 
Schmidt,  John,  234,  330. 
Schmidt,  John  Christopher,  234. 
Schmidt,  John  Michael,  203,  279,  404,  590, 

593- 
Schmidt,  Jost,  32. 


INDEX   OF   PERSONS. 


805 


Schmidt,  Melchior,  234,  348. 
Schnall,  John,  165. 
Schnall,  Michael,  165. 
Schneider,  Daniel,  29. 
Schneider,  George,  121,  125,  140. 
Schneider,  Jacob,  574- 

Schneider,  John,  234,  03 5- 

Schneider,  Martin,  234- 

Schneider,  Paul,  200. 

Schneider,  Verona,  550. 

Schnell,  Leonard,  121,  125,  ijO. 

Schneller,  Charles,  605.  ^ 

Schneller,  David  Peter,  602,  604,  605,  638, 

654,  656. 
Schober,  Andrew,  167. 
Schober,  Hedwig  Regina,  ibj. 
Schober,  John  Michael,  39,  42- 
Schoedler,  Daniel  E.,  707.  7^3- 
Schoen,  Henry,  254. 
Schoepf,  John  David,  524.  645- 
Schoule,  Andrew,  201,  279,287,  288,351, 

^63. 
Schropp,  Abraham  S.,  746,  749- 
Schropp,  Anna  Margaret,  167. 
Schropp    John,   (Warden )    380,   5I3^  54'. 
545,  547,  549,  568,  573,  574,  57^  577, 
641,  660. 
Schropp,  Matthew,  167,  190. 
Schubert,  Augustus,  374- 
Schuepge,  AnnaRosina,  II9- 
Schuetze,  Anna  Dorothea,  i6b. 
Schuetze,  Christian,  168. 
Schuling,  Rosina,  235. 
Schulius,  George,  38,  39,  43- 
Schultz,  John  Henry,  569- 
SchuUz,  Maria  Rosma,  4a»- 
Schultz,  Samuel,  682. 
Schultz,  Theodore,  653. 
Schultz,  (a  widow,)  273. 
Schultze,  Carl,  234- 
Schultze,  Godfrey,  234. 
Schultze,  Rev.  Dr.  (Augustus),  775- 
Schuster,  Felicitas,  273. 
Schuyler,  Philip,  457- 
Schwartz,  Charles  H.,  7o5- 
Schwartz,  Christian,  254. 
Schwartz,  Gottfried,  254. 
Schwartz,  Magdalena,  235. 
Schweigert,  George,  254,  3^7 ■ 
Schweinitz    Christian  Frederick  von,  SM- 
Schweinitz',  Edmund  de,  12,  556,  700,  7I3, 

750,  751.  753,  763- 
Schweinitz,  Emil  A.  de,  676. 
Schreinitz    John  (Hans)  Chnstian  Alexan- 
der de,  376,  423,  43i,  461,  503,  505,  5o6, 
507,  528,  543,  550.  557,  559-  561,  637, 
Sc&nt:ltisDavidde,  227  606,6X8, 

629,637,638,646,652,653,675- 
Schweinitz,  Paul  de,  770. 


Schweinitz,  Robert  de,  763. 
Schweisshaupt,  John,  234- 
Schweitzer,  George,  716. 
Schweitzer,  Lawrence,  98. 
Scott,  Moses,  481. 

Scull,  Nicholas,  49,  209,  266,  297,  302 • 
Seaman,  Henry  J.,  7i4- 
Seem,  John,  726. 

Seidel,  Anna,  377-   ,    .  ,     .      ,,-   ^q^   rgS 
Seidel   Charles  Frederick,  63,  517,582,  5»^ 
Tqi    603    604,  605,  606,  625,  626,  62b, 
Ho,  646,  647,  654,  674,  675,  676,  689, 
690,  691,  693,  694,  704- 
Seidel,  Christian,  304,  305,  30b. 
Seidel,  John  Henry,  295. 
Seidel,  Juliana,  235.  ,-r,  ->^i 

Seidel     Nathanael,  47,  125,  136.    7°.  241 
2t:o    260,  261    269,  273,  327,  j43,  351, 
366',  376,  377,  414,  415,  417,  423,  4.7, 
444,  445,  446,  452,  454,  5o6,  523-  =29, 
541,  570. 
Seidensticker,  Oswald,  74- 
Seidlitz,  Elizabeth,  401- 
Seidner,  Margaret  Barbara,  273. 
Seiffert,  Andrew,  234.  ^ 

Seiffert,  Anton,  34,  36,  39.  «'  4+'  5J.^^, 
64,69,105,116,127,133,136,   139,149, 
152,  162,  165,  170,  172,  189. 
Seiffert,  John,  200. 
Sehner,  251. 

Selfridge,  Alexander,  751- 
Selfridge,  James  L.,  740,  744,  75i- 
Selfridge,  Kate,  753- 
Selfridge,  William  W.,  747- 
Seneff,  George,  295. 

Sensemann,  Anna  Catharme,  122,  136,  317- 
Sensemann,  Christian,  59°- 
Sensemann,  Gottlob   122. 
Sensemann,  Henry  Joachim   122    126    136, 
141,  203,  209,  253,  311,  312,  3»5,  3'", 
317,  368,  369,  522. 
Serra,  Gomez,  274- 
Serra,  Joseph  Correa  de,  629. 
Seward,  William,  43,  64- 
Seybold,  Anna  Maria,  136.  g 

Seybold,  Matthias,  35,  43,  64,  65,  69,  125, 

Shabas^^Abmham,)  the  Indian,  104. 

Shanks,  Captain,  562. 

Sharpless,  Stephen  Paschall,  729. 

ISsrOohn'joseph  BuU,,  ,43,  -3-  307. 

318,343,369- 

Sherbeck,  Paul  Jansen,  254. 
Sherman,  Lucas,  477 

306,    307.  ,  „ 

Shinier,  Conrad,  730. 
Shingas,  the  terrible,  306. 


8o6 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS. 


Shippen,  William,  415,  451,  454,  456,  464, 

474. 
Shirley,  General,  297. 
Shultz.  C.  B.,  770,  771. 
Shultz,  Henry  A.,  676,  686,  6S9,  690,  693, 

694,  702,  743-  750- 
Sidman,  Colonel,  473. 
Sieg,  Paul,  209. 
Siegmund,  Jacob,  634. 
Siever,  Carl,  528. 
Sigley,  Owen  B.,  713. 
Simpson,  Bishop,  696. 
Sinclair,  Sir  John,  388. 
Sitgreaves,  .Samuel,  626. 
Sitgreaves,  Susan,  626,  627. 
Sitkovius,  Bishop,  30. 
Skinner,  Alexander,  459. 
Smith,  Uavid  Zeisbeiger,  648,  703. 
Smith,  Sara  Captain,  536. 
Smouth,  Anna  Elizabeth,  404. 
Smouth,   Edward,  194,  404. 
Smylie,  John,  727,  730,  732. 
Snyder,  Jonas,  749. 
Snyder,  M.  H.,  708. 
Snyder,  N.  Z.,  734. 
Soelle,  George   275,  276. 
Sommers,  Benjamin,  40,  41,  43,  44,  64,  136. 
Souders,  Gottlieb  C,  707,  708. 
Spangenberg,  Augustus  Gottlieb,  32,  34,  35, 

36,  37,  38,  39.  55,  65,  70,  71,  74,  76,  77, 
79,  80,  90,  92,  107,  108,  109,  119,  123, 
125,  127,  152,  159,  160,  168,  172,  173, 
176,  177,  178,  179,  180,  181,  182,  183, 
184,  185,  1S9,  194,  197,  198,  201,  202, 
205,  209,  217,  223,  225,  226  228,  229, 
230,  233,  241,  242,  245,  246,  247,  259, 
262,  263,  264,  267,  269,  270,  271,  272, 
273,  275,  276,  277,  278,  280,  281,  283, 
288,  290,  291,  292,  294,  295,  302,  307, 
308,  313,  315,  323,  325,  326,  327,  328, 
330,  333,  334,  336,  337,  338,  339,  340, 
341,  343,  3^4,  349,  35°,  355,  356,  366, 
369,  376,  377,  384,  385,  386,  387,  404, 
437,  505,  510. 

Sperbach,  Johanna  Rebecca,  273. 

Spinner,  Sarah  E.,  707,  708. 

Spinner,  Susan,  706. 

Sprogle,  Christian  Ludwig,  265,  332. 

Sprogle,  John  Henry,  265. 

Sproh,  Christian,  280. 

Stach,  Christian,  29. 

Stach,  Matthew,  28,  233,  241. 

Stach,  Thomas,  226,  233,  234,  2r]o,  241. 

Stadiger,  John  Frederick,  542,  569,  595,  596, 
597,  598,  599,  638,  653,  676. 

Staehle,  Balzer,  575. 

Slauber,  Paul  Christian,  254. 

Slauffer,  W.  H.,  734. 

Stark,  John  George,  280. 

Steckel,  John  Frederick  August,  632. 


Stedman,  John,  32. 

Steinhauer,  Daniel,  604. 

Steinhauer,  Henry,  603,  604. 

Steinman,  Anna  Regina,  234. 

Steinman,  Anna  Salome,  401. 

Steinman,  Christian  Frederick,  234. 

Steinman,  George,  715,  7^6. 

Stenton,  John,  191,  397,  401. 

Sterling,  General,  455. 

Stern,  Pastor,  693. 

Stephen,  Bishop,  (Waldenses,)  11. 

Stettner,  John,  280. 

Steuben,  Frederick  von,  462,  485. 

Steup,  Francis,  253. 

Steup,  Samuel,  574,  604,  633,  665. 

Steup,  Sophia,  253. 

Stevens,  William  Bacon,  697,  729,  732. 

Stiefel,  George,  32. 

Stiemer,  Anton,  280. 

Stiles,  President  Ezra,  291,  551. 

Stirling,  Thomas,  408. 

StoU,  Anna,  234. 

Stoll,  John  George,  234,  550,  568. 

Stoltzenbach,  Augusta,  703. 

Stoltzenbach,  William,  745,  751. 

Stonehouse,  George,  108. 

Stout,  Abraham,  746,  747. 

Stout,  Franklin  C,  745,  748,  749. 

Straehle,  Rudolph,  234. 

Straub,  Samuel,  738. 

Strasburger,  Pastor,  628. 

Strauss,  Abraham,  254. 

Strayhorn,  A.  M.    734. 

Stuber,  Michael,  742. 

Sturgis,  Joseph,  311,  312,  314,  316,  317,  318, 

450. 
Stutzer,  Captain,  492. 
St.  Maine,  Count  de,  515. 
St.  Victor,  Count  de,  515. 
Sullivan,  John,  (Gen.),  455,  495,  496. 
Sutton,  Mr.,  459,  503. 
Swihola,  John  Jacob,  506,  507. 
Swindells,  J.  T.,  753. 
Sydrich,  John  Daniel,  47,  254. 
Talbot,  Dr.,  36. 
Tamaqua,  (an  Indian,)  306. 
Tanneberger,  Anna  Rosina,  122,  136. 
Tanneberger,  David,  35,  43,  234,  363,  364, 

451,  578. 
Tanneberger,  John,  35,  43. 
Tanneberger,  Michael,  122,  123,  136. 
Tassawachamen,  (an  Indian,)  (Joseph,)  143. 
Tatemy,  (Moses,)  (Indian   chief,)  154,    155, 

195,  355 
Tatemy,  (William,)  (an  Indian,)  355,  356. 
Taussig,  Lizzie,  707. 
Taylor,  David,  737. 
Taylor,  George,  448,  451. 
Taylor,  Jonathan  K.,  745,  747. 
Taylor,  Mahlon,  749. 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS. 


807 


Taylor,  Ralph,  36. 
Taylor,  Robert  E.,  749 

Teedyuscung,     (an    Indian,)    50,    244,    299, 
305,  306,   339,   342,   343,   347,  348,  353, 

354,  356,  357,  35^  359,  395- 
Tennent,  Gilbert,  238. 
Theodorus,  Brother,  164,  254. 
Thomas,  David  R.,  695. 
Thomas,  Francis,  545,  550,  632. 
Thomas,  (Captain,)  34. 
Thomas,  Governor,  93,  154,  174,  214. 
Thomas,  John,  254,  482. 
Thomas,  (the  negro,)  287. 
Thomas  of  Prelouc,  1 1 . 
Thompson,  Charles,  557. 
Thompson,  Richard,  477. 
Thorn,  William,  294. 
Thorpe,  Edward,  280,  495. 
Thrane,  Amadeus  Paulinus,   377,   444,  512. 
Thumhardt,  Godfrey  Henry,  544. 
Thiirnstein,  von,  (see  Zinzendorf,)  92,  552. 
Thurston,  W.  W.,   756. 
Tiersch,  Mary,  442. 
Tiersch,  Paul,  400,  442. 
Tiersch,  Elizabeth,  275. 
Till,  Jacob,  275,  664. 
Till,  John  Christian,  602,  603,  610,654,  710, 

716. 
Till,  Joseph,  664. 
Tillofson,  Nils,  569. 
Tietze,  Herman  J.,  702. 
Toellner,  Christian  Frederick,  ^76. 
Toeltschig,    John,   22,  26,  34,  38,  43,  273, 

409. 
Toeltschig,  Judith,  35,  43. 
Tombler,    Charles    C,   635,  655,  656,  719, 

739- 
Tombler,  Edward,  743,  744. 
Tombler,  Oliver,  719. 
Tombler,  William  D.,  739. 
Tommerup,  Matthias,  377,  463. 
Togood,  Notley,  168. 
Traeger,  Fredericka,  701,  703,  704. 
Tschatschi,  Tomo,  Chief,  36. 
Tschoop,  (Job,  John,  Wasamapah,)  113,  137, 

142,  193,  596. 
Turck,  John  de,  98,  104. 
Turk,  Daniel  de,  449. 
Turner,  Elizabeth,  122. 
Turner,  John,  122. 
Turner,  Joseph,  61. 
Turner,  Joshua,  695. 

Uhlmann,  Dorothea,  235. 
Ulrich,  William,  762,  765. 
Unander,  Eric,  290. 
Unger,  Anna,  534. 
Unger,  Maria,  534. 
Utley,  Richard,  168. 
Utley,  Sarah,  168. 


Vaas,  John,  (Fahs,)  210. 

Vail,  John  Bloom,  750. 

Valentine,  1 15,   136. 

Van  der  Bilt,  Jacobus,  201. 

Van  der  Bilt,  Jean,  201. 

Van  de  Venter,  John,  200. 

Van  Kirk,  Benjamin,  660,  705,  706. 

Van  Vleck,  Charles  A.,  592,  593,  676 

Van  Vleck,  Henry,  260,  375,  432,  473,  507, 

568. 
Van  Vleck,  Henry  J.,  648,  649,  690,  732. 
Van  Vleck,  Jacob,  260,  506,  507,   512,   515, 

516,  520,  541,  542,  545    549,  557,  S^^^, 

566,  587,  588,  589,  590,  591,  596,  607, 

638,  653. 
Van  Vleck,  Maria,  260, 
Van  Vleck,  William  Henry,  577,  587,  592, 

603,  625,  628,  681,  687,  689,  690,   694, 

704,  719. 
Vaux,  George,  372. 
Vend,  Ferdinand  (Fend),  262. 
Verbeek,  John  Renatus,  581,  586,  587. 
Verdriess,  Hartmann,  360. 
Vetter,  Jacob,  (Fetter,)  162,  164,  332. 
Vleit,  James,  738. 
Vogt,  Divert,  235. 
Volck,  Carl,  316. 
Vollert,  Jost,  209,  268. 
Vreda,  Lieutenant,  492. 
Vriehuis,  Margaret  Catherine,  704. 

Wade,  Johanna,  185. 
Wade,  John,  185,  226. 
Wade,  Mary,  569. 
Waeckler,  Juliana,  273. 
Wagenseil,  John  Andrew,  254. 
Wagner,  Abraham,  32. 
Wagner,  Anton,  167,  170. 
Wagner,  Daniel,  575. 
Wagner,  Elizabeth,  167. 
Wahl,  George,  695. 

Wahnert,   David,    122,    136,    160,   167,  169, 
170,   173,  234,  241,  272,  273,  275,  279, 

377,  387- 
Wahnert,    Mary    Elizabeth,    122,   136,   147, 

167,  234. 
Walker,  William  N.,  706. 
Wallace,  Captain,  71. 
Walp,  Isaac,  714. 
Walp,  Jost,  500,  501. 
Walp,  William,  756. 
Wanab,  (Gabriel,)  143. 
Wapler,  Juliana  Esther,  377,  534. 
Warner,  Anna  Dorothea,  704. 
Warner,  John  C,  634,  654,  657. 
Warner,  Massa,  545,  550. 
Warner,  Miss,  658. 
Warner,  Samuel  S.,  70/. 
Warner,  William  II.,  648. 
Warrall,  Hanna,  265. 


8o8 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS. 


Warren,  John,  451,  452, 

Wasamapah,    John,    (Tschoop,),    137,    142, 

154,  193. 
Waschke,  Anna,  35,  43. 
Waschke,  George,  34,  43. 
Waschke,  Juliana,  43. 
Washington,  Bushrod,  505,  6j.7. 
Washington,    George,    361,  455,   462,  468, 

471,  473,  4H,  495/505,  507,  515,  516, 

517,  518,  544,  558,  559.  561,  562,  566. 
Washington,  Martha,  457,  495,  505. 
Washington,  W^ilham  Augustine,  505. 
Wattevilie,  Anna  Dorothea,  de,  506. 
Watteville,  Frederick  de.  Baron,  72. 
Wattevilie,  John  de,  72,  226,  227,  228,  229, 

230,  237,   241,  242,  246,  274,  506,   528, 

529,531,532,  533    536,  555- 
Weaver,  Lizzie  J.,  707. 
Webb,  Thomas,  458,  461,  695. 
Weber,  Andrew,  254. 
Weber,  Christian,  32. 
Weber,  George,  104,  114,  136,  174. 
Weber,  John  C.,  688,  701,  704,  747. 
Weber,  Mary  Apollonia,  550. 
Weber,  Mary  Elizabeth,  104,  136. 
Weber,  Tobias,  209. 
Webster,  Benjamin  C,  721. 
Wedsted,  Christian,  276,  319,  332. 
Weicht,  Peter,  276. 
Weicht,  Susanna,  235, 
Weigand,  John,  522. 
Weinecke,  Charles,  280,  496,  550. 
Weinert,  Dorothea,  167. 
Weinert,  John  Christopher,   167. 
Weinland,  David,  576,  681,  688. 
Weinland,  John  Nicholas,  234. 
Weiser,  Conrad,  37,  152,  153,  156,  165,699. 
Weiser,  George,  125. 
Weiser,  Reuben,  699. 
Weiskotten,  F.  W.,  695. 
Weiss,  Anna  Maria,  488. 
Weiss,  Elizabeth,  658. 
Weiss,  Francis,  575. 
Weiss,  Frederick,  368. 
Weiss,  Jacob,  641. 
Weiss,  Jedediah,  634,  655,  660,   662,  664, 

682,  687,  701,  741,  748, 
Weiss,  John  George,  602. 
Weiss,  Jonas  Paulus,  160. 
Weiss,  Lewis  William,  294,  467,  482. 
Weiss,  Margaret  Catharine,  167. 
Weiss,  Matthew,  167,  202,  550,  56S. 
Weiss,  Paul,  602. 

Weiss,  Timothy,  645,  654,  656,  664,  673. 
Welden,  C.  F.,  694,  700,  745. 
Welden,  Frederick  A.,  707. 
Wells,  Zebulon,  634. 
Welton,  Dr.,  36. 
Wend,  Magdalena,  (Fend,  Vend,)  115,  136, 

160. 


Wendover,  Mary,  42. 

Wennel,  Samuel,  i68. 

Wenner,  U.  J.,  753. 

Wenz,  Jacob,  32. 

Wenzel,  Catherine,  235. 

Wenzel,  Pastor,  693. 

Werner,  Christian,  125,  136. 

Wernhamer,  Margaret,  272. 

Wertz,  Gertrude,  707. 

Werwing,  Maria  Wilhelmina,  401,  410. 

Wesa,   Peter,  306. 

Wesley,  Charles,  35. 

Wesley,  John,  35,  695. 

Westmann,  John  Eric,  185,  201,  205,  262. 

Wetherhold,  Jacob,  (Wetterhold,)  191,  396, 

397- 
Wetherill,  John  Price,  720. 
Wetherill,  Samuel,  701,  720,  729,  744,  751. 
Wetzel,  John,  461,  497,  498,  499,  500,  502. 
Wharton,  Joseph,  720. 
Wharton,  Thomas,  499. 
Whipple,  William,  470. 
White,  Bishop,  628. 
White,  Josiah,  642. 
Whitehead,  Cortlandt,  730. 
Whitesell,  Andrew,  722. 
Whitesell,  John  David,  722. 
Whitefield,  George,   40,  41,  43,  44,  51,  52, 

54,  62,  63,  64,  loi,  109,  206,  230,  270. 
Whitman,  Elmira,  728. 
Whittemore,  James,  758. 
Wiegner,  Christopher,  32,  34,  37,  38,  42,  44, 

56,  57,  62,  76,  77. 
Wiesner,  George,  136,  160. 
Wilbur,   Elisha  P.,  726,  727,  735,  739,  754. 
Wilhelm,  Benjamin,  747. 
Wilhelm,  E.  T.,  747. 
Wilkes,  Martha,  121. 
Will,  George,  449. 
Wilier,  Lorenz  van,  239. 
William,  Frederick  I,  91. 
Williams,  William,  465,  467. 
Willy,  Joseph,  280. 
Wilmot,  Aquila,  476. 
Wilson,  Hugh,  266. 
Wilson,  J.  H.,  707,  747. 
Wilson,  John  J.,  746. 
Wilson,  Justice,  296,  326. 
Wilson,  William,  714,  739,  740,  746,  748. 
Wilt,  Owen  R.,  728. 
Wittenberg,  Jens,  280. 
Wittke,  Matthew,  125,  136,  550. 
Wlach,  John,  9. 

Woehler,  George  Henry,  635,  645,  646,  682. 
Wolf,  George,  656. 
Wolle,  Augustus,  633,  648,  707,  708,  723, 

724,  725,  726. 
Wolle,  Francis,  658,  700,  701,  702,  703,  704, 
Wolle,  Jacob,  630. 
Wolle,  J.  Fred.,  764,  770. 


INDEX    OF    PERSONS. 


809 


Wolle,  John  Frederick,  633,  661. 

Wolle,  Peter,  587,  588,  674,  748. 

Wolle,  Sabina,  707. 

Wolle,  Sylvester,  702,  714,  736,  749. 

Wolle,  Theodore  F.,  708,  753,  764. 

Wollmuth,  Charles,  769. 

Wolson,  George  Stephen,  275. 

Wolson,  Susan  Rebecca,  275. 

Wood,  Archbishop,  733. 

Wood,  Joseph,  475,481. 

Woodford,  General,  465,  469. 

Woodring,  Nicholas,  575. 

Worbass,  Peter,  276,  314,  361,  374,  416. 

Wuertele,  John,  280. 

Wuetke,  Samuel,  200. 

Yarrell,  Ann,  122. 
Yarrell,  Anna  Maria,  514. 
Yarrell,  Thomafe,  375. 
Yeates,  Edmund,  49. 
Yerkes,  David  I..  190,  722,  726. 
Yerkes,  Sarah,  624. 
Yohe,  Caleb,  634,  670,  681,  715,  741. 
Young,  Mr.,  473. 
Yost,  A.  F.,  713. 
Yungberg,  John,  541. 

Ysselstein,  Isaac  Martens,  62,  142,  146,  158, 
208,  210,  231,  232,  242,  254,  672. 

Zaeslein,  Joseph.  569,  592. 

Zander,  John  William,  70,  77,  105  136,  142, 
143,  239,  240.  241. 

Zeidig,  Johanna  Christiana,  265. 

Zeisberger,  Anna,  69. 

Zeisberger,  Anna  Dorothea,  168, 

Zeisberger,  David,  35,  39,  40,  43,  64,  398. 

Zeisberger,  David,  (the  missionary,)  43,  44, 
57,  64,  65,  69,  136,  148,  154,  158,  177, 
242,    243,   259,   261,   277,  279,  304,  305, 


306,  309,  310,  312,  315,  343,  387,  395, 
398,  403,  407,  409,  506,  522,  559,  568, 
626,  629. 

Zeisberger,  David,  (No.  3.)  291,  377,  398, 
512. 

Zeisberger,  George,  69,  168. 

Zeisberger,  Melchior,  22. 

Zeisberger,    Rosina,  35,  43,  64,  69,  136. 

Zentler,  Conrad,  625. 

Ziegelbauer,  Eva  Mary,  177. 

Ziegenfuss,  C.  O.,  713. 

Ziegler,  Curtius  Frederick,  276. 

Ziegler,  David,  515. 

Ziegler,  Samuel,  634. 

Zillman,  Henry,  280. 

Zinzendorf,  Benigna.  von  72,  89,  105,  107, 
136,  149,  160,  226,  230,  233,  271.  ^ 

Zinzendorf,  Christian  Renatus  von,  187. 

Zinzendorf,  Erdmuth  Dorothea  von,  44,  281. 

Zinzendorf,  Nicholas  Lewis  von,  8,  21,  22, 23, 
24,  25,  26,  27,  28,  31,  32,  34,  37,  38,  41, 
45,  55,  56,  67,  69,  71,  72,  73  74,  75,  76, 
77,  78,  79,  80,  81,  84,  85,  86,  87,  88,  89, 
90,  91,  92,  93,  94,  96,  97.  9«,  99,  100 
loi,  102,  103,  104,  105,  III,  113,  114, 
116,  117,  118,  119,  122,  125,  127,  128. 
129,  132,  133,  135,  136,  137,  139,  141, 
142,  143.  144.  145,  '46,  147,  H9,  '50,  151, 
152,  153.  154,  155,  156,  158,  159-  160, 
162,  165,  169,  170,  171,  176,  177,  179, 
185,  186,  187,  188,  189,  190,  197,  199, 
200,  207,  218,  219,  220,  223,  224,  225, 
226,  228  233,  234,  237,  242,  246,  249, 
250,   264,  270,  273,  277,  280,  281,  290, 

349,  352.  353,  363,  376,  384,  409,  417, 
418,  423,  506,  525,  533,  552,  562,  633, 
776. 

Zorn,  Jacob,  593. 

Zwingle,  13. 


54 


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